Quick Note

No comics this week

Hi — no comics from me this week, but I’ll be publishing more next week to make up for it.

I feel awkward talking about politics and current events, but I wanted to say that I support the protests, and I support an end to police brutality. This also feels, for me, like a good time to stop, listen, and read.

In case anyone is interested, I thought I would share some links to things I am reading. If anyone also missed Nikole Hannah-Jones’ opening essay to the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project from last summer, I recommend it: “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.”

I also recommend The Marshall Project’s roundup: “From Michael Brown to George Floyd: What We’ve Learned About Policing” — stories from the publication’s archives about “police, violence and racial inequality in America.” (“A contributing factor to excessive use of force by police is the increasing militarization of many police departments. For decades, the Defense Department has been passing surplus military equipment to local law enforcement agencies — for free and with little scrutiny.”)

And from Five Books (a site on which experts recommend their five favorite books on given topics): “If you're looking for just one book to read on racism in the US, our most recommended book is The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by civil rights lawyer Michelle Alexander.” I ordered a copy. I did the same, belatedly, with Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Between the World and Me.

I also like writer/researcher Noah Brier’s collection of resources on racism in America, on Why Is This Interesting. (“These are the pieces I have either shared most with others or continue to come back to my mind months or years later.”)