Q: And Babies? A. And Babies.
Photo: R. L. Haeberle
Design: Frazier Dougherty; Jon Hendricks; Irving Petlin
Artists Poster Committee of Art Workers Coalition
Offset, 1970
New York, NY
3545
Q: And Babies? A. And Babies.
Jesus Barraza
Digital print, 2023
Oakland, CA
On March 16, 1968, U.S. soldiers massacred between 343 - 567 women, children, and the elderly in the South Vietnamese village of My Lai. Unlike the massacre taking place before our eyes in Gaza, the My Lai Massacre was kept secret by the U.S. government for more than a year, until journalist Seymour Hersh published an article with horrific photos of the massacre in November 1969.
The poster text came from a 1969 televised CBS interview on “60 Minutes.'' When journalist Mike Wallace asked Paul Meadlo, one of the soldiers who participated in the massacre, "And babies?", Meadlo responded, "and babies." The Wallace interview was then quoted in the New York Times, and their typeface was reproduced on the poster. The My Lai Massacre marked a turning point in the country's acceptance of the reality in Viet Nam war once this photo was reproduced in the press and in this widely disseminated poster. While the genocide the Gaza isn’t hidden from most of the world, like the My Lai Massacre, Israeli journalist Gideon Levy says that the images of death and destruction are not being shown in Israel.
CSPG’s additional Poster of the Week features Jesus Barraza’s take on that original poster. Barraza’s poster calls attention to the ongoing genocide of Gazans by overlaying the text “Q. And babies? A. And babies.” on a photograph of a Gazan father and son who were killed in an Israeli bombardment in late October 2023. Their bodies lay in the rubble outside of the morgue of the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza.
What began as a revenge attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023, has become a war of revenge and genocide against the people of Gaza. Since then, the Israeli military has killed over 25,000 Palestinians, including more than 10,000 children. Over half of the buildings in Gaza (including 70% of homes) have been irreparably damaged or destroyed. It is estimated that more than half a million people in Gaza are at risk of starvation, and many more are exposed to widespread diseases such as meningitis and hepatitis due to poor sanitation conditions. The health crisis is further exacerbated by the lack of access to potable water and dwindling medical supplies in Gaza. These statistics can't quite capture the gravity of the reality facing hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza.
The original “Q: And Babies?” helped change people’s minds about the war, and, together with tireless organizing and countless protests taking place across the country, helped end the war sooner. References to the 1970 poster continue today, including this poster depicting the rubble of buildings bombed in Gaza by Israeli forces.
On making the poster, Jesus wrote on his Instagram:
“I don’t like making this poster, I had tears in my eyes when thinking about how to produce it, when looking for the photo. I made it because we cannot hide this truth, that Israel bombed hospitals and killed children and babies in trying to satisfy their hunger to steal more land from Palestine. Because we can’t stay silent about the atrocities being committed. Because I wish people would have said something when my people experienced genocide.”
Artists and political activists must continue to use art to draw attention to the massacres in Gaza and other U.S. supported atrocities across the globe.
Immediate Ceasefire!
Release the Hostages!
War is Not the Answer!
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