Artist Against Police Brutality

It's no secret that the police have constantly overstepped their boundaries. Their use of force continues to escalate while their ethical standards continue to deteriorate. Some take to the streets hoping to display the emotion it evokes. Some write about what they see, hoping to bring attention to the issue. But what do artists do? They pick up their tools and they draw. That's how Artists Against Police Brutality came about.

It began as a comic book to shine a light on the issue but it became so much more. The book isn't just filled with random comics. Each of the comics has a designated motive. In addition to the comics, there are short stories and poems. Admittedly some of them made me uncomfortable, and that's a good thing. The truth makes people uncomfortable and sometimes that's the only way it'll be acknowledged.Once it's acknowledged the heart and minds of individuals can begin to change.

One Hundred and Forty-Seven, that's how many comics, short stories and poems are packed into this book. There are very few repeated creators and some comics or stories are created by more than one person. When you add in the editors it's close to 200 people involved in all of the writing and illustration of this book.

There's a lot of different art styles in the book and I think that's important. The different styles of art can be seen as a reminder that police brutality doesn't affect just one person. The constant changing of styles can also be seen as symbolic of the changing faces of the victims.

Again, there's a lot of stories in this book and I'd like to come back and look at some others later but for this I just want to look at a few that really stand out to me. One that stands out to me due to personal experience is "Boyz In A Hood." It's a short comic from Jerry Craft at JerryCraft.net where he writes the series Moma's Boyz. The series follows a woman name Pauline raising her sons Yusuf and Tyrell. The storied featured in Artists Against Police Brutality has Pauline attempting to protect Yusuf from the world despite him thinking she's just being annoying. I get this. My mother did these kinds of things to me. At the time I considered overprotective and annoying to but at 23, I get why she does it. This comic stick because we all understand it. At some point we've all thought our parents were just being controlling when they had our best interest in mind. Should she have to do these things? No but she just wants to keep her son safe and that's the lengths so many go through every day.

Another story that stuck out to me was "For My Future Child," by Takeia Marie. This entry isn't in images, it's in words. It's a short passage in which Takeia remembers discussing having her first child with her husband. The two wanted a son but they were distressed after the death of Michael Brown. She releases that raising a son in America would mean putting him in constant danger. However, the couple don't wish to deprive themselves of raising a child. It's a dilemma that black people face every day in this country. To see it so elegantly described just tugs at your heartstrings. One line that really stood out was "We've been here before." That wasn't about having a child, it was about a child dying. Michael Brown was not the first black boy or girl left dead in the streets by the police, and sadly wouldn't be the last. In the end the couple decides that they will still have a son, but make sure that he is educated about the world in hopes that he doesn't have to walk into the world blind.

There's a lot of content in APB, and we could stay here talking about it all day. One thing that's important to realize is how serious the creators are about the issue. There aren't many moments throughout the book where you will laugh. Some of it may put you on the verge of tears like black bodies hanging in "Pull It Up From The Roots," by Avy Jetter. Some may cause you to become enraged such as the unfairness depicted in "Code 288," by Jason A. Quest. But, every piece contained in the book will move you.

There's one final thing I wish to talk about. After the biographies is a section not listed in the table of contents. On page 162 there is a short paragraph and the start of a list. The list carries on for two more pages and is in the smallest font of the book along with a short note that says "We apologize for the small font. If we printed this list at 10-point font, it would have taken 8 pages." The list is made up of names, the names of every person killed by the police from the announced date of the book, December 15, 2014 until the day it went to print September 11, 2015. That list has 881 names. That's just too many.

Artists Against Police Brutality is on sale right now in both digital and print on Amazon

You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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