Another mind-numbing week. Zero motivation to draw shit, or say things.
I tried to expand on my drawings of the gun nuts. Trying to make light of their funny garb, and obsession with water bottles.
Doesn’t feel productive.
I don’t know what to do. Donate to the myriad of good causes...
Protest.
Christine and I participated in a “cars with signs and horns” protest last weekend, where we circled the Cook County prison and Super Max on 26th and California, the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, where we imprison children, and finally to the Federal building downtown. Had to be thousands of vehicles. It felt like a real protest. There was solidarity in a cause. We had numbers. It was Covid-safe.
Risk is part of the point, though. There were others last week, on foot, putting themselves on the line.
From Zeynep Tufekci
Protesting is about putting yourself out there despite all the risk, from the police and the virus, to engage in an act of shared vulnerability to make a political point: This will not stand.
The risk from the police. And, man do the cops escalate. The police are not performing their duty to serve and protect during protests. They are acting on behalf of the state to arrest, harm, and dominate citizens. The police are instigators of violence.
This should look like a citizen trying to protect their body from permanent damage, while they exercise their right to protest. It looks radical, because the police behavior is radical.
I never imagined that I would support defunding the police, but I do.
Let’s start with demilitarization of the cops. No helmets, shields, riot sticks, assault type long guns, gas launchers, Lenco BearCats, MRAPs, tanks, whatever the fuck. Send those citizen tax payer dollars to community resources, like mental health, nutrition, and childcare. The cops are over-funded.
Let’s shut down police black sites.
"But, Mike, who will protect ourselves from the Right Wing, White Supremacist, well armed nutjobs?”
Let’s demilitarize those guys, too. Then, let’s drum them out of the police force. Then let’s drum them out of the military, and political office.
Links
Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration
Police aggression leads to violence.
The Case for Reparations (Ta-Nehisi Coates)
Twitter and Tear Gas (more Zeynep Tufekci)
Thank you for reading. I’d love to hear what you think; feel free to reply to this email
The world needs to see that t shirt image.
Mike, your comics are really capturing the moment. My day becomes appreciably brighter when I get an email alerting me to a new entry. Thanks for doing this. - Tony