This week, I would like to highlight MariNaomi's current effort to create a Cartoonists of Color database. I've seen her make some requests on Twitter periodically over the past week or two, but only got a sense/scope of what she's really doing yesterday. I'm going to blatantly swipe the
copy from her site since her description is more on-point than I could paraphrase...
What is a Cartoonist of Color?
Cartoonists of Color (COC) is a play off of the acronym "POC." POC stands for "person of color." A POC is anyone who identifies as non-Caucasian (non-white). In these forthcoming pages, you'll find comics creators of various ethnicities: African American, Korean Canadian, Indian Singaporian, Turkish American, Iranian British, Japanese American and so many more.
Why a Cartoonists of Color Database?
For visibility. For academia. For inspiration. For community building.
How can I submit my info to this database?
To submit a creator (yourself or anyone), please fill out this form.
When will you share this list with the public?
I'm hoping for the site to go live by Winter 2014 (but no promises!).
Who are you and what are you getting out of this?
My name is MariNaomi and I'm a half-Japanese indie comics creator. I've been making autobiographical comics since the nineties. I started this list for my own purposes, intending to reach out to other POC creators for an article I'm writing. As the list grew, I was amazed at how many of us there are. I knew of about thirty offhand, and was shocked as the numbers climbed into the hundreds (700+ at the moment!). I found this both inspiring and disparaging, having heard the sentence "What POC cartoonists?" so many times over the years.
What can I do to help?
If you're a POC comic book creator, please fill out this form to submit your information to add to the database. If you've got experience doing data entry (and have access to Dreamweaver) and you want to volunteer your time to help update the database, please send me an email.
This is the most expansive, high-minded, comprehensive-looking version of this type of project I've seen, and I wish her the best of luck. I'll certainly be checking back in later this year!
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