You know which one. New York Post. Our President as a dead monkey. Do we perpetrate the power of such trash by commenting on it, objecting to it, posting the cartoon on our pages as proof of its horribleness? We know the New York Post is a trashy paper. We know that this kind of racist crap will be happening over and over with Obama. We know people of color deal with racist behavior all the time. So here we are, 2009, and what's the response? Of course it's racist. At the same time, the outcry has generated more free publicity for the cartoon and NY Post than it's probably had in years. Ignore or respond? Check out the conversation on this blog http://peaurl.com/KCT9 (Thanks Erica @ cinna.mn)
What do you think?
In short, I think the article is worth the attention, however, this has less to do with the generated response to the NY Post than with the reality of its implications of the world we live with. What is so terribly wrong in the world, in pedagogy, in our hearts and spirits that people still believe that depicting Blacks as apes/monkeys/etc. is accurate and acceptable?
ReplyDeleteThere is no excuse for a cartoonist to claim that they didn't know it would be offensive. Maybe the editors felt as though folks would have shrugged it off as "we" do all of the violent images of women and prolific use of the N word in so called music.
Sadly, though the depiction draws attention to that shady info spewer it also demands our attention to the indoctrination of people -especially artists.
Right on, cuz! So wise!
ReplyDelete