Why Are We Still Married?: Political Cartoons of 2016
by Darrin Bell

The year 2016 in political cartoons by Darrin Bell of the Washington Post Writers Group, winner of the 2015 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Editorial Cartooning, and the 2016 Berryman Award. This was the year the country became more polarized than at any point since the Civil War. This was the year when fear defeated hope. But the election of Donald Trump was only a symptom. When police shot unarmed black men, half of us saw one thing, half of us saw another. When mass shootings struck yet again, half of us felt the other half’s response was reprehensible. The two sides can’t even agree on what "facts" are anymore. At what point, if any, is it ok to ask whether this relationship has run its course? Will it ever be ok to ask "Why are we still married?"

These stunningly-drawn, full color cartoons are thoughtful and evocative. As Amy Lago of the Washington Post Writers Group put it, "Bell deftly takes on the pressing social issues of the day, from gay rights, to rape victims who are not believed, to children flooding into the United States, hoping for a brighter future." Contains cartoons from "Grab Them By the Pussy: the 2016 Election in Cartoons," and dozens of other cartoons (because contrary to popular belief, plenty of other things happened in 2016).