Cartoons for June

These first few months of the Obama administration have been very interesting and very exciting for me. It's been a scary time for me, and for many Americans, as this economic crisis has worsened and as the situation in Afganistan, Iran, and North Korea have drawn our attention. It has also been an exciting time time as well, as our first African American President has turned out to be a very intelligent political leader who is trying to lead us to new directions. Many people have noted that this is the best opportunity in a long time to enact progressive legislation, of the likes of the New Deal in the 1930s. I did a cartoon on that in the May 6, 2009 issue of the Tri-City Voice on the necessity of grassroots movements to push Obama and the Democratic Party towards more progressive change.

My cartoon was inspired by two quotes. One is by Jessie Jackson, who wrote in the April 7, 2008 edition of the Nation:

"In 1932, Roosevelt did not run on a New Deal platform. He was the best option. The workers at the plant gates, they were the answer. A combination of an enlightened President, an energized electorate- that's the coalition.

In 1960 Dr. King chose Kennedy over Nixon. Neither ran on a public accomodations platform. That came from Birmingham. In 1964 neither Johnson nor Goldwater ran on a Voting Rights Act platform. That came from Selma.

When we, the people, coalesce with an enlightened President, we can change America, from the bottom up, from the grassroots to the treetops, for the better."

I read an article in the March issue of the Progressive by Howard Zinn that I thought made a good point. In it Zinn warns Progressives not to expect the election of Obama to unleash any great reform cycle, unless his election is accompanied by the hard work of Progressives to move the nation to be receptive to reform. In his article, Zinn wrote:

"I'm talking about a sense of proportion that gets lost in the election madness. Would I support one candidate against another? Yes, for two minutes- the amount of time it takes to pull the lever down in the voting booth.

But before and after those two minutes, our time, our energy, should be spent in educating, agitating, organizing our fellow citizens in the workplace, in the neighborhoods, in the schools. Our objective should be to build, painstakingly, patiently but energetically, a movement that, when it reaches a certain critical mass, would shake whoever is in the White House, in Congress, into changing national policy on maters of war and social justice.

Let's remember that even when there is a 'better' candidate (yes, better Roosevelt than Hoover, better anyone than George Bush), that difference will not mean anything unless the power of the people asserts itself in ways that the occupant of the White House will find it dangerous to ignore."

I made this cartoon for the May 13, 2009 edition of the Tri-City Voice about the recent rash of cases around the world over the swine flu. It was a scary time reading articles about the deaths due to this disease.

One unintended effect of the flu was the prejudice against Mexicans that was added in certain areas due to the fact that the flu started in Mexico. I was saddened by this fact, as Mexican Americans are already suffering through a rise in prejudice and violence. According to the FBI, hate crimes against Latinos rose 35% between 2003 and 2006. On Long Island the day of November 8, 2008, Marcello Lucero, a Suffolk County, Long Island man of Ecuadoran descent, was beaten to death by a group of teenagers simply for being Hispanic. These types of violent incidents are becoming more common across the country.

I did another cartoon for the May 20, 2009 edition of the Tri-City Voice on the banking crisis. I've been especially anxious about this since I read articles in the Economist about similar banking problems hindering Japan's economy during most of the 1990s. In Japan's case, they had a large stimulus package to try to revive their economy, but they did not make any large scale reforms to their banks and it prolonged a deep recession that lasted for over a decade.

California has had major budget problems for the past few years now. Last winter, the legislature had seemingly come up with a budget compromise to resolve the deficit problems of the state for at least the short term and they needed the voters to pass a series of propositions to seal the agreement. Two weeks ago, however, California voters rejected the propositions except for one that denied any raises to legislators until the budget is out of a defict. As someone who works for a city, I watched as several of my coworkers groan at the result of the elections. because we knew that it meant further cuts in some vital government services in the social services, education and public safety sector. I did this cartoon for the June 3, 2009 edition of the Tri-City Voice in response.

In the last week, I've started listening to a books on tape of The Grapes of Wrath. I hadn't read the book since college and forgot a lot of the details of the book and I forgot how good the book is. I'm in the section where Joads just picked up the Wilsons on their road to California, and there is a section where a waitress allows a poor migrant to buy 2 candies for his kids for a penny even though the candies were actually a nickel apiece. Two truckers notice the kindness of the waitress, and leave an extra tip for the waitress in appreciation. When I read about the struggles people are going to right now because of the economic downturn, Steinbeck's book seems more appropriate to read now than ever.