The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

NEW YORK (Feb. 19) - A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police drew outrage Wednesday from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkeys.
The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. The caption reads: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

The New York Post drew accusations of racism for printing a political cartoon that some have said compares President Barack Obama to a mad chimpanzee. The cartoon, which appeared in Wednesday's newspaper, was playing off an incident involving a chimpanzee that severely mauled a woman and then was shot by police in Connecticut on Monday.

The cartoon refers to a chimpanzee named Travis who was killed Monday by police in Stamford, Conn., after it mauled a friend of its owner.
Some critics called the cartoon racist and said it trivialized a tragedy in which a woman was disfigured and a chimpanzee killed. Others said the cartoon suggests that Obama should be assassinated. Many urged a boycott of the Post and the companies that advertise in it.
"How could the Post let this cartoon pass as satire?" said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. "To compare the nation's first African-American commander in chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel."


State Sen. Eric Adams called it a "throwback to the days" when black men were lynched.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."
The cartoon set off a furious response against the Post. Its phones rang all day with angry callers. Protesters picketed the tabloid's Manhattan offices, demanding an apology and a boycott and chanting "shut the Post down."
Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, defended the work.
"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," Allan said in a statement. "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

The cartoon drew hundreds of comments on the Internet including at the liberal Huffington Post, where columnist Sam Stein wrote: "At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp."

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined comment.
"I have not seen the cartoon," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from Arizona, where he announced his plan to deal with the foreclosure crisis. "But I don't think it's altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post."
It is not the first time that Delonas, the longtime cartoonist for the Post's Page Six, has raised eyebrows with a heavy-handed caricature.
An earlier Delonas cartoon made fun of Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills for having only one leg, and another compared gay people seeking marriage licenses to sheep lovers. In a cartoon last month, an enormous Jessica Simpson dumps boyfriend Tony Romo for Ronald McDonald.

Irn-Bru wrote:That cartoon chimp represented Obama as much as as McCain was the "pig" in "lipstick on a pig." In other words, it's all bull.

The cartoon wasn't funny. Maybe if it had a more obvious point people wouldn't have reached and decided it must have been about Obama. Still, not that the paper deserved to be called racist over it.

langleyparkjoe wrote:maybe because of past racist comments associating blacks with monkeys/apes I do think its directed at obama. to me and a lot of co-workers here (of all races as well) they see it as the same thing because in the end no matter who officially writes it or signs it, the stimulus bill is still obama's project. moreso i don't agree with the majority of things that sharpton says and some of his views but this time I agree with him 100%. Don't forget on the reverse side of the cartoon, there's a picture of Obama signing the stimulus bill. The only monkey that was shot was the "pet" monkey who went "apes" on its owner and what does that monkey have to do with our economic situation? "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy"... really? Cappster I disagree with you that Sharpton is trying to gather attention here, he's not the only person who is furious about it, and no, it is NOT ok to refer to Bush as an ape when they're other terms that fit him better...like.. idiot for instance. You say they try to keep racism alive, now that is the most ridiculous statement i've seen on this board since i've joined. I'm not trying to match the wrongs because blacks haven't always been on the recieving end but when Obama first ran for the office, a lot of racist whites started their nonsense as well. Just for the record I heard about the story on Hot 99.5, a white disc jokey who was furious about it that ripped New York Post a new you know what on air.. I didn't hear it from Sharpton. Also, if Sharpton didn't say anyting about it, does that mean no one else would've??? to me.. it clearly goes at Obama but whatever, go ahead and do the nonsense, he's still our guy and we should support him the same way we needed to support bush.. and bush wasn't a color issue, he made clear mistakes that he admitted to

WALLACE: Well, let me ask you about another case. When those three students charged in the Duke rape case were charged in the case, even after people found holes in the prosecutor's argument, you continued to side with the accuser.

Here's what you told Bill O'Reilly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHARPTON: This D.A. is probably not one that is crazy. He would not have proceeded it he did not feel...

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: I'm not criticizing him.

