'Racist' US cartoon causes stir

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

A cartoon in the New York Post newspaper has triggered accusations that it is a racist depiction of President Barack Obama.

Commentators denounced the cartoon, while campaigner Rev Al Sharpton vowed to picket the newspaper's headquarters.

Cartoonist Sean Delonas drew police shooting dead a chimp, while remarking "they'll have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill".

The paper has defended the cartoon as a "parody of a current news event".

On Tuesday President Obama signed into law a massive, $787bn (£548bn) economic stimulus package.

The plan failed to achieve Republican backing and came after weeks of political wrangling.

'Racist drivel'

Wednesday's cartoon referred to a gruesome incident on Monday, when a pet chimp was shot in Stamford, Connecticut, after a serious and disfiguring attack on a friend of its owner.

The New York Post denied the cartoon chimp represented President Obama. The cartoon "is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimp in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy," said editor-in-chief Col Allen.

That was rejected by Andrew Rojecki, co-author of the book The Black Image in the White Mind.

"The cops are saying, 'Someone's going to have to write the next stimulus bill.' Well, who wrote the last stimulus bill? It's Obama and the Democratic Party, but really it's associated with one person - and that's Obama," Mr Rojecki told the Chicago Tribune.

"It's a crude joke... It's pretty transparent to me."

"How could The Post let this cartoon pass as satire?" asked Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, in a statement.

"To compare the nation's first African-American commander-in-chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel."

She joined politicians in demanding an explanation from the publishers of the New York Post, a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch's international media conglomerate, News Corp.

There was also a furious public response. Blog posts on the topic attracted hundreds of angry comments, while complainants reportedly jammed the newspaper switchboard and protested outside its headquarters.

Some said it belittled the suffering endured by the woman who was attacked by the chimp, while others went as far as to accuse the cartoon of calling for President Obama's assassination.

That was vehemently repudiated by Mr Delonas, quoted by CNN, who also denied that the cartoon chimp represented Mr Obama.

'Opportunist'

Meanwhile, the civil rights campaigner Al Sharpton said his National Action Network would picket the New York headquarters of the newspaper at noon (1700 GMT) on Thursday.

He has also associated the cartoon with "historic racist attacks" which depict African-Americans as "synonymous with monkeys".

But Mr Allen dismissed Rev Sharpton as "nothing more than a publicity opportunist".

Mr Delonas has stirred controversy with previous cartoons, which have made fun of Heather Mills's amputated leg, compared gay people to sheep lovers, and depicted Muslims as terrorists.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7898845.stm

[Yoink 7]

Al sharpton was on coutdown last night talking about it...

The cops were dressed like 1950's cops (who were all white) and the "beware of dog" sign could have been a joke that in a city of dogs you could actually get mauled by a monkee...

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Is this the one?

Maybe, the cartoon is just a reference to a million monkees with typewriters eventually writing the entire works of Shakespeare.

[DeadPoolX 9]

Is this the one?

Maybe, the cartoon is just a reference to a million monkees with typewriters eventually writing the entire works of Shakespeare.

I wouldn't say that cartoon is appropriate; however, I would also say that it falls under the category of "free speech."

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Its pretty questionable - though it may simply be a case that the cartoonists intent didn't come across very well; though something like that should have been caught by an editor.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The raging chimp could have written a better plan. Just give him a couple Zanax.

[Ban Hammer 13,342]

fact is, obama won't write any stimulus bill, so getting all up in arms about this cartoon is making a mountain out of a molehill.

i do believe mr bill is right.

eta: if one wants to assert that the chimp is supposed to be obama, then the police must be republicans, right?

and where's the outrage over portraying the republicans as trigger happy police?

Edited February 19, 2009 by charles!

[alienlovechild 75]

Is this the one?

Maybe, the cartoon is just a reference to a million monkees with typewriters eventually writing the entire works of Shakespeare.

Or collective wisdom of the members of Congress who wrote the bill and and voted for it without reading it. Like the pet chimp, we thought they were civilized until they went beserk.

If Obama supporters thought the crazed chimp in the cartoon looked like Obama, what did Biden look like to them?

Edited February 19, 2009 by alienlovechild

[EstebanTrabajos 7]

I don't see the racism, racism is the eyes of the beholder and some people are overly obsessed with finding racist comments everywhere.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think if people have to speculate as to the intended meaning - its fair to say that the joke wasn't very well conceived.

[Peikko 1,575]

As cartoons go, it's not very funny. I agree with the comment, if the meaning is unclear then the cartoon failed. Cartoons are supposed to encapsulate an idea in a visual portrayal. That is their raison d'etre.

Edited February 19, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[almaty 19]

a stupid, no thought put into it cartoon..i doubt if it racist

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well if you really think about it Obama didn't "write" the stimulus bill - only signed it into law.

[almaty 19]

true..he sponsored one..but it was not written by him or argued in front of the congress/senate

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The problem of course is that if the original meaning is unclear - there's going to be a greater variance of interpretation. Comparisons to apes and monkeys are well known r*cist stereotypes - the newspaper should have known this also.