The New York Post published a controversial political cartoon by Sean Delonas in its February 18th edition depicting a chimpanzee shot dead on the street by policeman and one policeman saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."
The cartoon at best was in poor taste and at worst was racist. There is some precedent for the reaction by activist, Rev. Al Sharpton and others who saw the cartoon as racist. African Americans have been portrayed as non-human primates such as apes and monkeys in the past. The New York Post claims the cartoon wasn't meant as racist but it's hard to see how the editor didn't recognize how the political cartoon would come across to the public as racist.
Political cartoons have a long history in American newspapers and magazines. In 1871, Harper's Weekly published a political cartoon depicting William Marcy (Boss) Tweed in a controversial drawing with the caption, "Who stole the people's money?" in which Tweed's cohorts pointed to Tweed. Tweed offered Thomas Nast $100,000 to go study art in Europe. Tweed conjectured that most of his constituents couldn't read, but they could understand a picture.
There's a well known cliche about history repeating itself and one of the reasons the adage is well known is because it's true. One only has to look back through the years of political cartoons to see that much of what is happening today happened during the Great Depression. After the great stock market crash of 1929, President Herbert Hoover left the White House with a nation in turmoil as unemployment soared to an all time high and the nation saw its worst recession followed by the Great Depression. When Franklin D Roosevelt took office and immediately began the task of rebuilding the nation's economy by creating jobs, with his New Deal, most of the nation gave him their support.
In "The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons" by Stephen Hess and Milton Kaplan, Hess and Kaplan wrote,
But the great majority of cartoonists-perhaps reflecting the great majority of their publishers-were hostile to the New Deal. ....Never had cartoonists and public opinion been on such separate tracks, and never had each so little effect on the other.
This political cartoon is the work of Herbert Johnson of the Saturday Evening Post, from the 1930s.
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Here is another example of an anti-New Deal cartoon, titled, "The Trojan horse at our Gate" by Carey Orr, which was published in the Chicago Tribune on September 17, 1935. Note that in this cartoon, the New Deal is being shown as a Trojan horse that is about to invade the U.S. Constitution.
Controversy surrounding Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Bill is not that different from the controversy that played out in the 1930's as President Roosevelt enacted the programs of the New Deal to get the nation's economy working again. The majority of people were supportive of the economic progress the New Deal promised yet in newspapers and magazines around the country, many of the political cartoons were clearly against the New Deal.
The cartoon published in the New York Post has gone beyond the anti-New Deal sentiment of publishers during the Great Depression, however. Even if you could somehow rationalize that the depiction of the chimpanzee as the writer of the stimulus bill is not racist, it is undeniably violent in its sentiment.
Because of television, the political cartoons that so captivated the nation early in its history, has less importance today than it did 60 or 70 years ago, but as Sean Delonas of the New York Post has proven, they can still be controversial.
Comments
I saw the chimp cartoon, and possibly what we have is a cultural disconnect, because I honestly did not identify nor assume a racial undertone until it was pointed out. As much as I don't agree with most of The Times editorial staff's political bent, I have no problem believing they were simply oblivious.
Perhaps they could have been more sensitive, but since when are political cartoons supposed to be PC as opposed to brutal caricatures to score an ideological point?
The thing is, cartoons as a matter of course exaggerate features.
So with that in mind, I'd ask how is it possible for a white cartoonist to exaggerate Barack Obama's facial features --along the same coarse lines as has been done to past presidents-- and NOT have someone denounce it as "racist"?
Sharpton should apologize to all chimp's for insinuating that they resemble Obama.
All this ruckus reminds me of Islamic rioting, looting, burning and killing because a handful of artists dared to create cartoons of Mohammad.
Black America is wisely not engaging in rioting, looting, burning and killing because of a cartoon.
However, history reflects this current displayed restraint by Black America has not always been true.
My hope is history will not repeat itself.
Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation
Professional racists like Al Sharpton, and the fools in the media who still use him, should be a thing of the past. Other racists, like Jessie Jackson, have slowed race relations because most Americans are smarter than to pay attention to these people. Usually, it is the same progressive liberals that both listen to these people and would find that cartoon racist. Seem some of you always fall back on racisism. Why are you stuck in the 1960's? It's an old tired act.
