An uproar is brewing about an editorial cartoon in today's New York Post that appears to tie President Obama to a rampaging chimpanzee killed by police.
The cartoon, by Sean Delonas, shows a chimp splayed on the ground in a pool of blood. Two police officers stand over the body, one holding a smoking gun, and the second saying, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."
Obama signed the $787 billion stimulus bill on Tuesday. The cartoon appears to refer to Travis, the pet chimpanzee and TV star who was shot to death by police in Stamford, Conn. on Monday after it mauled a friend of its owner.
The Rev. Al Sharpton told the Associated Press that the cartoon is "troubling at best."
Sharpton notes that Obama is the nation's first black president and that African Americans have been depicted as monkeys by racists through history.
"Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?" he asked, according to press accounts.
Sam Stein at The Huffington Post says it seems "rife with racial and political sensitivities."
The Post is standing by the cartoon, and questioning Sharpton's motives.
"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," editor-in-chief Col 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."
original post by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor for The Boston Globe
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment