Everett True Comics

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A place to appreciate the twentieth century comic character Everett True of "The Outbursts of Everett True." Feel free to check out the sticky.

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Everett takes a stand against age discrimination in housing (1907?) (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 weeks ago by macarthur_park@lemmy.world to c/truecomics@midwest.social

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Get up out of that so I can take one more punch at you!

Sadly, Everett would need to wait for the Fair Housing Act of 1968 for this landlord’s behavior to be federally illegal. It’s unclear what state Mr. True lives in (besides anger, obviously).

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[–] qooqie@lemmy.world 40 points 3 weeks ago (21 children)

Race suicide?

[–] macarthur_park@lemmy.world 63 points 3 weeks ago (18 children)

Yeah, I was hoping that maybe back then the term was meant to refer more to the “human race”, so a concern about population growth.

But some quick googling indicates the eugenics-meaning version of the term was coined around 1900. Honestly not a good look for Everett.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (6 children)

Well, according to that Wikipedia page, people who used the term "race suicide" believed that "desirable" people were having too few kids and "undesirable" people were having too many kids.

So Interpretation A of this cartoon is the following:

the Landlord believes in the "race suicide" concept, and believes that Everett is an "undesirable" person who has too many kids. The Landlord is insincere when he says that Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable tenant".
Everett scorns the "race suicide" concept, and argues for his kids' right to exist.

And Interpretation B is:

the Landlord ~~sincerely thinks Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable" tenant, but~~ just doesn't want his kids to live there for some reason
Everett believes in the "race suicide" concept, and is telling the Landlord that without his kids, "race suicide" would occur.

I'm leaning slightly towards Interpretation A ~~because I think the Landlord is being insincere~~, but I could be convinced otherwise.

Edit: on second thought, I don't think Interpretation B Point 1 relies on the Landlord believing Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable" tenant, only on the undesireability of the kids living there.

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

People who believed in race suicide used it as a justification to have more white kids, not get rid of white kids. Your point A1 doesn't make sense unless they are different races, but they both look white to me. So it's gotta be B.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hmmm good point. But I think the eugenics of the time was also based on class, ethnicity, and personal characteristics:

In the United States, "unfit" races have historically included minorities such as immigrants and African Americans, people with mental and physical disabilities, people in poverty, institutionalized people, and/or people convicted of crimes. Eugenics sought to eliminate these people, such that their "undesirable traits and behaviors" would be effectively weeded out of the human population over time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_suicide

Note the 1903 illustration on that page "Concerning Race Suicide". Everybody seems to be of European descent, but the wealthier people on one side have no children but the people on the other side -- who seem to be coded as lower-class recent immigrants -- have many chidren. I think that is being presented as a bad thing, though everybody seems to be happy and well-fed (if a bit crowded).

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

Touché. I don't read the "you'd make a desirable tenant, but..." as insincere, so I tend to view it as the landlord saying he likes Everett fine but doesn't want Everett's children around.

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