TOW #13 - Visual Text: Star Tribune Editorial Cartoon “The Talk”

For this week’s TOW, I decided to analyze a political cartoon for the first time. This cartoon was created by the Star Tribune’s resident cartoonist, Steve Sack, the winner of several awards for his depictions, including most recently winning the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. This particular cartoon was not created in response to a specific event, but rather to address a cultural disparity: how our US justice system treats minorities a compared to their white counterparts. Sack does this by mainly relying upon the use of juxtaposition. The first thing that the viewer notices about the cartoon is its title, “The Talk”, which is in very large font and all-caps. Next he or she sees the use of juxtaposition given by two nearly identical scenes: the first, a white father talking to his son about “the birds and the bees” while in his son’s room on his bed, and the second, a black father talking to his son about guns and the supposedly blind US justice system while in his son’s room on his bed. I chose this cartoon because I can relate to it personally, as I have had the latter talk with my own parents, and the theme of injustice between whites and minorities connects to my current IRB, The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Based on the cartoon’s title and the content of the talks between the white father/son and the black father/son, one can infer that Sack intended to communicate that the reality for minorities in America, specifically African Americans, is that they are treated unfairly in our justice system, and that that is a problem that whites do not have to worry about. Regardless of whether or not you agree with Sack’s message, I believe he communicated it clearly and successfully through the use of juxtaposition and by relying on cultural memory of minorities historically being treated unfairly compared to whites.

"The Talk" by Steve Sack