Jacob Blake

Kenosha

cjones09012020

Sometimes I’ll draw a cartoon knowing full well most of my clients won’t run it. OK, it’s more than sometimes I do that. But sometimes, you have to say something others are afraid to.

Usually, when a cop does something that outrageous America and the police have to actually accept what that cop did was wrong, they like to refer to him as a bad apple. But it’s not individual cops that are the root of the problem of systemic racism among the nation’s police departments.

When a black CNN reporter was arrested for doing his job in Minneapolis, the arresting police department issued a statement saying they couldn’t verify his credentials. Never mind the fact he had his credentials on him, there was a camera crew with him, and he was live on the air when they arrested him. It was not a “bad apple” that issued that lying statement. It was the entire department.

When a Buffalo cop shoved an old man to the ground, cracking his head open, the cop was punished. Fifty seven other cops resigned from that volunteer task force in protest of the punishment. That was not one “bad apple.” It was 58.

When cops murdered George Floyd, it wasn’t one cop who refused to arrest them for an entire week. It was the department.

Today, it’s the Kenosha Police Department that’s still refusing to arrest the cop who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times in front of his children.

It’s the Kenosha police union, not one cop, saying Blake had a knife, justifying being shot in the back seven times. A knife on the floorboard on the passenger side of his car…when he was shot seven times in the back on the outside of the driver’s side of his car.

It’s the Kenosha police union, not one cop, arguing Blake was a bad man and a wanted fugitive, as though that justifies being shot in the back seven times.

It’s the Kenosha police who decided Jacob Blake was such a danger to society, even though he was handicapped from the waist down from being shot seven times in the back by a cop, that he needed to be shackled to his hospital bed.

It was the Kenosha police who tossed water bottles to armed militia men patrolling their streets, pretending they were there to protect businesses. It was the Kenosha police who thanked these militia men even though their chief said they weren’t wanted.

It was Kenosha police who thanked and gave water to a white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante.

It was Kenosha police who decided to drive past that white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante after he had shot three people and killed two of them. It was Kenosha police who decided to let him go without question despite bystanders screaming at them that the white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante had just murdered someone.

It was the chief of police who defended that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante by saying he was “resolving” a problem.

It’s a white president refusing to say anything critical about that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante while he continues to call peaceful protesters “terrorists.”

It’s white Trump supporters and Fox News glorifying and defending that murdering white 17-year-old out-of-state vigilante.

It’s white Trump supporters and Fox News glorifying and defending a terrorist.

The Kenosha Police Department has a LOT of explaining to do. America’s police departments have a LOT of explaining to do.

And in honor of Chadwick Boseman, Wakanda forever!

Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From the Trumpster Fire

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The House That Trump Built

cjones08302020

Republicans don’t comprehend well. You can scream as loud as the banshee Don Jr is dating and they still wouldn’t get it.

For the past three nights, Republicans have used their convention to tell us Donald Trump is not a racist while not once showing any support for Black Lives Matter. Last night, not one of them said Jacob Blake’s name. And of course, no one said Kyle Rittenhouse.

Kyle Rittenhouse is only 17, and like the Republicans he supports, he doesn’t get it. He was a big promoter online of Blue Lives Matter. What he doesn’t get here is, blue lives have always mattered. Today, one of my conservative colleagues drew a cartoon justifying the killing of Blake by arguing he shouldn’t have resisted arrest, and he used the term “all lives matter.” Just like blue lives, white lives have always mattered. The reason we say “black lives matter” is because the culture and system in this nation still does not believe they do. And resisting arrest should not be a death sentence. It’s like arguing a woman asked to be raped because she dressed seductively.

Case in point: Last night, while arguing for equality, Mike Pence defended our “culture” and Confederate statues. Another case in point: New video footage came out showing Kenosha police handing out bottles of water to the “vigilantes.”

The chief of Kenosha’s police says he refused to deputize armed citizens, which is smart. But then, his cops are on the street, handing out water to these militias and thanking them. The chief said his cops would hand out water to anyone, so let’s see the footage of them handing out water to BLM protesters and thanking them.

