‘Union League of Philadelphia’ | The Drawing Board
In an illustrated op-ed, local artist Joe Boruchow reflects on what he calls "a bastion of the paranoid anti-woke."
I first started thinking about this piece in the early days of the Trump administration when I participated in several protests in Philadelphia. When marching, we would almost always pass the Union League of Philadelphia. Practically no one noticed that there on the balconies and in the windows, chomping on cigars and derisively smirking, were the objects of our outrage — delighted by the spectacle of all of us passing before them unaware.
In 2018, when the Union League bestowed the Lincoln Award to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, I made this paper cutout. I was not surprised when this piece took on new relevance with the league’s recent decision to honor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
This club — that claims association with the values of President Abraham Lincoln — is really just a bastion of the paranoid anti-woke, anti-Black, anti-LGBTQ tax shirkers who are more interested in their bottom line than the commonwealth.
The Latin motto of the Union League is “Amor Patriae Ducit,” which translates to “Love of Country Leads.” I replaced patriae with pecunia (which means money), because, for the Union League of Philadelphia, “Love of Money Leads.”
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