Italian artist Alexsandro Palombo has released a series of works featuring The Simpsons reimagined as African-Americans facing police brutality, the Independent reports (see After Ferguson, A New Protest Culture’s Challenge to Art).
The satirist shared the poignant cartoon series on his Facebook page in response to the recent fatal shooting of Walter Scott by a white police officer in South Carolina, which was captured on camera by a passerby.
His hard-hitting renderings join other artistic reactions to police brutality and “Black Lives Matter” protests (See Dread Scott Demands Dissolution of America’s “Racist” Police Force In Honor of Malcolm X Anniversary, Robert Indiana Fans Ignore Artist’s Ferguson Protest, and Police Remove Guerrilla Performance Protesting Eric Garner Death From Armory Show).
Palombo shows black Bart being chased by the TV show’s police chief Clarence Wiggum, held at gunpoint, and, in a heart-wrenching image, lying motionless on the ground with a toy gun next to him, under a billboard that reads “Cops never sleep.” The image reflects the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice shot by police in Ohio.
The Simpsons “Black Voices” series by aleXsandro Palombo
Images: via Facebook
Other scenes show The Simpsons protesting together with other black residents of Springfield, holding signs emblazoned with the words “I Can’t Breathe” (see Pussy Riot Release Haunting New Song in Honor of Eric Garner).
“We are experiencing a dangerous social regression and if America does not react to the rampant racism it will no longer be the country of freedom and dreams, but the country of oppression and injustice,” Palombo told the MailOnline.
This isn’t the first time the artist has re-cast the popular TV characters to raise awareness. To mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, he drew The Simpsons as Holocaust victims. He also showed iconic animated female characters, including Marge Simpson, with bruised faces to protest domestic violence, in a campaign that went viral.
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