The chief also defended Rittenhouse saying the shootings wouldn’t have happened if everyone had obeyed the curfew and that Rittenhouse was just there to “resolve” the conflict. Seriously. I’m not a cop, but it seems to me that if the protesters are breaking curfew, then so are the fucking militias who are armed. The cops didn’t tell them to get off the streets.

And the other footage just released shows Kyle Rittenhouse approaching multiple police vehicles, even getting within inches of one, looking in the window, and the cops just waving him off. This was immediately after Rittenhouse had shot three protesters, killing two and taking the arm of another. The protesters were yelling at the police that Rittenhouse had just shot people. The police let him go. Why? Because he’s white.

We don’t need to ask how would the cops have responded if this was a black man with a gun. They shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back and are now supporting that action by saying he had a knife in his car…which he was not in. Also, the cops who shot Blake in the back seven times have STILL NOT BEEN CHARGED. Maybe this is why Rittenhouse dreamed of being a cop. You can shoot black people and get away with it. Hell, he almost did just by being white.

The GOP celebrated Mark and Patricia McCloskey for standing on their lawn pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters walking by their house. They had them as speakers at their convention. They warned if Joe Biden is elected, black people may walk by your house where your white family lives. Donald Trump and the Republican Party are making heroes and victims out of the McCloskeys. This probably leaves a huge impression on gun fetishists, especially one as impressionable as a 17-year-old.

Kyle Rittenhouse has a gun fetish. He has a cop fetish. He is a Donald Trump supporter. He even sat in the front row of a Trump rally. He’s also a killer and a terrorist. And the Republicans who support “law and order” and claim they’re the best at protecting us from terrorists…are defending this white terrorist. They’re calling this murderer a hero. This Trumpian version of Hitler Youth got exactly what he wanted. He got to shoot black people and he’s becoming famous, like he said he wanted, in the right-wing bubble.

They’re arguing he was just defending himself. Yeah, he drove across state lines to a town he didn’t live in to confront protesters and defend himself. Then, he ran away back across state lines after shooting people. He did not defend himself. He attacked people. He was on another video claiming it was his job to defend businesses in Kenosha, yet he was in the middle of the street shooting at people. It was not this 17-year-old kid’s job to drive to Kenosha and defend businesses. He should have stayed home and played on 4chan like most right-wing Trump supporting fucknuts.

And the other militia members who were in his presence, it doesn’t seem that any of them had an issue with a kid joining them with an assault rifle. The cops passed him several times and never had an issue with a kid on the streets with an assault rifle. Why? Because he’s white.

And how did he get that assault rifle? He’s 17. He’s not supposed to be able to purchase one. Has anyone on Fox News asked that question? Will the Republican Party ask that question? Let me kill the suspense right now. No.

The GOP is real big about calling for law and order and ending violence…but they won’t specifically call out these militia fucknuts. In fact, Donald Trump tweeted at them to liberate states with Democratic governors.

This morning, Donald Trump, the Republican Party, Fox News, and all conservatives can’t accept their complicity, can’t mention the crimes, can’t call this kid a terrorist, and can’t own any responsibility. Just as he said about the coronavirus, he’s not responsible.

The entire Republican Party is responsible for this kid who went out to shoot black Americans. It’s every right-wing gun fetishist’s dream. It’s why they carry long rifles into Starbucks. They’re hoping a black guy will make their day.

Kyle Rittenhouse went to Kenosha to have his day made. He went stormtrooping down the street, took lives and ruined others. The Republican Party encouraged this and now they’re defending it.

This an issue where we need to fight for civil rights and gun control. And maybe, the Republican Party and the president (sic) of the United States can stop glorifying white right-wing terrorists.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party support and promote white right-wing terrorists.

Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From the Trumpster Fire

Watch me draw.

Kenosha Commotion

cjones08292020

With a cult following as stupid, racist, and reactionary as Donald Trump’s, it’s very dangerous when he encourages division and violence. Donald Trump telegraphs his people to incite violence and other times, he’s not saying it clear.

Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old black man was shot in the back at least seven times by the Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department. For you Trump cultists out there, it doesn’t matter if he had a criminal history. It doesn’t matter if there was a warrant for his arrest. It doesn’t matter if he resisted arrest. Police do not have the right to use lethal force on unarmed people who aren’t posing a threat. The cops shot him in front of children.

