TOW #7: Visual Text

In a visual text released by Star Tribune is a comic titled "The Talk" made by artist Steve Sack, which portrays a white American having a talk with his son about the common birds and bees talk which doesn't seem to show much alarm to either of them. Along with that, there is also an African American having a serious and conerned talk with his son on the other side about guns and the U.S. judicial system. This controversial visual text uses paradox and point of view to open the eyes of the public to the harsh realities that African Americans go through, and how unjust their rights can be at times.
         At first glance the audience assumes the situation to be contradictory, despite this, Steve Sacks is able to use paradox by further looking on both sides to show that although most people don't think about it, stereotypes and the judicial system treat African Americans very unfairly. Much of this can be supported by the many cases that have happened in the United States, making it an important discussion that parents should have with their kids if they themselves are African American as shown in the comic.
          This visual example also uses point of view in a very important manner because it shows two divisions of growing up while being a white teen, and growing up being a black teen. On one hand white teens can have a less life threatening talk with their parents because they are not a target to being treated unfairly as much as black teens are. On the other hand, black teens are subject to stereotypes about how they're violent and carry guns, making them dangerous and at fault in the eyes of the judicial system. These uses of rhetorical devices certainly clarify struggles that people go through to Sack's audience, mainly teenagers, in which the context almost places them in either the white teen or black teen's shoes.
           Steve Sack who's credibility is valid, is an editorial cartoonist who has been working with the Minneapolis Star Tribune since 1981 and has also won the Pulitzer Prize for his work in 2013. I believe that Sack does a great job in establishing a broader outlook of the contrasting lives of white and black teens because his visual text is unbiased and is backed up by recent cases that have made black people a target, such as the George Zimmerman case.