Political Cartoons!
By: Connor Zolnik
Political Past
This political cartoon depicts a winding road with different stops the African American has to make before being able to cast their vote. But the white man has a nice escalator right to the voting room. We can clearly see how hard it was for the African American to get to the voting and how easy it is for the white man. The main reason of this cartoon is to portray how discriminating the white government was to the black population. This moves us farther away from our ideals.
Political Present
In this picture we see two men holding up a banner. One man is African American the other is white man. There are two police officers confronting the African American and no one is confronting the white man. The banner says ¨Equal Justice.¨ One thing that is not being shown in this cartoon. The police are asking the African american for a permit to peacefully protest. One of our rights is to be able to peacefully protest. The cartoonist is show that they still are not treated equal compared to people who are different that us because of race, color, and or gender. This shows that we have moved closer, but not far enough.
Social Past
In this picture we see a man who looks like Abraham Lincoln. He is mixing two cups of liquid. Also in the picture is a bar with a newspaper laying on it and there are bottles surrounding the edges. The liquid being mixed reads "New York Press." We can tell that Abe is mixing or making the news because he has the power to create it. I believe the bottles are representing that he is "drunk" with power. I believe this because this could be a hate cartoon towards Lincoln. The author is making the point across that Lincoln controls the press.
Social Present
In this picture we see a cameraman, a police officer, and three African Americans. The officer is pointing a gun at the African Americans. The cameraman is video taping him while he is pointing the gun. The African Americans and the police officer are both saying "DON'T SHOOT" The officer has a jacket that says Ferguson, the same place where an officer killed an unarmed African american. This connects to the other one because the officer is controlling the cameraman to stop. This shows us that we have not changed that media can mentally harm.
Economic Past
This is a picture of a man who is walking with a bag in his hand and sack over his shoulder. In the background there is a group of unknown people. Written on the handbag is "Carpetbagger South" on the sack is written "Carpet bag." We can see that his face is extremely exaggerated and looks shriveled up because people hated his "type" of people.
Economic Present
Illustrated in this picture are three police officers. Two of them are similarly dressed while the third looks more like a State Trooper. One of the police officers has apprehended the State Trooper. He is saying ¨I apprehended this bozo trying to sneak into our territory and steal our jobs.¨ This is similar to what southerners during the reconstruction era would have stated about carpetbaggers. This shows that we have not moved completely to our ideals and still are unable to cope with the immigrants.