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Politico cartoonist Matt Wuerker has a big problem ...at least in his own mind. How to caricature Kamala Harris without appearing to be racist. The funny thing is that this obsession seems to have been shared with none of the other cartoonists that Wuerker contacted on this topic on Sunday in "‘It’s a Minefield’: Top Political Cartoonists on the Challenges of Caricaturing Kamala Harris."
"It's a minefield?" Apparently only in the very very concerned mind of Matt Wuerker since that headline quote comes from ...Wuerker. Let us now join Wuerker rubbing his caricaturist worry beads:
When a new, potentially presidential face arrives on the scene, a fierce debate ensues among the cartoonists. What are the features that stand out? How far can we tug on those ears? Lampoon a nose? Mock the haircut? What about the clothes and the body language? Is the necktie too long? Is the pantsuit fair game? How far is too far?
Today, that conversation requires us to wrestle with old toxic racial and ethnic stereotypes that were, sadly enough, immensely popular in earlier times. And unfortunately, that kind of racism remains a radioactive aspect of political cartooning, right up to the current generation of ink-stained wretches.
Given that ongoing legacy, the caricature of Kamala Harris, possibly our first Black, South Asian-descended, female president, isn’t just precedent setting. It’s a minefield for cartoonists — even more so because it’s a profession that’s overwhelmingly dominated by white men of a certain age. With that in mind, we checked in with some of the nation’s top political cartoonists to see how they’re homing in on the caricature of Kamala.
Wuerker then checks in with six cartoonists, and none of them shared his view on the perils of caricaturing Kamala, at least not in the sentence of reaction that's published. Alexandra Bowman just said “I love how Kamala Harris’ default emotion seems to be joy.”
Well, that's not quite right. The sixth cartoonist was Wuerker himself who weighed in with this:
“You know, in the good ol’ days cartoonists just needed to draw old fat white guys...”
Obsessed much, Matt? You appear to be alone.
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