The PowerPoint presentation "They Shoot Black People, Don’t They?" features contemporary cartoons by comic artist Keith Knight that focus, for example, on the militarization of the police in the United States and their brutal actions against members of minority groups. Knight's humorous and satirical work is intended to promote a constructive dialogue among the population as a whole. His cartoons appear in publications such as the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, or MAD Magazine.

A unique cooperation with Michigan State University has made the expansion of the comic collection at JFKI possible. The Comic Arts Collection at Michigan State University is giving the library double issues from its collection as a continuing donation. They include action comics from the 1960s and -70s, science fiction comics from the 1980s, and current superhero adaptions. The collection supports research and teaching at the John F. Kennedy Institute. Along with other popular primary sources such as newspapers, magazines, films, or TV series, comics are a resource constantly used in teaching and research at the John F. Kennedy Institute. They are used by all the departments at the institute. The collection is of particular interest to the “Popular Seriality—Aesthetics and Practice” Research Unit. Frank Kelleter is the chief investigator of the group and is an Einstein-Professor, funded by the Einstein Foundation Berlin.

Time and Location

• Tuesday, November 25, 2014, 2 to 4 p.m.
• John F. Kennedy Institute, Freie Universität Berlin, Room 340, Lansstraße 7–9, 14195 Berlin; subway station: Dahlem-Dorf (U3)
• The opening of the comic book collection is open to the public, and admission is free.   
• Most of the collection is in the open stacks section of the library and can be borrowed under the usual conditions. Some comic books are kept in closed stacks and can be ordered for use in the reading rooms.