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Except when I publish comics based on ideas submitted by readers, Itchy Feet is from my perspective: a youngish able-bodied straight white Western middle class man. Among the many privileges I enjoy is an audience who reads my work and a platform with which to broadcast whatever I want to say.
But this week, I only want to say that I fully support the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing peaceful protests. Other than that, I want to listen. I hope you'll join me.
"Seek first to understand, then to be understood."
Mal
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/3244549-but-it-is-not-enough-for-me-to-stand-before
ReplyDeleteAmen
DeleteI think you could use your power for good by doing some serious cartoons that address the issues of racism among travelers, or in the countries we visit. I am a white woman, but the people of color I've met traveling have told me stories of the racism -- both overt and inadvertent -- they've encountered. If you collected some of those stories, you could work with travelers of color to portray their experiences in your unique way...the cartoons might not be particularly funny, but I bet they would be thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteI think that's actually already happened a few times (the first one that springs to mind is the alien visiting our "picturesque but backward" civilisation and spouting patronising comments, and another cartoon was about Asian Americans travelling the world), and those cartoons were still funny. There's a lot of power in humour, and it's often just as thought-provoking as serious portrayals.
DeleteOr you can jump on the latest bandwagon across the "western" civilization that get amplified out of control just because is yet another election year in the USA. we don't need that, you don't need to do this and sure as hell I'll not keep you in my feed.
ReplyDeleteBye. We won't miss you.
DeleteEnough people joining the "latest bandwagon" for it to become and unstoppable wave is how we advance civil liberties. They don't advance by themselves.
Deletepeople are risking getting shot in the face or going to prison. you might go to some lengths to pretend their reasons to do this are not real, insist on not hearing what they have to say, dismiss it as election year craze, but that would not be right.
DeleteThank you for being willing to speak out on such an important topic.
ReplyDeleteg'donya (as we more or less Australians more or less say)
ReplyDeleteWhy only black lives matter? Why not any lives matter? If you care only about black lives then how do you differ from a racist? If you do not want to be a racist then you should care about any lives no matter what color, gender, or anything else.
ReplyDeleteIt's not "ONLY black lives matter." It's "black lives matter TOO."
DeleteGood Analogy I read somewhere:
DeleteYou’re sitting at a table with your family, but everyone except you has a plate and food in front of them. You say, “I should get my fair share.” Your dad corrects you and says “Everyone should get their fair share,” and your family keeps on eating. Your dad is technically correct-everyone should get their fair share, not just you-but you haven’t got your fair share and your dad’s nitpicking hasn’t solved anything.
Righteous kool-aid tastes very sweet.
ReplyDelete