Hello Readers, today Racism is on Troubles mind, The New York Post to be exact. How in this day and age can a publication not show any restraint and just place such a derogatory picture up and not assume that someone would be offended. I am almost in a state of confusion because we are raising our children to live a double sided life. We send our children to school and tell them all men are created equally but in the confines of our homes we say prejudice things about other races. Some people do not find the comic to be offensive and state that some are over reacting.
I have to disagree. For many years there was an association of African Americans and monkeys, apes, chimpanzees, and gorilla’s. I remember as a small child my great grandmother telling me stories of some of the hurtful and awful things that would be said to her. She was a nurse which was a huge accomplishment at that time she suffered through a lot for her love of people, she would tell stories of how some of her patients would ask her if she grew a tail at night and, that some of the patients were told these stories growing up and they believed them.
So for a publication in this day and age to print such a thing is not only offensive it is unacceptable. I think this is the first time I agreed with Al Sharpton about anything and that an annoying thought for me. For the future and for progress we need to come to some type of balance. The Post needs to apologize and rethink their purpose as an outlet of the media. Just my Opinion! I have attached the comic you be the judge.
I have to disagree. For many years there was an association of African Americans and monkeys, apes, chimpanzees, and gorilla’s. I remember as a small child my great grandmother telling me stories of some of the hurtful and awful things that would be said to her. She was a nurse which was a huge accomplishment at that time she suffered through a lot for her love of people, she would tell stories of how some of her patients would ask her if she grew a tail at night and, that some of the patients were told these stories growing up and they believed them.
So for a publication in this day and age to print such a thing is not only offensive it is unacceptable. I think this is the first time I agreed with Al Sharpton about anything and that an annoying thought for me. For the future and for progress we need to come to some type of balance. The Post needs to apologize and rethink their purpose as an outlet of the media. Just my Opinion! I have attached the comic you be the judge.
Give me a break, people. This is as bad as all the Limbaugh lemmings. Perhaps we need a new term: Sharpton sheep.
ReplyDeleteThe cartoonist's assertion is that the stimulus bill is a crazy quilt which might well have been written by a crazed chimpanzee. That's all there is here, move along please.
Just because he's combining the chimp story with the stimulus bill, the cartoonist is not (a) making a racist comment, or (b) suggesting that Obama should be shot.
I really hope that for the remainder of Obama's presidency, all opposition to his policies will not be immediately deconstructed as racism. It's going to be a long four (or eight) years, if that's the case. I hope people will settle in and start treating him as a political figure and stop focusing on race. Yes, he's black. Yes, it's wonderful that this country can have a black President. But Obama is a person, and criticism of that person -- his views, policies and remarks -- is just that, personal. It ain't always about his race. I'm not naive enough to think it's never about his race, but I don't think it's often about his race.
And for the record, a chimpanzee is not a monkey. A chimpanzee is an ape. Yes, perhaps a little pedantic there, but if we all learn a little something about simian taxonomy, then this flap won't be as totally useless as I think it is.
I would have understood a reference to the former president in this context. After all, the chimp attacked a woman and almost killed her. The analogy would be that by the time Bush left office, thanks to him, this country was nearly in its economic death throes. Given that the cartoonist clearly intended the deceased chimp to be a stand in for Obama, forget racism and focus on the larger implication: the cartoonist and, by extension, the NY Post are calling for the assassination of the president. While the obnoxious right wingers are yowling about freedom of speech, I believe it falls outside the definition of free speech to publish what amounts to a request for someone to assassinate the president.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Post has issued a statement defending its stimulus/chimp cartoon and slamming Rev. Al Sharpton for protesting the piece.
ReplyDeleteHere's the full statement by Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post:
"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
"I really hope that for the remainder of Obama's presidency, all opposition to his policies will not be immediately deconstructed as racism" No every opposition will not be considered racism but this is obvious racism and I am all for freedom of speech but this is was past that and "a chimpanzee is not a monkey. A chimpanzee is an ape. Yes, perhaps a little pedantic there, but if we all learn a little something about simian taxonomy, then this flap won't be as totally useless as I think it is." Thank you for the clarification but it doesnt change the fact that for predjudice and racially fueled publications these animals were used to describe african americans. SGRS I never looked at that way and thattakes the topic to a different level because there are people who receieve subliminal messages.....Umm what a mess and anonymous thank you for your post but that is just a generic speech that is common of a publication that is wrong
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings on this. Who truly knows the cartoonist intention, on one hand. On the other hand, we all know that N.Y post has people whose sole responsibility is to gauge the level of offensiveness in the content and relate that chance of losing revenue over it. So the company realized before releasing the paper at least, the PERCEPTION possibilities of African Americans being offended. So we know that someone said "regardless of how the reaction, print it"
ReplyDeleteAs far as the comment "Yes, it's wonderful that this country can have a black President..." I can appreciate that. It represents the obvious disconnect between the speaker and the black community. The insinuation of this comment is that it’s a WONDERFUL thing that a country that has built itself, in a considerable way, off of the free labor, rape and oppression of my ancestors. That sets the table for the mentality of the speaker. You should pray that such a thing would happen, when we as African Americans EVER lower our "racism" radar in this country. You would be a foolish African American to do so. And thankfully when topics like this arise, you are able to catch people like Maxwell off balance, and see the truth in feelings slip out. Notice it wasn’t an "overdue" thing that a black was elected president, it wasn’t a "necessary" thing, it wasn’t a "long time coming”, it was "wonderful"; indicating that it wasn’t a past due bill being partially paid, but a generous offering by the American people. Rest assured my good friends, that the raising of hackles every time something SEEMS racist, just give a hint of that good ole' American racism that existed as LAW in this country not long ago, just a whiff and we will continue to raise the alarm. We have to. To African Americans, you just remember all the years when your parents/grandparents could say NOTHING. You OWE it to them to raise every possible racist attack, speech, practice, name calling, this is necessary. We never stop progressing, we never EXPECT anyone to help erase the scars inflicted on us, so there is not begging, no pleading. We will continue to make life as uncomfortable as possible for those who disrespect the blood our ancestors shed just so they COULD say "hey, that’s racist!" The Jewish people are a GREAT road map for the way you respond when you get out of an oppressive situation. They hunted down; sued, pushed for world condemnation everyone they could find that was either involved in causing this pain, or dared, and DARED to even jokingly disrespect that pain. To this day the common American will STILL not openly make holocaust jokes. We must continue to do the same. This "cartoon" is no different. Whether the artist meant that Obama was an ape means very little. It’s the fact that we KNOW his newspaper powers that be KNEW this would offend some African Americans, and ran it anyway. And now Al Sharpton has simply said "respect our pain". End of conversation. You can like it, love it, hate it, it matters none, it will happen. It will be in the news, it will be on your TV screen, it will be discussed in your workplace, every time our pain is disrespected it will become an issue; every time there is a perception of disrespect it will be an issue. As far as the difference between a monkey and an ape, lol,
It does seem as if Maxwell is more concerned with USING nice words, then actually linking them to a point.