Our country — and the world — is talking about race in deep ways that we never have before. I lived through the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s, and while the movement brought us far in understanding and change, it is nothing like what we are learning now. We have a very long way to go yet, politically and culturally. But on the state level and soon on the national level, we are passing legislation for change. Institutions are making positive decisions such as removing racist symbols, statues, flags and practices. As a people, we are talking. These are good steps. They need to continue, along with protests, for a long time before we are done.

These drawings were done in the last week as I thought about what has been going on. The murder of George Floyd is only the latest of many such horrible deaths at the hands of police; I drew about the pain of losing a brother, the children about whom we have to worry, the protests of blacks and whites. The drawing below is about the burden of racism that our country unfairly puts on black citizens, a burden that I, a white person, do not have to carry, but should.

Every day, I draw a different image live on Instagram and Twitter and talk about what I sense is going on, what the issues are, how I am impacted personally and dialogue with those who join me.

Drawings are about communication, emotion and the sharing of ideas.

There has been a lot of discussion about — and action towards— removing statues of people who have racists histories; and I think it’s a good thing. Some don’t agree with it.

I thought of this drawing today with that in mind. This president is not a statue, however there is much discussion about removing him because of his beliefs and his behavior. And there is some action beeing taken towards removing him. Not by pulling him down, as the drawing implies, but by voting in November.

I venture to say that the groups most interested in his removal are Blacks, Feminists and LGBTQ communities.

These are some drawings I did in the last twenty four hours in response to the brutal killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, and the subsequent riots and protests around the country in major cities. This follows many other recent racist acts in our country.

Having lived through the 1960’s and 70’s, I remember how important, yet how frigentening and disturbing these events are. We need the protests to fully recognize and acknowledge how serious racisim is, how deeply engrained in our culture and poltical system it still is. We don’t need violence, we don’t need looting, we don’t need vandalism; but anger is clearly understandable and any violence during the protests I hope will be short lived. Protest is a form of speech for those who feel they are not being heard. Violence during protests only obscures the speech and is counterproductive.

 

A flag upside down is an international symbol of distress.

We have to be better as human beings towards our fellow human beings. I am not sure what it will take; we do not have a leader to help us through this. We have to be better, each and every one of us, on a one-to-one basis.

One thing I know: vote for change in America. Our current president is only inciting the violence.

I drew these live, on Instagram TV and Periscope. Videos to come.

The global corona virus pandemic is altering so many things. It’s changing lives; it’s changing life.  We are all in this together, all over the world, but it is affecting people differently, and in different ways. As a cartoonist, my job is to reflect what is going on in the world, or in my small sphere of the U.S. I have been drawing a lot about how the virus is affecting us.

This cartoon on the left was actually drawn pre-pandemic, but it was run during the pandemic. The one on the right was certainly autobiographical and done during the pandemic. It ran this week in The New Yorker

This was submitted to The New Yorker for a Daily Cartoon, but they didn’t buy it. I drew this at the height of the surge of cases in NYC.

 

 

 

These three cartoons were done in the last few weeks. The New Yorker didn’t buy these either.

Being at home is something that most cartoonists are accustomed to, but it’s starting to get to me. I feel disconnected. It’s true that I draw to connect with people, even at a distance, and I still do that. That’s one reason why I love social media so much. I can just put drawings there for people to enjoy, comment on, share. But being home all the time, I was searching for something else to do to connect, to help. One day, early in the pandemic, I set up my phone over my hand and drew for the camera, lightly talking about what I was feeling and doing. But also letting the pen make it’s lovely pen-sounds for the video. People told me they felt calm after watching me draw, and that is all I needed to hear. I would do it every day if watching me draw helped some people to feel better. And so now I am doing just that. Every day, I draw on Instagram Live and Periscope at around 5pm ET.

Here is one of the early ones.

Beginning soon after this one, I started talking to the camera more, as I drew.

And I began doing animations every day as well.

You can see all my animations and live drawing on my YouTube channel, or Instagram.

We do what we can to cope, and this is what I can do.