SHARPTON: ... that he could convict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALLACE: Reverend Sharpton, now that all of those students have been found innocent by the state attorney general, will you apologize to the Duke students?

SHARPTON: Mr. Wallace, maybe you played the wrong tape. I think what I said in that tape was that the D.A. is apparently not crazy, and this is what the D.A. said.

You said that you were getting ready to play a tape where I said that this case must be pushed despite the holes in it. That's not what you played. And the reason you didn't play it is because I never said that.

What I said is that the D.A., we felt, brought the charges because — the charges he felt he had evidence for. If the D.A. misled us, you want me to apologize for what, being misled?

WALLACE: Well, one could argue that, in fact, you — a lot of other people were saying let's see what happens in the court case. You were siding with the prosecutor. You were saying he's not crazy.

SHARPTON: No, I said that I did not...

WALLACE: What about the presumption of innocence, Reverend Sharpton?

SHARPTON: Wait, woah, woah.

WALLACE: What about the presumption of innocence, Reverend Sharpton?

SHARPTON: Well, first of all, again, what you are trying to do is compare a man who gets on radio that involved no case, no allegation — nobody said anything about these students — and called them nappy-headed ho's with cases that people — whether it's O.J., whether it's Michael Jackson or anything else — people have a right to take positions on what they believe in a case.

You cannot take an individual case and compare that to people getting on federally regulated broadcast stations and making, for no reason, no context, no accusation, just blanket statements. You're trying to compare apples and oranges.

WALLACE: And, Reverend Sharpton, even after the case has been completely disproved, even after the attorney general in North Carolina has said that it was an overreaching, overzealous prosecutor, you're still not willing to say...

SHARPTON: Oh, absolutely, but...

WALLACE: ... "I, Reverend Sharpton, was wrong, I owe an apology to those students?"

SHARPTON: ... you didn't ask that question. You did not ask that question.

WALLACE: Well, I'm asking it to you now, sir.

SHARPTON: I wish you would, rather than assume my answer. Not only would I said today I think clearly the prosecutor misled us, and that what happened to those young men were horrible, I said it on my show Friday. It said it immediately after it happened.

So to act as though I have not said that is not true. You should have asked that. I've said that as soon as it came down. I said it on my radio program Friday.

But again, you didn't ask that. You assumed an answer and put it in my mouth and then asked me to apologize for it.

WALLACE: I don't think that's exactly what I did. Actually, what I said was now that the attorney general says they're all innocent, do you apologize to the students.

SHARPTON: No. You said will I now...

WALLACE: In any case, Reverend Sharpton, let me ask you one...

SHARPTON: ... do it, as if I had not done it.

WALLACE: Reverend Sharpton, let me ask you one...

SHARPTON: I did it.

WALLACE: ... final question, if I may.

SHARPTON: I will again do it. I did it on Friday.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson said Saturday that his Rainbow/Push Coalition will pay the college tuition for a black stripper who has made rape allegations against white members of Duke University's men's lacrosse team.

And the offer stands even if it turns out she fabricated her story.

Jackson told The Associated Press Saturday that his organization is committed to making sure the 27-year-old divorced mother of two will never again "have to stoop that low to survive."

But in a recent interview with The Associated Press, Jackson said history can't help but loom large over this case. It is particularly horrible because these white men hired black women to strip for them.

"That fantasy's as old as slave masters impregnating young slave girls," he said.

Cheshire found Jackson's comment odd, since the lacrosse players did not specifically ask for black strippers.

"There is no slave-master mentality here, and that's just another perfect example of ... self-absorbed race pandering," Cheshire said.

Countertrey wrote:The new paradigm...

Caricature Congress... you are a racist

Caricature the Senate... you are a racist

Caricature Obama... you are a racist

If Obama truly gets it, he will shut this crap down. That's not likely, sooo...

Prepare for 4 years of pandering to the race baiters.

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, declined comment. “I have not seen the cartoon,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Mr Obama returned to Washington. “But I don’t think it’s altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post.”

