What is "The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans?

A 2013 Star Tribune editorial cartoon by Steve Sack showing a white father giving his son the birds-and-the-bees talk and a Black father warning his son about the U.S. justice system. It later became an exploitable template on Reddit.

Where did "The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans come from?

Steve Sack drew it for the Star Tribune on July 16, 2013, three days after a jury acquitted George Zimmerman of killing Trayvon Martin. KYM traces the comic's shift into meme territory to a 2017 /r/dankmemes photoshop.

What does "The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans mean?

Sack's original argues that white and Black parents in the U.S. prepare their sons for different realities, one about sex and one about surviving the criminal justice system. Edited versions keep the two-panel contrast and point it at other groups for humor.

How do you use "The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans?

Keep Sack's left panel with the white father talking about birds and bees, then photoshop new bubbles into the right panel for whatever contrast you want. People have used it for stoners, gamers, and shitpost non sequiturs.

Is "The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans still popular?

Reddit users made edits in 2017 and 2018, and the original cartoon still gets shared on Facebook, where DJ Lord reposted it in December 2018.

"The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans

2013exploitableclassic

Published October 16, 2026

"The Talk" White Americans Vs. African-Americans is a July 2013 Star Tribune editorial cartoon by Steve Sack contrasting a white father's birds-and-the-bees chat with a Black father warning his son about police and the U.S. justice system1. Sack drew it three days after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting. By April 2017, Redditors on /r/dankmemes were photoshopping the Black father's panel to replace his warnings with weed and stacks of cash2.

exploitable templates race and identity memes two panel memes political satire memes delayed virality memes

Overview

Sack's cartoon shows two fathers sitting across from their sons in matching poses, with speech bubbles above each dad illustrating what he is about to explain. On the left, the white father's bubbles contain cartoon birds and bees. On the right, the Black father's bubbles hold a handgun and a Lady Justice figure captioned "the U.S. justice system," pointing to the warning Black parents give their sons about police stops and racial bias in criminal cases1.

Edits of "The Talk" leave the left panel intact and rewrite the right panel's bubbles for whatever contrast the poster wants to draw. A 2017 /r/dankmemes version turned the Black father into a stoner dad explaining how to sell weed2. By late 2018 the exploitable had tilted toward absurdist shitposting, with /r/comedyheaven users replacing the warnings with pictures of large-headed children4.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Star Tribune (editorial cartoon) / Reddit (viral spread)

Creator

Steve Sack

Date

2013

Steve Sack published "The Talk" in the Star Tribune on July 16, 2013, three days after a Florida jury found neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin1. The verdict set off protests in U.S. cities, and Sack's cartoon joined commentary about what Black parents of teenage sons were having to tell their kids3.

How It Spread

The first known photoshop edit did not appear until April 9, 2017, when a now-deleted Redditor posted a version to /r/dankmemes that replaced the right-panel bubbles with marijuana buds and a twenty-dollar-bill stack. The post earned over 270 upvotes2.

Later edits turned absurdist. On November 10, 2018, Redditor fleshgod_alpacalypse posted a /r/comedyheaven version replacing the Black father's warnings with the caption "look at dis nigga's head" over a picture of a boy with a huge head; the shitpost earned 6,200 upvotes4. On December 2, 2018, KYM user Princeso Bubblegum uploaded a "gamer-Americans" edit with Joker painted onto the family, drawing more than 6,000 views3. DJ Lord reshared Sack's original on Facebook on December 13, 20185.

Timeline

2013-07-13

A Florida jury acquits George Zimmerman of murdering Trayvon Martin, sparking national protests.

2013-07-16

Steve Sack publishes "The Talk" in the Star Tribune.

2017-04-09

A now-deleted Redditor posts the first known photoshop edit to /r/dankmemes, replacing the warnings with weed and cash.

2018-11-10

Redditor fleshgod_alpacalypse posts a /r/comedyheaven shitpost edit featuring a big-headed boy.

2018-12-02

KYM user Princeso Bubblegum uploads a "gamer-Americans" edit with Joker face paint.

2018-12-13

DJ Lord reshares Sack's original cartoon on Facebook.

How to Use This Meme

Posters leave Sack's left panel alone and photoshop the right panel into whatever two-group comparison they want to make, keeping the parallel between a white father's gentle sex talk and the Black father's warnings. "The Talk" edits often replace the handgun and Lady Justice icons with weed and cash, video game characters, or absurd stock photos. The joke works because the viewer recognizes the original 2013 setup and reads the new right-panel content as a parallel but ridiculous version.