Deke

 Whether it’s in cartoons or superhero movies, it’s no secret that black people are grossly underrepresented in virtually every form of media.

Philadelphia based comic book artist and children’s book illustrator Tyron Handy hopes to change that with his now viral reimaginings of popular cartoon characters as black.

Handy has actually been posting his illustrations to Instagram for about two years now. In that time he’s kept busy and done black renditions of classic cartoons like Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, and The Simpsons. Handy told BuzzFeed that the whole project is about providing black kids today with the kinds of imagery that he wishes was available to him as a kid.

“There weren’t a lot of cartoons that I felt represented me much growing up — most black characters in cartoons and tv shows were stereotypical side characters and the best friend of the white main character,” Handy said. “Black kids need to be able to see more representations of themselves in media.”