« Preach it, brother! | Main | Here's what I don't understand about the bailout »

February 18, 2009

The Despicable Racism of the NY Post

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been riveted by the horriying chimp attack earlier this week. Not something one would think ought to be made into a joke. Especially an overtly racist joke that involves an assassination wish for our President. But that is just what the New York Post has done today in publishing this cartoon:

Naturally, the Post claims there was no racist intent here, and says Al Sharpton is just "a publicity opportunist" for saying otherwise. Hmm. Sounds every bit as genuine as the denials that a certain T-Shirt distributed by a right-winger during the campaign was racist:

Why would anyone jump to the conclusion that depictions of apes are racist? Hey, it's been that way for a long, long time. Witness this political cartoon of Abe Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation:

It is obvious as the sun at noon in Arizona that the dead chimp depicted in the Post's cartoon is intended to represent our President. Therefore, it is obvious that the Post has just made a very public statement that it wishes our President was shot dead. Let's face this outrage head on and not be polite about it. We should be infuriated with the Post. On so many levels, I most certainly am.

Posted by Becky at February 18, 2009 12:55 PM