{"id":23459,"date":"2017-09-28T01:12:23","date_gmt":"2017-09-28T08:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=23459"},"modified":"2017-11-01T16:33:50","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T23:33:50","slug":"cartoon-back-to-the-future-of-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=23459","title":{"rendered":"Cartoon: Back To The Future (Of Racism)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Please support these cartoons on Patreon<\/a>! Even a $1 pledge matters a lot.<\/p>\n

This cartoon was originally published on The Splinter<\/a>. Thanks, Splinter!<\/p>\n

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There’s an adage I’ve seen around; I’ve seen it put various ways, but always from Black writers. I don’t know who said it first, but Aditi Juneja <\/a>put it especially well in a deservedly viral tweet:<\/p>\n

“If you’ve wondered what you would’ve done during slavery, the Holocaust, or Civil Rights movement… you’re doing it now.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve seen the same sentiment, in similar words, expressed by Kamala Harris<\/a> and Shaun King<\/a>. It really resonates with me – especially when thinking about voting rights, an issue that should be decades behind us.<\/p>\n

This cartoon, obviously, owes a debt of inspiration to Juneja and Harris and King, and probably others as well.<\/p>\n

Doing the 1950s in art was hard, because – especially given the simplicity and lack of detail of my drawing style – it was hard to figure out how to indicate the 1950s visually. Many of the buildings around today were there in the 1950s, after all. I ended up leaning hard on 1950s cars and suits (and of course of course the hats). \u00a0Jen Sorenson suggested I lean hard on color palette differences, and I tried to take her suggestion.<\/p>\n

The gentleman in the last panel is my best attempt at doing a caricature of MLK in this style (and my best attempt, frankly, was not that great). Fortunately, the gag really doesn’t depend on readers recognizing MLK, or I’d be in trouble!<\/p>\n

\n

Transcript of cartoon:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Panel 1<\/strong>
\nThe image shows a white man with glasses and a polo shirt – let’s call him “BOB” – talking at a young woman with brown skin and short spiky hair. Bob is carrying a protest sign that says “ILLEGALS GO AWAY!”<\/p>\n

BOB: Voter ID laws aren’t racist! They just make sure that voting isn’t controlled by illegals! No one’s more against racism than ME!<\/p>\n

Panel 2<\/strong>
\nBob continues to cheerfully talk, waving an arm. Behind Bob, a magic fairy, with blue butterfly wings and purple hair, has appeared with a big “POOF” sound effect and touches their glowing magic wand to Bob’s waving arm.
\nBOB: In fact, I wish I was back in the 1950s – I’d protest with Martin Luther King Jr!
\nFAIRY: Wish granted!<\/p>\n

Panel 3<\/strong>
\nBob is now in the 1950s. We can tell it’s the 1950s because the color scheme has changed, and also, there are a lot of 1950s cars parked on the street in the background.
\nBOB: Whoa! I’m in the 1950s! It looks just like “Back To The Future!” Bob is listening thoughtfully, one hand on his chin.<\/p>\n

Panel 4<\/strong>
\nA white man in a suit, tie and hat (all 1950s style), and smoking a pipe, is talking to Bob.
\nMAN: “Literacy tests” aren’t about race! They just make sure that voting isn’t controlled by ignorant people!
\nBOB: That makes sense.<\/p>\n

Panel 5<\/strong>
\nThe man is continuing to talk to Bob, now making an emphatic gesture with his pipe. Bob snaps his fingers in agreement.
\nMAN: No one was angry until Martin Luther King started agitating! He’s actually making racial strife worse!
\nBOB: Like “Black Lives Matter” in my time!
\nMAN: Black lives what?<\/p>\n

Panel 6<\/strong>
\nBob is talking cheerfully to a black man, who has a thin mustache and wears a dark suit. The man could be MLK Jr. Bob is holding a protest sign that says “MLK GO AWAY!”
\nCAPTION: And so…
\nBOB: No one’s more against racism than ME!<\/p>\n

“Kicker” panel (a small “extra” image below the last panel)<\/strong>
\nBob is talking happily at the Fairy, while pridefully pointing to himself with his thumb. The Fairy facepalms.
\nBOB: If I lived in the 1800s, I’d definitely be an abolitionist!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please support these cartoons on Patreon! Even a $1 pledge matters a lot. This cartoon was originally published on The Splinter. Thanks, Splinter! There’s an adage I’ve seen around; I’ve seen it put various ways, but always from Black writers. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,93],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics","category-race-racism-and-related-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23461,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23459\/revisions\/23461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}