Fios wrote:

Countertrey wrote:The new paradigm...

Caricature Congress... you are a racist

Caricature the Senate... you are a racist

Caricature Obama... you are a racist

If Obama truly gets it, he will shut this crap down. That's not likely, sooo...

Prepare for 4 years of pandering to the race baiters.

Here is the totality of the White House response, which came earlier this week:

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, declined comment. “I have not seen the cartoon,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Mr Obama returned to Washington. “But I don’t think it’s altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post.”

Where do you see race-baiting in that reply?

Countertrey wrote:

Fios wrote:

Countertrey wrote:The new paradigm...

Caricature Congress... you are a racist

Caricature the Senate... you are a racist

Caricature Obama... you are a racist

If Obama truly gets it, he will shut this crap down. That's not likely, sooo...

Prepare for 4 years of pandering to the race baiters.

Here is the totality of the White House response, which came earlier this week:

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, declined comment. “I have not seen the cartoon,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Mr Obama returned to Washington. “But I don’t think it’s altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post.”

Where do you see race-baiting in that reply?

I don't... but (consistent with the very clear statement in my post...), I don't see him telling them to knock it off, either... do you? If you can point out where I suggest that Obama or the White House would do the "baiting" (as you allude in your reply) please feel free to do so.

tcwest10 wrote:I wish I were sophisicated enough read between the lines in this cartoon so that I, too, could share in this heated debate.
With my very average IQ and complete lack of saavy in all things racial/political, all I could see was, "Hey, this cartoonist thinks the stimulus bill was so clumsy and hasty, a chimp could've done it."
Honestly, people. When was the last time anybody seriously compared blacks to primates? For Christs sake, we've just elected a man of color to the highest post in the free world! By a huge margin!
Freedom of speech lives and breathes here in America, but so too does the hypersensitivity and the social imperative of jumping to conclusions.
Occam's Razor, please. It's not always a complicated message conveyed by a cartoonist.
Sometimes, it's just that the cartoonist thinks something sucks.
By the way, IMHO...Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are finished as spokesmen for people of color. We are now all equally represented by our new President, who needs no help from them. Jesse has mooched far too long on MLK's legacy (his photograph on the infamous balcony), and Al Sharpton is a parody of a civil rights activist and not ready for Prime Time. There are still lives ruined by his 'work' in the Tawana Brawley incident (one of whom is a casual acquaintance) some 25 years ago, and his treatment of Don Imus was inappropriate for a man whose own reputation has been sullied for decades.

Fios wrote:

Countertrey wrote:

Fios wrote:

Countertrey wrote:The new paradigm...

Caricature Congress... you are a racist

Caricature the Senate... you are a racist

Caricature Obama... you are a racist

If Obama truly gets it, he will shut this crap down. That's not likely, sooo...

Prepare for 4 years of pandering to the race baiters.

Here is the totality of the White House response, which came earlier this week:

Robert Gibbs, White House press secretary, declined comment. “I have not seen the cartoon,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Mr Obama returned to Washington. “But I don’t think it’s altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post.”

Where do you see race-baiting in that reply?

I don't... but (consistent with the very clear statement in my post...), I don't see him telling them to knock it off, either... do you? If you can point out where I suggest that Obama or the White House would do the "baiting" (as you allude in your reply) please feel free to do so.

Come on man, that's splitting hairs, if they are pandering to race-baiting they are tacitly endorsing it. I don't know how much more you can ask than "I don’t think it’s altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post" as far as a "this story is not worth it" response.

Irn-Bru wrote:It's not incumbent upon Obama to denounce every idiot that makes an unfounded claim on his behalf.

Simply not responding is fine.

Deadskins wrote:Yawn

Who is doing more race baiting here, Al Sharpton, or those "news" organizations that run to him for comment every time some story, even remotely involving race, arises?

It's this kind of crap that results in City Council members being offended by terms like "black hole" without stopping to think "hey, maybe they are referring to the fact that a black hole IS BLACK and not just trying to pin something negative to my race."