Tow #1 Visual Text: Star Tribune Cartoon "The Talk" by Steve Sack

For this week's TOW I chose a cartoon which shows "The Talk" that White Americans give their children, and "The Talk" African American's give their children. This cartoon is by Steve Sack, a liberal leaning American cartoonist who won a 2013 Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning. Although the award was not for this specific piece of art, it was won for the messages that he portrayed in them. This cartoon displays the justice issues that minorities have and justice issues that White Americans don’t have. A common topic that is discussed to children is "The Talk", often referring to the explanation of sexual intercourse. In this case, an African American parent is teaching their child about how minorities are wrongly treated in the justice system. The reason why the African American father is explaining this to his child is because of cases like Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, where police force and/or justice systems have wrongly sentenced the perpetrator within the years of 2012 - 2015 and left the minority to fend for themselves. “The Talk” that the White Americans are having is one that is supposed to resemble innocence and learning of a natural process. The ‘birds and the bees’ being a talk that has nothing to do with justice. With that being said, it comes across that Sacks intended audience is African Americans and other minorities in the United States. With minorities having to face an issue like so, it creates no reason for White Americans to receive this message. By myself being a minority, I have learned the harsh history that has occurred along with how the White Americans were the ones applying it. Learning about the unfair justice that occurred has lead me to believe that Sack has successfully and clearly presented his view on the unjust actions that occur in the United States justice system.