Professional racists like Al Sharpton, and the fools in the media who still use him, should be a thing of the past. Other racists, like Jessie Jackson, have slowed race relations because most Americans are smarter than to pay attention to these people. Usually, it is the same progressive liberals that both listen to these people and would find that cartoon racist. Seem some of you always fall back on racisism. Why are you stuck in the 1960's? It's an old tired act.
WRONG IS WRONG and until America stops excusing all racist diatribes as this one is then we can never have the liberty, peace, and justice most of you claim you want. Stop justifying your beliefs and realize wrong is wrong and so is this cartoon, NO LESS
Monkey Shines
1.The cartoon was stupid in the sense that it made light of an actual tragedy.
2.The cartoon stated that the chimp wrote the Porkulus Spending Bill.
3.That honor goes to a group of white Neo-Communists. Not Heusein Obama.
4.The chimp looks more like Bush than any one else.
5.Bush has been characterized as a chimp in more printed cartoons that any other hominid in the last 30 years with no outcry from the left.
6. The chimp is not Obama
7. “Mr. “Not so Sharp”-ton you are the one equating Obama to a chimp.
Who are these people who can get in the streets and boycott a cartoon anyway? Don't they have a job? ...Or is the media lying about the amount of unhappy people over a silly comic. A comic by nature exaggerates the look of things and includes stereotypes. The last 8 years of Bush were filled with references to a monkey or ape. I didn't see anyone belly aching about this. If you are offended, it is because you feel that you look or act like an ape and this boils down to your own insecurities.
W. was not a chimp? Really? I had no idea.
I agree it was racist. I do have to tell a story, though. I have a gag going w/ my friend for the last eight years. Every year we send a b-day card w/ a chimp picture. (Old joke--about copying each other since we have the same b-day). Anyway, the cards have morphed into George Bush/monkey cards. You would not believe how many George Bush monkey cards there are out there. I'm stocked for the next 3 years!!
Wonderful post. "The cartoon at best was in poor taste and at worst was racist." I don't know if I am personally upset or what. Doesn't matter. Those who get off on monkey humor are getting off. I never really liked the W portrayal as a chimp. Let's see: that cartoon portrayed police brutality, racial stereotyping, animal cruelty, gun violence, violence and on and on. Gee, since 2001 the POTUS has been portrayed as a primate. Let's hope the incumbent reads the Presidential Daily Briefing more carefully than did his predecessor.
About the cartoon; designed to agitate.
About the stimulus package; take a history lesson.
We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. After eight years we have just as much unemployment as when we started, and an enormous debt to boot. - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau...May 1939
This Great Depression.com
While it might have been mean to portray Bush as a chimpanzee (I never saw that except in a German newspaper), it wasn't racist. Another point is that Bush was never shown as being SHOT dead by policemen in any form that I'm aware of.
How was this racist ? It's not racist at all. Some people take it the way they want to take it. I'm not politically active because of hype like this. People act like Barack Obama or John McCain can wake up one day and change the world. Like people say "Every step counts" well, if every step counts why isn't the economic troubles better by now ? That's because it takes more than 1 person to change the world. Some say that one person can make a difference but that saying is not going to work in this case but I guess people just don't understand that Barack Obama just can't wake up one day and say "I'm going to change world today !"
i strongly blieve that the cartoonist was racist. as said the new york post have had a long history of printing racist cartoons but now it has to stop. the cartoonist apologized but it wasn't a sincere one. the new york post should go out of buisness. why would he say "we'll have 2 find someone else to write the stimulus bill" he tried 2 cover it up and it could've been covered but the saying makes it worst. so 2 all of u who think its not a big deal well GUESS WHAT it sure is. maybe because ur not of that race but if it was your race it would indeed be a big deal. this man(barack obama) is trying 2 make it better, now they wanna breew up racism in the month of black history. blacks were slaves and we took the beatens and now one of our race is in the white house now itsz a big deal!?
Denise Ghee, age 12: Good job. It's really good to see someone who is only 12 years old following politics. Well done.
Hi
well of course blacks saw the dead chimp as racist.Seems they will always take the view that allows
them something to cry about.Whites owe them nothing.Blacks have had their shot now at the presidency,
and he is ruining this country.Time to start blaming yourselves.Heck,most can't even talk English after
hundreds of years.My kid talks real good at 3.
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