Without having to say a word, his T-shirt spoke for him.  It had a picture of the famous Mexican revolutionist Emiliano Zapata wearing a military outfit and a hat. The only difference was that Barack Obama’s face was used instead of Zapata’s. In bold letters, the words spread across the T-shirt read, “Viva Obama!”

His T-shirt gives a small hint of what Lalo Alcaraz, a cultural cartoonist from California, is all about. He spoke to a crowd of students and faculty on Oct. 7 at Ferguson Hall in the Alexandroff Campus Center, 600 S. Michigan Ave., about his political views, influences and culture.

Alcaraz is best known for his comic strip, La Cucaracha (the cockroach), which appears in daily newspapers like the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Sun-Times. His cartoons have also been published in The New York Times.

Since 1992, Alcaraz has expressed his opinions about politics and culture using Cuco Rocha, the cockroach character in his comic strip.

“La Cucaracha relates back to the Mexican revolution and a song called ‘La Cucaracha,’ a satirical song about a very elite general who was a drug addict,” he said.

Carmelo Esterrich, director of cultural studies at Columbia, introduced Alcaraz at the event and sponsored him to bring him from California to speak.

“Many artists have to choose to either do editorial cartoons or comic strips, and one thing that I admire about Lalo is that he does both,” Esterrich said. “He is part of the traditional political cartoonist, but also part of the cartoonist from Latin America.”

Daniel Aranda, director of Latino Cultural Affairs at Columbia, was in charge of organizing the event.

“It was great having someone as influential as him come talk to Columbia about all the issues that are going on through a humorous angle,” Aranda said. “A lot of people don’t realize how important cartoonists are for the media and their role in society.”

Alcaraz keeps himself busy coming up with 12 different cartoons each week.  A year ago, he found out that he had been fired from the Los Angeles Times. He was at home due to a car accident, and he read about his job loss in the paper. He soon found out that they had cut the only two minority comic strips about politics. After strong audience feedback, he was able to get his job back two days later.

“My story made The Associated Press and it went around the world,” he said. “Firing me was the greatest gift the L.A. Times gave me because it exploded in their face.”

His career as a cartoonist began when he was at San Diego State University drawing editorial cartoons for his school newspaper, The Daily Aztec. There, Alcaraz got his first “hate letter”-kind of.  He found a message scribbled on a toilet dispenser that said he “should go back to Tijuana,” even though he was born in San Diego, Calif.

“It was a good time to learn how to satirize things and mock politicians and people,” he said. “They made it so easy for me.”

He is currently working on an editorial cartoon about a new study that was released regarding undocumented immigrant homeowners in California who have a lower default rate than most homeowners.

The comic strip shows the house of an undocumented family with a minuteman standing outside their door. He holds a briefcase that reads “no illegals” and says to them, “Yo poder vivir con you mojados?” (Can I live with you wetbacks?) The next slide shows the minuteman’s house being foreclosed by the bank.

Aside from comic strips, he has published four books dealing with political issues. Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration, displays Mickey Mouse on the front cover wearing an INS uniform pointing to a sign that says “Mexico.” The book is a collection of his editorial and comic strips that he has published in the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier this year, he pitched his comic strip, La Cucaracha, as a TV show and was about to get it until the writer’s strike came along.  He plans on pitching it again this year.

A lot of his material has been transferred to T-shirts, buttons and posters that he sells on his website, MySpace.com/LaloAlcaraz.

“Satire ruined me for everything,” Alcaraz said. “I can’t go to a poetry reading; I just sit there and think, ‘How could I destroy this?'”