Cover of the New Yorker - June 2022

[Roy Rolling]

16. Love the picture

Not so much the message. Agitation is a mindless anger eventually in the hands of a radical zealot. Images that agitate use the same logic as firearms: images provoking anger aren’t the the problem, anger-provoking images are a beneficial tool safely used by everyone.

Sorry, I’m a peacenik on race relations and think we need to give peace a chance. And than means disarm the white agitators—that’s what we want, not create an equal army of black agitators. An eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth leaves a society filled with blind and toothless people.

Happy Juneteenth, it’s about time.