New Toon: Resegregation Nation, or Goodbye Brown vs. Board of Education

All you closet Klansmen out there, you would-be Bull O'Connors and George Wallaces, listen up: it is officially time to party! Get out your balloons and confetti, and iron your best white robes, because the Bush Supreme Court has officially declared that racial integration and diversity DON'T MATTER AT ALL. The Bush court says that not only is segregation totally cool (as long as it's the "natural" result of segregated housing areas), it's actively RACIST to oppose segregation. Why? Because racial diversity is AGAINST the spirit of Brown vs. Board of Education.

Yes, that's right--it's against the spirit of the decision that made it possible for children of all colors to go to school together to encourage children of all colors to go to school together. The only way to avoid racism is to DENY it and ignore it and NOT DO ANYTHING TO STOP IT. That's what being "colorblind" is all about!

As the NAACP's Theodore Shaw put it on The Newshour With Jim Lehrer tonight, it doesn't get much more Orwellian than this. This is Civil Rights Lite to the extreme. Hence the vigorous dissent:

[Souter] said the chief justice’s invocation of Brown vs. Board of Education was “a cruel irony” when the opinion in fact “rewrites the history of one of this court’s most important decisions” by ignoring the context in which it was issued and the Supreme Court’s subsequent understanding of it to permit voluntary programs of the sort that were now invalidated.

I was particularly horrified by the anti-integration argument that many parents "don't want this" ("this", presumably, being the horror of their children going to school with black kids). For example, here's Roger Clegg, president of the deceptively named "Center for Equal Opportunity" (his group filed an amicus brief in the case) celebrating the anti-integration decision on the NewsHour:

I think that school boards are also going to be sensitive to the fact that most parents don't like it when they are told that where they can send their children to school depends on what color they are.

And...

I think the question is whether anyone believes that a politically correct racial and ethnic mix, that kind of diversity, is worth the price of racial discrimination. And I think that most Americans would say that, no, it is not.

Sure, lots of Americans--bigoted and ignorant ones--protested school integration back in the day because they didn't want it, either. That didn't make them RIGHT. That was the whole POINT of Brown vs. Board! As the NAACP's Shaw put it:

This [integration] is not about school districts telling people that they can't go to school on the basis of their skin color. This is about school districts trying to continue to fulfill the promise of Brown and to avoid segregation. In no way is this comparable to the kind of regime of segregation and discrimination that existed under Jim Crow.

Exactly.

Finally, while we're on the topic of Brown vs. Board of Education, this is particularly bad timing, because I just did a dystopian cartoon for Lambda Legal wondering "What would life be like without integrated schools?":

Prepare to find out. And God Bless Our Colorblind America, where the playing field is level, everyone has an equal chance, and white kids can just learn about colored folks on their Tee-Vees!

Next up: in a landmark victory for Americans who don't like sharing water fountains, the Supreme Court rules that allowing black people and white people to drink from the same water fountains violates the Constitution.

P.S. I would have called this cartoon "Separate But Equal: The Sequel", but I already drew a cartoon with that title. Oh well.

P.P.S. Just so it's clear--in the cartoon, the kids of color are locked up in a "Jim Crow Max Security Educational Facility" not because they're troublemakers or deserve to be there, but because they live under racist segregation.

For more on this horrible decision, see BrownFemiPower and Amanda at Pandagon and Samhita at Feministing.

Loving v. Virginia toon for Lambda Legal + Vote in Illustration Contest

OK, technically the 40th anniversary of the Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court decision on interracial marriage was yesterday, but still, happy Loving Day! Here's the Loving toon I did for Lambda Legal's Life Without Fair Courts cartoon series (click to enlarge and read more about the case): And here are some more of my latest cartoons from the series:
Life Without the Right to Counsel: Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972)
Life Without Equal Educational Opportunities: United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515 (1996)
Life Without Peaceful Protests: Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
Life Without Access to Contraceptives: Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U.S. 438 (1972)

Finally, there's a cool Life Without Fair Courts illustration contest going on that needs your vote! Check out the awesome entries by the five finalists (Greg Fox, Matt Bors, Jennifer Cruté, Ted Rall and Astrid Lydia Johanssen) and cast your vote today!

