Reine #10: Building A Kinder World

Masked person reclining on a backpack: "Hey, when we defund the police, what are you most excited about? Where do you want the money to go to make our town safer?" Seated masked person: "I think like, childcare, you know? Or funding our schools. It's hard to teach with so few supplies and so little pay!" Person wearing a flower crown and a mask that reads DYKE: "For sure. I want all my students to never worry about breakfast or lunch. Free meals for all kids! Shit, and adults, too! More meal programs! With healthy food!" Masked person seated on a blanket: "Totally. I'm looking forward to more housing solutions. And career counseling and — " (speaking in unison with a masked person with an undercut) "—emotional and psychological counseling!" Masked person with an undercut: "Do you know how nice it would be if my department had more funding for crisis intervention?" Masked person in a crop top: "I hear you. We could also provide better, cheaper treatment for our physical selves. I'd like to offer my EMT services to people without them being afraid of an ambulance bill." Masked person with their knees to their chest seated next to a bike: "And then... maybe more bike lanes. Better public transit. Free public transit! To make it safer to go places." All in unison together: "Yeah! Let's do it! Let's defund the police!"

What does safety look like to you and your community?

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Ren Strapp

Ren Strapp is a comic artist, designer, and gender nonconforming lesbian werewolf. Her work is inspired by risograph printing and American traditional tattooing. She loves weight lifting and hiking. Support her work on Patreon.

Ren has written 70 articles for us.

10 Comments

  2. Ahh, I love this comic! The masks are all cute, and I like how you still show their facial expressions. That’s something that I worry about when I wear a mask. I’m normally such a smiling person, but I have to try to express myself from the cheek bones up. And also, we need to have ethical solutions to move on from police brutality in our communities!

  3. My town boasts so much about how much they’re spending on housing and transit, but a) the transit system is actually only about 1/5 funded by the town, with the rest coming from the university, an adjacent town, the state, and the federal government, and b) the money spent on housing isn’t going to public housing, but given to developers to build new lower-rent private housing. I’d love to see the pigmoney go to public housing. Nobody should ever have to go unhoused.

    (I love the comic, but it frightens me that the bike doesn’t have chain stays.)

  4. I saw the first panel and said, out loud to my cat, “Childcare! Fucking PAY ME! …oh. Thank you.”

    So. Thank you. <3

    • So often it is a labor of love, but yes, childcare provides should be able to support themselves and then some. I worked in child care for ten years (for an average of 60 hours a week), before I decided it was time for a change. Now I have kids and I’m so appreciative of their day care workers!

  7. This means a lot to me. My friends and I have had pretty much this exact conversation when socially distantly hanging out, and I love seeing art that reflects my life the way most other art really doesn’t atm. Thank you so much!! <3

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