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Joe deLannoy
Mrs. Turner
English 1010
17 April 2016
The cartoon depicts the iconic speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) in
1963. During his have I dream speech MLK goes off script and says, Until then
Black Lives matter. This cartoon was published right in the middle of the black lives
matter movement. The cartoon was used to show how the civil rights movement
has not come very far. Steve Benson, the cartoonist, is a controversial author. He
speaks about issues in a liberal way while living in a somewhat conservative state.
Bensons cartoons usually are directed at the educated.

Benson, Using MLK as the

focus of the cartoon illustrates the severity of current events comparing them to the
atrocities that were committed to black people during the 1960s. MLKs speech was
a turning point in the civil rights movement. It brought into light the severity of the
present and had a theme of working hard and being optimistic for a better future.
The speech also was very controversial. While it accelerated the civil rights
movement it brought with it an increase in the hatred for the activists resulting in
the assassination of MLK. The cartoon has many layers of controversy. The cartoon
is inferring that the dream that MLK had and gave his life for 50 years earlier has
not yet been realized. Benson is confronting the issue of police violence on the black
community and showing that if MLK was around today he would have supported the
movement because equality has not been achieved.

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(Sept 1, 2015)

(Photo: Steve Benson/The Republic)

Steve Benson works for the Arizona Republic which is the premier news paper
in the state of Arizona. While the Arizona republic has no obvious bias, Benson
usually has a liberal view on current events. Bensons other illustrations have an
outlandish cartoonish feel to them while this cartoon is realistic. Benson uses
realism to convey the severity of current events and to show this topic is important
to him. The cartoon uses MLK as its focal point and behind MLK is a white and black
background and it looks like there are these ominous black clouds. Black clouds
usually symbolize danger. The black clouds in the U.S today is the racial tension
between minorities and police officers. MLK is the figure head for the civil rights
movement and Benson used him to show how serious the racial issues in the US are
today. In the first panel of the cartoon MLK is giving his speech verbatim then in the
next panel, MLK goes off script. He says, Until then black lives matter. Benson
wants the audience to understand that the ideas and goals MLK had in 1965 have
not been realized 50 years later.
In Bensons rendition of MLKs speech supporting the black lives matter movement
as way to show how the current civil unrest is unsettling and needs to be addressed.
Using the portion of MLKs iconic speech to show that American society has not

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matured enough or has evolved enough morally to see past race so the minority
groups still, 50 years later, have to fight for the things that MLK and his colleagues
fought for in the 1960s. The author uses MLK to connect the past with the present
and also Illustrate how American society needs to improve to make MLKs dream
into a reality.

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Works cited
Benson, Steve. "Black Lives Matter." Cagle Post Black Lives Matter Comments. Arizona Republic, 01
Sept. 2015. Web. 20 Apr. 2016.