28 years ago, "Hungry Sultan" sensationalized the world, the little girl who was stared at by a vulture, what happened to it?
In 1993, the New York Times in the United States published a heart-wrenching photo of a small black girl who was almost skinny and curled up on the ground, not far from the girl, a vulture was staring at the tiger, it is known that the vulture specializes in eating carrion, perhaps it is waiting for the little girl to swallow the last breath, and then it is full.
The poverty, hunger, war, and plight of girls in Sudan have spread around the world and touched the hearts of countless people, some people have paid attention to Bhutan, a war-torn country, and some people have asked whether the little girl survived later.
Born on the outskirts of a South African city and immigrating to England with his parents, Kevin Carter, the photographer of the photograph, saw the exploitation of blacks by racial discrimination as a child, and after graduating he joined the South African Defence Force, where he was attacked by many whites for his public support for blacks.
After completing his military service, he entered a photographic equipment store, and in the process developed a strong interest in photography, and through his own efforts, he quickly won the opportunity to become a photojournalist to enter the newspaper, and also met a group of photographers who were committed to exposing the evils of apartheid.
In 1993, Carter and another fellow photographer followed a United Nations food-distributing helicopter to a small village in Sudan, where they were so distraught that there were corpses on the side of the road.
After the plane landed, many Sudanese rushed to receive food for relief, and Carter took many precious photographs during this time. That "Hungry Sultan" was born here.
Sudan, a country in northeastern Africa, has been in civil war for years since the last century, and Sudan, once one of Africa's great powers, is now directly divided into two countries and one of the poorest countries in the world because of years of war.
In 1993, years of war in the Sudan were accompanied by a great famine that plagued almost every Sudanese citizen, and the people lived in dire straits, many of whom had to rely on relief food distributed by international organizations such as the United Nations to survive. Because of long-term hunger, children are chronically malnourished and skinny, and even children are starved to death every day.
Carter's photo was published in the New York Times, after many reprints spread to the world, but also caused an uproar around the world, people in the heart of the girl in the photo, lamenting the cruelty of war and natural disasters at the same time, but also pointed the finger at the photo shooter: Kevin Carter.
They believed that Carter should have chased away the vulture instead of pointing the cold camera at the girl, and they accused Carter of being cold-blooded, selfish, and unsaved, a scolding that culminated after Carter won the Pulitzer Prize, the highest award in American journalism, for "Hungry Sudan." Many claimed that Carter's award was earned by stepping on the little girl's corpse.
During that time, even Carter's relatives and friends called to accuse him, and Carter's spirit suffered greatly, and he finally became overwhelmed and chose to end his life in the extreme way of suicide.
One night, two months after the Pulitzer prize ceremony, he put a green hose on the car's exhaust pipe and channeled the car's exhaust gases into the car, and by the time the police found him, he had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Carter won the coveted award in the press for "Hungry Sudan", and was known to the world overnight, but also lost his life because of this photo.
After Carter left, the truth of the photo gradually surfaced. In fact, the girl was not alone at the time, her mother was not far away to receive relief food, and the girl was curled up on the side of the road because of hunger.
The situation was not so critical, the girl was not on the verge of starvation, and after the photo was taken, Carter went to drive away the vulture, so the girl survived at that time, and it was completely nonsense to say that Carter's award was obtained by stepping on the little girl's corpse.
In an interview with Pulitzer Prize jury member John Kaplan, the reporter specifically asked about the controversy over "Hungry Sudan", arguing that journalists and media who do not care about the people, selfishness and indifference should not be awarded such an award.
John said that such a controversy is ridiculous, the photo looks like the girl alone in the desert helpless, but the judges carefully looked at the photo, the girl has a white ring on her hand, which is a sign of local humanitarian protection, which shows that the girl is not left alone, all the judges trust the photographer, if the girl needs help, I believe that the photographer will definitely help...
Unfortunately, such a powerful counterattack was cut during the broadcast of the interview, and instead the show violently attacked Carter around ethics and morality. Another partner who traveled to Sudan with Carter said that he also took photos of the same scene, but unfortunately, the voice that helped Carter explain was quickly drowned out by crazy criticism and accusations.
In 2011, some media went to Sudan to find the filming location of "Hungry Sudan" and found the family of the "girl" in the photo, in fact, the protagonist of the photo was not a "girl" but a "boy", and he was not starved to death in 1993, let alone eaten by the vulture, but died of illness in 2007.
The "girl" who died under Carter's camera in the eyes of countless people actually lived to 2007, but this photo left Carter stuck in 1994 forever.
"Hungry Sudan" has made countless people pay attention to Sudan, which was in the midst of civil war at that time, let the people of the world see the tragic life of the Sudanese people, and many people in the world have donated money and materials to Sudan, to a certain extent, which is the credit of Carter, which is also the meaning of photojournalism.
When Carter committed suicide, his daughter was still very young, and she was fortunate not to live in a war-torn country like the Sudanese "girl", not to suffer from hunger because of poverty, but she was also very unfortunate to lose her father because of public opinion.
Years later, Carter's daughter, when she mentioned her father, said that he was the little girl, and the public accusation was that of the vulture.
