The Triheads vs The Squareheads
April 11th, 2021 Barry Posted in Becky Hawkins collaborations, Racism & Racists | No Comments »
This cartoon is a collaboration between myself (script and lettering), Becky Hawkins (classroom scenes), and Naomi Rubin (Triheads vs Squareheads scenes).
If you like these cartoons, help me make more (and help me pay my swell collaborators!) by supporting my Patreon. Thanks!
TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has six panels. Each panel shows a schoolteacher reading from an illustrated children’s book; in some panels, we also see images from the book.
PANEL 1
This panel shows a teacher, who is white, reading aloud from a book. Above her, we can see the illustration from the page she’s reading. The illustration shows a bunch of cartoon people, some of whom have triangle-shaped heads, some of whom have rectangular heads. They are smiling and shaking hands and putting arms on each others backs in a companionable manner. In front of them, two children – one with a rectangular head, one with a triangular head – kick a ball around in the grass.
TEACHER: “And when they saw Jumball Trihead and Bigapie Squarehead playing happily together, the grown-ups realized it was silly to hate each other just because they looked different!”
TEACHER: “And that’s how they all stopped being racist!”
TEACHER: Any questions?
PANEL 2
The “camera” zooms out a little, and we can see that there are small children seated on the floor listening to the teacher. One small girl, who is Black, has gotten up and is handing the Teacher a book. The teacher accepts it cheerfully.
IMANI: Miss Martin? My mommy wrote more about the triheads and bigheads. She said it’s a “corrected version.”
TEACHER: Oh, it’s about the same characters! How marvelous! Thank you, Imani.
PANEL 3
The teacher, with a concerned and slightly frightened expression, is reading aloud from the new book. Above her, we see an illustration from the book: A Trihead, speaking straight out to the reader with an angry expression, slams a fist into a palm. Behind him, in silhouette, several Squareheads are trudging along, bowed and weary, chained together chain-gang style.
TEACHER: It says, “The story you’ve heard about the triheads and squareheads is lies. Here’s what really happened.”
TEACHER: “The Triheads kidnapped the Squareheads and enslaved them for hundreds of years.”
TEACHER: “Oh dear.”
PANEL 4
We see the children listening with wide-eyed, somewhat stunned expressions.
Above them, we see an illustration from the book. Two Squareheads lean against a gray wall, as if preparing to be frisked. A Trihead wearing a police or prison guard uniform glares at them. They all seem to be in a barred area. In front of the bars, another Trihead sits at a desk, reading a copy of “The Bell Curve.”
TEACHER: “It took a whole war to free the enslaved squareheads. But even after the war, triheads used laws, violence, and prisons to crush squareheads.”
TEACHER: “This was racism. It was too big and structural to be fixed by Jumball and Bigapie playing together.”
PANEL 5
A close-up of the teacher, who now looks very frightened but keeps on reading aloud. Above her, we see an illustration from the book. A Trihead is lying on the grass, head leaning against a tree, crying a spout of tears from each eye. Next to the Trihead, a standing Squarehead rolls their eyes, arms folded. And next to the Squarehead, a second Trihead is talking to the Squarehead with an accusatory expression, while pointing at the crying Trihead.
TEACHER: “Whenever a Squarehead complained about all the racism, Triheads yelled “How dare you accuse me of racism! Stop imagining things!”
PANEL 6
A shot of the classroom, no illustration. The teacher is turning towards Imani and asking her a question. The teacher looks worried. Imani, now sitting cross-legged on the floor, replies with an “I don’t know” shrug.
TEACHER: “Another hundred years later…”
TEACHER: Imani, when does this story end?
IMANI: Mommy says we don’t know yet.
