No Headlines when a Black Girl Dies

Posted by Troy | Filed under Art/Design

oh-canada

I love Canada, but I’d never really considered looking beneath the veneer of the friendly, relaxed world with which I had grown so familiar.

This illustration is inspired by a Kathleen Edwards song that challenges the listener to do just that:

Oh Canada

Oh Canada
I stand on guard for a lot
But just last week a white girl was shot
Outside a shopping mall
Yeah, it’s written in the press
That your sweet little town
Has lost it’s innocence

It’s not the year of the gun
We don’t say it out loud
There are no headlines
When a black girl dies
It’s not the lack of a sense
It’s called ambivalence

All still in their lanes
Under rush hour lights
There’s one head to a car
But you act so surprised
When the snow don’t come
You can’t swim in the lakes
Now it’s hotter than hell
In a bed you won’t make

It’s not the lack of a sense
It’s called ambivalence

Up on the hill
Is the best real estate
Just to get in
You have to sell off your faith
Cuz in the valley below
There is crack and young girls
But you don’t have to believe
What stays out of your world