N.Y. Post: Racist cartoon

I reluctantly reproduce this obviously racist cartoon from Wednesday's (2/18) N.Y. Post. But I think people need to see it in order to evaluate it.

To me - in the context of U.S. racial history and the use of images of gorillas to depict people of color and the connection between the president and the stimulus bill - the racist content of the cartoon is obvious. What surprises me is that any sane person would be surprised by a racist cartoon in the N.Y. Post

And once you accept the connection between our first African-American president and the bloody gorilla depicted in the cartoon, the question of assassination rears its ugly head. It also raises questions of police murdering obviously unarmed victims.

There is a major demonstration currently underway outside the N.Y. Post. More later. People are calling for a boycott of the Post (most of us already do that) and the businesses that advertise in a racist rag like the Post.

Yesterday, Thursday (2/19), The N.Y.Post - under pressure from growing community opposition - to its racist cartoon (see above) issued a statement it mislabelled an "apology."

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. Period. But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism. This was certainly not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize

Then they went on to attack the so-called opportunists in the media and public life who are taking advantage of the situation. This kind of half-assed apology does nothing to alleviate the situation. In fact, it tends to demean "those who were offended by the image," which obviously is in their heads.

If, in fact, this is the only way the N.Y.Post (and its editors and cartoonist) could find to "mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill" the only people who are inept are the Post editors and cartoonist. Their lack of any understanding of U.S. racial history and their lack of sensitivity with community feelings says far more about the N.Y. Post than about the stimulus bill.

If you can't make it to the protests outside the Post building, click here to send a letter of protest to the Post.