By Keith Walsh
A picture is worth a thousand words, for sure. Add a caption or two, and the meaning multiplies. Based in Florida, political cartoonist Bill Day puts his talents to work creating a valuable form of agitprop. I had the chance to pick his brain in an email exchange.
Popular Culture Beat: In your cartoons you tackle some of the most important social issues today. If you could narrow down to just two or three issues that are the most critical threats to our democracy what would you choose?
Bill Day: It’s hard to narrow important social issues to only two, but one would be the rise of fascism and the other would be the environment. Both, among many others, are paramount.
Popular Culture Beat: Is democracy really that fragile?
Bill Day: I would hope democracy is stronger than what we have experienced in the past decade, but the January 6th insurrection has been frightening in the challenge to democracy and freedom. In having Trump, a U.S. president no less, declare his big lie about a stolen election and thousands descend upon Washington to halt the democratic process, we can see how fragile it really is. Then there are the millions who believe him and support him.
Popular Culture Beat: As a citizen of Florida, you’re right in the middle of one of the most blatant experiments in fascism this country has seen. Do you ever have a hard time picking a topic?
Bill Day: Florida elected an ultra-right governor, Ron DeSantis, who has consolidated power at every level in this state. There are no checks and balances. He has a Republican supermajority in the Florida legislature and 6 of 7 Florida Supreme Court justices are right-wing. He gets what he wants on every issue, and they are draconian. Abortion rights, civil rights, ‘anti-woke’ intervention in schools, book banning, voter suppression, antisemitism, and anti-Black Lives Matter are among laws that are of his doing.
Popular Culture Beat: Why should the rest of the U.S. be concerned about the sharp increase in radical conservatism in Florida and the US? Isn’t the U.S. already a very conservative place?
Bill Day: World War 2 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust often speak of how slowly Germany enacted laws until the Nazis had full control. Many thought it would stop and things would get better. Then it was too late. We are on that same road today and people need to be active and stop it.
Popular Culture Beat: How did you get your start as a political cartoonist? Who are your heroes in the field? At what age did you discover your artistic talent and what’s your education?
Bill Day: I learned I could draw at a young age and found my way to the newspaper section of my small town library in the 7th grade. There I discovered Mauldin, Oliphant, Conrad, Herblock, Hayne and others. It was exciting! I went to the University of Florida and joined the UF Alligator staff as their cartoonist. That is where I learned of Don Wright at the Miami News who was a major inspiration. As a young child, I lived in Southern California but I later grew up in the segregated South where I witnessed the horrors of racism. I was on a mission from then through today.
Popular Culture Beat: Political cartoons have been an important agitprop medium since the founding of this nation and earlier in Europe. What can you tell us about this history and why they can be so effective?
Bill Day: Cartooning has a great tradition that we owe to the British and French. It flourished in America and Thomas Nast was a major influence. At their best, cartoons can challenge what we see as wrong and by bringing that wrong to the public’s attention. The 1st Amendment allows us that right.
Bill Day is published by Floridapolitics.com and syndicated by Cagle Cartoons out of Santa Barbara, California.
Bill Day On Facebook
Bill Day at Patreon
Florida Politics dot com
finis