For the past few days, there have been protests in Kenosha. Yes, there has been violence and destruction. Now, inject white gun-toting militia men posing as vigilantes and you have a recipe for a disaster. What does this have to do with Donald Trump? Everything.

Last night during the Trump hate convention, I only heard Jacob Blake’s name once. Melania mentioned unrest in the streets but all she said about that was an acknowledgement of it.

Also from last night, armed militia men took to the streets in Kenosha, killed two people and injured at least one. There is a video of a white man running down the street with an AR-15 type weapon, who stops, turns, and starts shooting at protesters. There are reports that when he ran by cops, he put his arms in the air to surrender, and they cops ignored him and let him go. This is why there are riots.

When police apprehended George Floyd for trying to cash a counterfeit $20 bill, they killed him. When they apprehended Eric Garner for selling loose cigarettes, they killed him. They killed Breonna Taylor while she was in bed and they were looking for someone else. When they captured white shooter Dylann Roof who had just executed nine black people in a church, the cops took him to Burger King. And when they see a white man running down the street right after he had shot into a crowd of black people, they let him keep running.

Can you start to appreciate why there are calls to defund the police? Don’t you see there are different systems of treatment and justice for white and black people?

And yes, Donald Trump approves of this. He instigated what happened last night.

Last April, Donald Trump encouraged armed men to storm the state capitol building in Lansing, Michigan. He tweeted to loyal base of racists, “Liberate Michigan.” He also tried to stir up violence in other states with Democratic governors when he tweeted, “Liberate Minnesota” and “Liberate Virginia.”

During this week’s convention, the hate and fear is widespread. Other than Melania, every speaker has promised doom and gloom if Donald Trump loses the election. They’re lying while warning the nation will erupt in violence in Joe Biden’s America. Why, the cities will burn in Joe Biden’s America…and to argue their case, they use footage from Donald Trump’s America.

During the convention, they brought out the gun-toting Missouri couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who took to their lawn with weapons, she with a pistol and him with an AR-15 type weapon, to point them at black people walking on the sidewalk in front of their home. They claim they were protecting their home from the people walking down the sidewalk. The McCloskeys warned what happened to them could happen to anybody in America…..you know, any white person in America. 

The Republicans are making heroes out of this couple, currently being charged for pointing guns at people, for pointing guns at innocent and peaceful protesters. In bringing them out and putting them on TV endorsing Donald Trump, the Republican Party is endorsing armed militias to take to the streets.

In addition, Donald Trump is warning if he loses, black people may move into your white suburb.

The armed goons in Kenosha weren’t protecting anything. You don’t protect property by running down the street shooting at people. Many of the armed goons aren’t protecting their homes and businesses because they’re not from Kenosha. These goons saw an opportunity to walk around with guns to overcompensate for their tiny penises, to feel good about being asshole Republicans, and maybe if they’re lucky, get to shoot some black people. And ya’ know, the cops in Kenosha just might let them get away with it. How many black men running down the street with semi-automatic weapons do you think the Kenosha police let go last night? 

What’s going on in Kenosha is a result from a message of hate, fear, racism, destruction, and gun violence.

Donald Trump approves that message. What happened last night happened in Donald Trump’s America.

Tip Jar: This pandemic is hitting everyone, including your favorite goofy cartoonist. I have lost clients and I’m afraid I might lose more. The PayPal button has always been included here for those who can and want to voluntarily support what I do. I understand this time is hard on everyone. If you can’t, don’t contribute. Take care of yourself and your family first. But, all and any help is greatly appreciated and it helps keep me going. Think of me like a street performer busking out tunes on a corner (I won’t play “Wonderwall.” I promise). If you like the tune, or in this case, toon, throw a buck into the tip jar. It’ll help me play another song, draw another toon, write another blog, make another video, and post another snarky post on social media. It’ll help keep me alive. You can also order a signed print for $40. And if you don’t like the PayPal option, you can snail mail it to my P.O. Box.

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

New Book: Tales From the Trumpster Fire

Watch me draw.