This Saturday, I went to the No Kings rally here in New Orleans. Kermit Ruffins got up on the stage with a trumpet and started playing The Star-Spangled Banner. Slowly, the crowd started singing along. I joined in too.

And above it all, for a brief moment maybe I saw Columbia, but that was soon replaced by a vision of Uncle Sam, huge above the crowd, rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to fight. I’m too fucking old for this, but here we go again was the feeling I got, along with a distinct weariness, and an overwhelming sadness. Tears welled up in my eyes, and they’ve come back whenever I’ve talked about this.

Me and the spouse left not too long afterwards, we didn’t stick around for the march. But this image kept on hanging there in my head, and later that evening I opened up the computer and started working on this. I spent about three hours without a break on the figure, which is a little unusual – usually I take breaks every half hour, but this was burning in my head and needed out, I guess. Another couple hours today and it’s done.

Also, before you count, there are 50 stars on the Starstika And Bars flag, 13 red rays in the sky, and if Sam wasn’t in the way there would be 50 stars and 13 rays in the halo around his head.

Illustrator, 5h.

If you want to print this out for protest sign purposes then please feel free. If you want a higher-res copy for sticking up on walls or something them contact me. :)

Here’s a link to a 300dpi A1 copy (~2×3 feet, ~8 megabyte JPG) and should probably work for a lot of signs and posters. Send me a photo of it in action!