ICE Protest

 

1/10/26 Protest rally near Green Lake

After Renee Nicole Good was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis last week, protesters took to the streets across the country. I joined a gathering on Saturday in the Tangletown micro-neighborhood of Green Lake. I thought we were going to stay there for the duration, so I started sketching some participants and their signs (above).

Suddenly leaders blew their whistles, and it was time to march! I had to scramble to keep up while also sketching as I walked (below) – something I’ve done at every protest rally I’ve participated in – but it’s still tricky.

Marching to Green Lake

On the cold but dry afternoon, it felt good to walk with like-minded neighbors the mile or so to Green Lake, drivers honking support as they passed us in their cars. I fell into line behind a couple with their dog, who was wearing two signs: “THIS IS NO TIME TO SIT” on one side, and on the other, “I GIVE A 💩” It was my favorite of the day.

Technical note: After sketching the first page, I didn’t like the look of the lines I was making with the narrow tip of a Faber-Castell Pitt Dual Marker. While that tip works well with my tiny, on-location comics style, when used at a larger scale, the linework gets lost. More than that, the thin lines didn’t look as angry and outraged as I was feeling (and as everyone was expressing with their signs). For the second page, I used the thick brush tip of the marker, and it expressed what I was feeling more accurately (as did the hot pink paper, which I did select specifically for the content). Sometimes the medium is the message, even when sketching.