I am a cartoonist. I know it’s not the most important job in the world, but I wear the title proudly. As a cartoonist, I feel compelled to say something about the cowardly, savage terrorist attack that occurred yesterday in Paris at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical publication, that left 12 people dead and 11 others injured. My heart goes out to the victims and their families, and my contempt is aimed at anyone who seeks to restrict and/or destroy our freedoms, freedoms that many nations enjoy. I say “our” because this is not simply a French problem, or an American problem, but rather a world problem. Whether it’s religious extremists of ANY denomination or oppressive governments or lone madmen, we must always be vigilant and determined not to let our freedoms be threatened or sacrificed. Too many good people throughout history and around the world have paid the ultimate price so that we may write the books that we want to write, make the movies we choose to make, sing the songs we desire to sing, and even draw the cartoons we want to draw. THESE are the kinds of things we live for! We all have the right and freedom to disagree, to protest things that offend us, but NO ONE has the right to murder another human being because they oppose their ideas. I’m a cartoonist and for today and always I will stand in solidarity with my fellow cartoonists, writers, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, illustrators, painters, designers against any one person or group who would seek to silence us.
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