Among the number of emails I’ve received today, some have praised today’s strip with the little girl in the hijab for reflecting “the diversity that is America.” – others have hated it saying “It was wrong and wholly inappropriate!”
I’d like to state, as the artist on Sally Forth, I currently live in an area that is home to a large number of Somali Americans that have been here for generations and wear the traditional hijab. My drawing is just an everyday classroom scene in my neck of the woods.
For those who were offended that it ran the day after 9/11 I’d also like to add that I lived in New York when the attacks happened and watched the towers go down from across the bay. I abhor the terrorists for what they did. They killed close to 3,000 people that day of ALL faiths and religions.
To strike back against that kind of evil I’m reminded of the words of Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, who survived a bullet to the head by a Taliban gunman for being an advocate for a girls’ right to go to school. Her message is that the key in fighting global terrorism is education. So maybe the image of a little Somali American girl in a classroom getting an education is exactly what we need to see MORE of, not less.
“He (Al Williamson) was the inheritor of the Alex Raymond school, and he was the logical inheritor of the Flash Gordon comic strips, and he did not get them because people making decisions for those things were stupid. And remain stupid. But it doesn’t matter anymore because nobody cares about comic strips.”
Note: Written in the fall of 2016, before the Trump Presidency.
Donald Trump has come to Minnesota twice during this election cycle and he invariably stirs up racial tensions here with his anti-Muslim rhetoric. It reminds me of the responses I got to a Sally Forth strip I drew earlier in the year.
I draw what’s familiar to me and the area I live in is home to a large number of Somali Americans. They have been here for generations and are our neighbors, so I tend to include Somali kids in the comic strip.
Most of the comments I get are favorable, such as…
Or the following excerpt… (Note: I’m leaving out names for the following emails because they were not on social media and not expected to be shared.)
Hi Jim, Wanted to comment on the Feb 22 Sally Forth strip (as an aside, I read Sally Forth every day and really love it, especially the dad), I noticed in the first panel, lower left hand, there is a girl wearing a hijab or head scarf. I am assuming the implication is this is a Muslim girl. I don’t want to presume to speak for you but from my perspective this is brilliant. By subtly doing this you are taking a big step toward making the hijab ubiquitous which in turn will make the hijab simply an everyday sight and, hopefully, in time, will diminish the amount of anti-Muslim hatred that is currently flowing around our country.
But I also get responses like the following.
Muslim student, in reference, panel one dated 2/22/16. Do you have any idea how destructive this pseudo religion is? I can answer this, you don’t. Enjoyment, respect that I had has diminished.
A link to an article from the conservative website Breitbart followed, I assume, to further educate me.
Speaking of education… Not long ago I went to see Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai speak at the Target Center here in Minneapolis. She survived a bullet to the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012 (for being an advocate for a girls’ right to go to school), and her message is that the key in fighting global terrorism is education.
“The more you speak about Islam and against all Muslims, the more terrorists we create…”
“So it’s important that whatever politicians say, whatever the media say, they should be really, really careful about it. If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it because it cannot stop terrorism. It will radicalize more terrorists.”
So in regards to the cartoons I draw… That a little Somali American girl in a classroom is seen as the ENEMY is the danger of Donald Trump’s rhetoric – and the danger of a Donald Trump presidency.
So much more to see – Neal Adams, Dan Jurgens, Danny Fingeroth, Michael Golden and many, many more.
There are film and TV celebrities as well of course, but they take a back seat to the comic artists in my book. If you’re around the Twin Cities this weekend (May 6-8), check it out!
