The terror attack at a satirical Parisian magazine that left a dozen people dead underscores the dangers of being a political cartoonist, a nationally syndicated artist told NBC 7.
New York-based cartoonist Ted Rall said Wednesday’s shooting in France is personal, both because he shares the profession and because he knew one of the victims who worked at publication Charlie Hebdo. The controversial magazine is known for satirizing politicians and religious leaders.
The deadly act fulfilled the kinds of threats Rall has gotten regularly over his 30-year career.
"We get a lot of death threats,” said Rall. “We all do. Especially after 911, I used to get them all the time. You just know that you're in a country with a lot of guns, a lot of angry people and you're in the political opinion business. There's a risk involved always."
For employees of Charlie Hebdo, it’s a risk they were well aware of, having been the target of a firebomb in 2011. After that attack, Chief Editor Stephane Charbonnier defended and continued to publish the satirical cartoons, which often featured the Prophet Muhammad.
He died Wednesday as he sat in an editorial meeting, the Associated Press reports.
“The best political cartoonists are brave, and bravery means that you do what you want,” said Rall. “You call the shots, and you don't pull punches. That's not for everybody. It's not an easy job.”
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Rall believes its hard work creating a good cartoon at the risk of alienating people, but if it is important enough, that risk is worth it.
Locally, the U-T San Diego’s cartoonist Steve Breen reacted with the following statement:
"The killings in France need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms. My thoughts and prayers are with the families who senselessly lost their lives today. No one should ever be hurt or killed for saying, writing or drawing anything...Paris will likely have a chilling effect on the world of satire."
Rall, for his part, is concerned about copycats.
“When it's open season on political cartoonists, it's open season on me as a political cartoonist, and that's not good,” he said.
Rall told NBC 7 he got a new threat over Twitter Wednesday afternoon.
But millions of others took to social media for a different cause, showing demonstrations of unity with the phrase “Je Suis Charlie” (“I am Charlie”). In Paris’ Place de la Republique, thousands held signs and candles , chanting “Charlie! Liberty!”
On Thursday, a group of San Diegans plans to hold a vigil from 8 to 10 p.m. at the International Houses at Balboa Park.
French President Francois Hollande declared Thursday a national day of mourning. The country has raised its terrorism threat level to the highest grade.
