Ten years ago today my wife, Brenda, and I went to the huge march for the terrorist attack at Charlie Hebdo. On the day of the attack I remember Brenda calling me to tell me what happened. I immediately knew it was bad because I knew that they had their staff meetings on Wednesday. As the news came in it was even worse. I had met some of the people who were murdered. In fact a couple of months before Cabu was at Le Sélect and I stopped by his table to say hello. Here is what I wrote when I originally posted these drawings: “Today we went to the huge manif (march), in Paris, for Charlie Hebdo and the victims of the terrorist attacks last week. They said that there were one million people there. By the time we arrived we couldn’t even get near Place de la Republique, where the march started. There were a lot of people!! All ages, from kids to grandparents. All colors and nationalities. It was good to see. At one point some people in an apartment above started blasting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony out their window. The crowd loved it and cheered. The chant “Charlie! Charlie!” was always heard as was instantaneous applause. Once we started marching I pulled out my sketchbook to draw. I drew while walking. I only got two drawings done, because after a while the crowd got so packed that it was difficult to hold my sketchbook and draw. We didn’t march to the end at Place de la Nation. Public transportation was free today and the métro was packed getting there. I can’t imagine being at the end with all those people and trying to get on a train. Other people were leaving too, they probably also felt like we did. I am so glad that we went. It was very important. Especially for me as an artist, having been published in Charlie Hebdo.”
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