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It was that post on Facebook that caught Jonathon and Brother K’s attention, too. “I first saw the white coveralls with a faux blood stain being worn by Richard on Facebook in 2010,” says Jonathon. “There was a crimson spot over his crotch which contrasted sharply with the stark, quasi-medical look of the white coveralls. The visual Richard created appealed to me not only due to his appearance but also for the sense of performance art that he seemed to convey. I decided that I wanted to try something similar.”
It wasn’t difficult to find six other men willing to don the jumpsuits and protest. The venue was the median strip across from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans, during the 2012 national conference of the [[American Academy of Pediatrics]]. “We put them on and stood in a line, arms and legs outstretched, to confront the conference attendees as they exited the building. Almost immediately, people began taking pictures of us with their cell phones."
“It was powerful beyond anything I’d ever seen, and it changed my view of public protests forever,” says Brother K, one of the men who joined Jonathan. The Bloodstained Men“. The bloodstain magnifies the power of the protester through its profound symbolism, an image that simultaneously reveals his wound and his resistance to it. There is no rebuttal to a bloodstain.”