RACISM STILL EXISTS!
A great friend of mine forwarded an email to me that I thought would be appropriate to share with my blog family. Thanks Beverly!
After President Obama signed the stimulus bill, his first major piece of legislation, the New York Post ran a cartoon depicting the bill's author as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police. In the face of intense criticism, The Post's
editor is standing by the cartoon, claiming it has no racial
undertones, that it's not about President Obama, and that it was simply
referencing an incident earlier this week when police shot a pet
chimpanzee (an argument that pundits and analysts simply aren't buying).1
It's
impossible to believe that any newspaper editor could be ignorant
enough to not understand how this cartoon evokes a history of racist
symbolism, or how frightening this image feels at a time when death
threats against President Obama have been on the rise.
Please join us in demanding that The Post apologize publicly and fire the editor who allowed this cartoon to go to print: http://colorofchange.org/nypost/?id=2138-170894 The Post
would have us believe that the cartoon is not about Obama. But on the
page just before the cartoon appears, there's a big picture of President Obama
signing the stimulus bill.2
A reader paging through The Post would see President Obama putting pen to paper, then turn the page to see this violent cartoon. The imagery is chilling. There
is a clear history in our country of racist symbolism that depicts
Black people as apes or monkeys, and it came up multiple times during
the presidential campaign.3
We're also in a time of
increased race-based violence. In the months following President
Obama's election there has been a nationwide surge in hate crimes
ranging from vandalism to assaults to arson on Black churches.4,5 There has been an unprecedented number of threats against President Obama since he was elected,6
with hate-based groups fantasizing about the killing of the president.
Just a week ago, a man drove from Louisiana to the Capitol with a
rifle, telling the police who stopped him that he had a "delivery" for
the president.7
There is no excuse for The Post to have allowed this cartoon to be printed, and even less for Editor Col Allan's outright dismissal of Black concerns. But let's be clear about who's behind The Post: Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch, the Post's
owner, is the man behind FOX News Channel. FOX has continually attacked
and denigrated Black people, politicians, and institutions at every
opportunity, and we've run several campaigns to make clear how FOX
poisons public debate.8 We don't expect much from
Murdoch.
However, with enough public pressure we can set the stage for
advertisers and subscribers to think long and hard before patronizing
outlets like the Post that refuse to be held accountable. You can
help by making it clear that the Post's behavior is unacceptable, and
by asking your friends and family to do the same.
It only takes a
minute: http://colorofchange.org/nypost/?id=2138-170894 -- James, Gabriel, Clarissa, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team February 19th, 2009
SOURCES:
1. "NY Post Defends Cartoon, Slams Al Sharpton," Huffington Post, 2-18-2009 http://tinyurl.com/cdmhmm
2. "Obama Photo Preceded Cartoon Of Gunned Down Chimp," Huffington Post, 2-18-2009 http://tinyurl.com/d4jf3m
3. "'Curious George' Obama Shirt Causes Uproar," CBS News, 5-15-2008 http://tinyurl.com/d3ym5w
4. "Post-Racial USA? Not So Fast." Associated Press, 11-15-2008 http://tinyurl.com/b6nw6u
5. "Arson seen in post-election fire at black church in Springfield," Boston Globe, 11-8-2008
http://tinyurl.com/689k4k
6. "Obama never worries about his security despite record number of threats," Daily Mail, 11-27-2008
http://tinyurl.com/bwpr2b
7. "Winnfield man with rifle said he had 'delivery' for Obama," The Advocate, 2-11-2009
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/39429842.html
LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD TODAY!
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