Dr. Alito's Second Opinion

Regarding today's horrible Supreme Court 5-4 decision upholding the ban on D&X abortions, in which Alito played a crucial role, I figured I'd bring this cartoon of mine back: (By the way, I'm posting this from an internet café in San Francisco--I really need to get a laptop one of these days!)

My Life Without Fair Courts cartoon series launch

+ A cartoon contest I meant to post this a few days ago, but you can now check out the first two cartoons and info about the cases that inspired them in my Life Without Fair Courts cartoon series for Lambda Legal. You might have noticed I've been on the quiet side lately, and this is partly why. The series will contain 10-12 cartoons total (2 new cartoons per month).

LAMBDA LEGAL NEWS RELEASE, January 16, 2007
Contact: Mark Roy 212-809-8585 ext. 267; Cell: 347-512-3358

Lambda Legal Launches "Life Without Fair Courts" Cartoon Series and Contest

The Advocate features "Life Without Fair Courts" graphic art, artist and contest in its January 30th issue, on stands today.

(New York, January 16, 2007) --- Today, Lambda Legal, in conjunction with Prism Comics and media sponsor, The Advocate, launches its "Life Without Fair Courts" editorial cartoon series and "Life Without Fair Courts Contest," seeking to educate the public in a new way about the need for fair courts.

"We're thrilled to be able to have artist Mikhaela Reid on board to illustrate the need for judicial fairness in such a fresh way," said Hector Vargas, Deputy Director of Education and Public Affairs at Lambda Legal. "We look forward to seeing other artists display how courts affect their lives through the 'Life Without Fair Courts Contest'"

As part of its commitment to educating the public about the need for fair courts, Lambda Legal has commissioned graphic artist Mikhaela Reid to do a series of graphic art called "Lambda Legal's Life Without Fair Courts." The series is an alternate reality cartoon that depicts what life would be like if courts had not upheld the Constitution and individual rights --- but instead decided in favor of discrimination in past landmark court cases.

Paired with the art series, Lambda Legal has teamed up with Prism Comics (an organization for the LGBT graphic artist community), and media sponsor, The Advocate, to launch a nationwide contest to find the best representation of what the artists' own lives would look like without fair courts. First prize in the contest is exposure in The Advocate and on Advocate.com. Contest judges include Joan Hilty, Editor at DC Comics; Phil Jimenez, Freelance Illustrator and Comic Book Artist; Mikhaela Reid, creator of the original series, Life Without Fair Courts; and George Stoll, Art Director for The Advocate. Submissions to the contest will be accepted through 11:59 p.m. on March 15, 2007. All entries should be submitted to either Lambda Legal, c/o Fair Courts Contest, 120 Wall Street, Suite 1500, New York, NY 10005 or faircourtscontest@lambdalegal.org. For a complete list of contest rules visit www.lambdalegal.org/CourtingJustice

As part of the launch, The Advocate's January 30, 2007 issue, on stands today, includes a feature article with art by Mikhaela Reid and information about Lambda Legal's Courting Justice campaign to educate the public about the need for fair courts. The art can also be found at www.lambdalegal.org/courtingjustice. and Advocate.com.

Courting Justice is Lambda Legal's education campaign designed to add the organization's unique perspective to the fight to defend fair and impartial courts. The campaign seeks to ensure that LGBT and HIV-affected people know what's at stake and how to get involved in efforts to defend fair and impartial courts at the federal and state levels. As part of the Courting Justice campaign, Lambda Legal launched a special website to provide critical information about the role of the courts in protecting civil rights and current threats to that role. More information about Courting Justice can be found on its website at: www.lambdalegal.org/courtingjustice.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.