"The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans

About

"The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans refers to a 2013 newspaper comic by Steve Sack joking about what "the talk" means for white versus Black Americans, depicting a white father talking to his son about the birds and the bees and a Black father talking to his son about the criminal justice system's historically unfair treatment of African-Americans. The comic was first published in the Star Tribune in 2013 following the George Zimmerman trial verdict and became a popular exploitable in later years as people photoshopped various aspects of the comic to change the context.

Origin

On July 16th, 2013, the Star Tribune^[1] published a comic titled "The Talk" by Steve Sack comparing what "the talk" means for white versus Black Americans in response to the George Zimmerman trial verdict, which found Zimmerman not guilty on all counts, sparking protests across the country (shown below). The speech bubbles attached to the white American father show birds and bees, a euphemism for the sex talk. The Black American father's speech bubbles show a gun and an image of Lady Justice reading "the U.S. justice system."

Spread

The earliest known photoshop of the comic was posted to /r/dankmemes^[2] on April 9th, 2017 by a now-deleted Redditor and replaces the Black father's speech bubbles with marijuana buds and a stack of money, gaining over 270 upvotes in four years (shown below).

On November 10th, 2018, Redditor fleshgod_alpacalypse posted a shitpost version of the meme to /r/comedyheaven^[3] replacing the bubbles in the Black father's panel with the phrase "look at dis nigga's head" and an image of a Black boy with a large head, gaining over 6,200 upvotes in three years (shown below, left). On December 2nd, Know Your Meme^[5] user Princeso Bubblegum posted a version of the meme representing "gamer-Americans" instead of African-Americans, photoshopping Joker paing on the family, gaining over 6,000 views in three years (shown below, right). On December 13th, DJ Lord shared the original comic on Facebook.^[4]

Various Examples

Search Interest

[Researching]

External References