More precisely, the radically increased and aggressive pursuit of expelling any non-arayan people from the US has given the two creators enough reason to be concerned for their -- particularly Kim's -- safety, since they live in South Korea. Brigid Alverson spoke with them for a piece over on ICv2. But it's pretty much exactly what you'd expect. We're seeing daily reports of ICE agents rounding up just about anyone they think they can claim is here illegally. Many of the people are, in fact, in the US legally; some of them are even US citizens. Most don't have any criminal records to speak of. It's a blatantly racist attempt to expell everyone who doesn't look or sound like the people in the White House. Because there have already been many incidents where perfectly legal visitors -- with all their paperwork in order -- were detained for weeks by the US government for largely-not-even-specified-reasons, several countries have issued travel advisories against the United States, although I don't think South Korea has just yet. So it's really common sense that Estrada and Kim don't want to risk travelling here, particularly for an extended period.
Now you might be thinking, "OK, I can't fault them for that. After all, wasn't there that British cartoonist who was baselessly held captive by the US for weeks just last month?"
But stop and think about who we're talking about here. Ryan Estrada. If you're not familiar with him, I've been following his career for over a decade now, and he has done (and written comics about) some really incredible life events. He kayaked from South Korea to Japan, and then slept outside during a typhoon! Here's what I wrote about him back in 2012...
You know what I like about Ryan Estrada? The man has no fear. Or, if he has, he's repeatedly been able to push past it and live life as a grand adventure in the best way possible. Those of us who take a regular job for the security of a paycheck and/or health insurance, and dip our toes into the water by writing a blog or doing a webcomic in our spare time generally don't charge ahead because of the what ifs. "What if I fail? What if I'm not as good as I think I am? What if people think I'm a fool for trying this?" Yeah, it takes some courage to put yourself out there as a webcomic artist or a blogger or whatever, but that is nothing compared to Estrada.
But that's just one half of the duo! Kim Hyun Sook spent much of the 1980s fighting against the military regime that ruled South Korea back then. She was literally standing up against armed soldiers, demanding that the country hold legitimate elections. She's seen the inside of military prison because she thought dictatorships were bad.
These aren't people who've heard some vague rumors about El Salvador and panicked. These are politically aware and active individuals who see what's been going on here in the US, and aren't convinced they could survive a simple book tour! One of them AFTER HAVING SEEN SOMETHING SIMILAR FIRST-HAND!
Trump is now openly defying direct orders from the Supreme Court, and Congress seems to be twiddling their thumbs. No one in the current administration is seeing any consequences from their frequent and brazen illegal acts. I'm still doing what I can -- regularly talking to my Congresspeople, sending money to the ACLU, loudly and aggressively pushing back on anti-DEI initiatives that are filtering down to my work, boycotting organizations that cater to Trump's whims, etc. -- while still trying to keep some semblance of my sanity by reading and writing about comics. And I'm trying to make sure that my wife and I remain safe, and that we have supplies stocked up and escape routes planned and all the stuff that people used to make fun of doomsday preppers for doing. And regardless of what I do, I'm not sleeping well. You can't plan for everything even under ideal circumstances, but now you can't plan for anything.
In the grand scheme of things, Estrada and Kim cancelling their book tour in the US is small potatoes. They've had to scrap some plans they were no doubt looking forward to, and not going on tour will probably limit their book sales long-term. You're going to see more of this. Maybe you've never read Estrada and Kim's work, and you don't really care for that type of thing in the first place. But what about Bryan Hitch? Sana Takeda? Lewis Trondheim? Eddie Campbell? Faith Erin Hicks? Juni Ba? There's a huge list of comics folks who don't live in the US! Odds are you like some of their work. Appearances will dry up first, and increasingly even having their work published in the US will too.
Compared to the people literally losing their lives thanks to that asswipe in the White House, this is all inconsequential of course. But it's indicative of the irreparable -- and I do not mean that hyperbolically -- the irreparable harm Trump is doing to the United States and the world. Not everyone can do everything, but I urge you to do what you can. Maybe that's protesting, maybe that's bombing some of DOGE's online forms (like this one) with bogus data, maybe that's filing a lawsuit against someone in the administration for wrongful termination, maybe it's convincing your brother-in-law to quit his job as an ICE agent... I don't know you, your situation, your abilities, your limitations... but this will only get worse until everbody tells Trump and his Nazi-sympathizing followers to fuck all the way off!
3 comments:
TDS is real. Fucking children throwing tantrums.
Haha, I kayaked from Koh Phi Phi Don to Koh Phi Phi Leh (two islands in Thailand) not from Korea to Japan. But point stands that my stupidity put me in dangerous situations that I feared less than the current US regime.
My bad, Ryan! I was writing that on memory, and was rage-induced enough to not fact-check that bit.
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