The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund was founded in 1986 as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.
Comment: Pope talks mainly about the Legal Defense Fund and the artistry behind his print. He identifies the subject as a Huron Indian but doesn't say anything about the historical context.
It's interesting that a Revolutionary War-era Indian represents the "Tree of Liberty" to Pope. True, Indians have always been an American symbol of liberty. But most Americans wouldn’t accept the reverse message: that the US hasn't stood for liberty (for all) for most of its history.
For more on the subject, see "Indians" at the Boston Tea Party and The Political Uses of Stereotyping.
I think the idea that the U.S. hasn't always represented liberty is quite established. I mean, during World War II, there was a lot of Not So Different. You yourself listed the Nazis trying to subvert Indians. The Japanese used internment as a propaganda victory. And of course Nazis just got their eugenic ideas from American eugenists.
ReplyDeleteOf course, in Tea Party America, this notion is heresy.