Political Cartoons By David Horsey

The above multimodal text is a one panel political cartoon created by David Horsey, an editorial cartoonist and commentator . This cartoon was released in 2013, just around the time where President Barack Obama, the first black US president, had begun his second term as president. Horsey intends to reach the people in power, who abuse and use that power to segregate against people of colour. Additionally, Horsey is appealing to the African Americans themselves, providing them with the sense that their struggles with racial segregation are not hidden from the outside world, yet are very evident, however, many white supremacists in power abuse that power in order to cover up their racial injustices. This cartoon addresses the vices and corruption

Horsey uses vile language –guts– to illustrate just how appalling the action taken by the supreme courts is. The supreme court is the court with the highest jurisdiction, and by gutting away its African Americans citizens’ rights to vote, it justifies racial inequality by said ‘state officials’, and other white American supremacists in positions of power. This decision by the supreme court leaves way for the continued maltreatment of African Americans and people of colour, and by framing the newspaper on the wall, Horsey depicts the excitement of the state officials to be able to prevent the African Americans from voting. A citizen's most important duty is to be able to take part in important political and social decisions. By trashing, disregarding and invalidating the Africans Americans votes it also trashes and rid their identity as an American. The state official may be disposing of the vote because of the assumption that all people of colour are going to vote for the other person of colour. White supremacists in those state official positions resent the idea of having a person of colour in a higher position of power themselves therefore they abuse their own power, all while they can, in order to prevent that from happening. Horsey therefore may make his viewers feel disheartened and uneasy, therefore, they are urged to think about their own

Horsey drew many contrasts between the state official and the African Americans, dismantling the years of societal progress to a world with no racism, causing viewers to associate their own social status with either characters, invoking questioning of the American political system. Horsey extenuates the idea of how White American authoritarian political and social leaders are apathetic to political and social change as well as the notion of racial segregation. Being oppressors themselves, the ‘state officials’ only act on their own interests disregarding the thoughts and opinions of people of colour. Once again, Horsey urges his views to think on their own political and judicial standpoints and systems and the apparent issue of racism that holds true even to this modern day. Horsey's cartoon may be a retaliation, or interpretation of the constant racial segregation when it comes to decision making on a social and political level, but his underlying message is one that applies to all relevant racist instances, regardless of the