To anyone who has even a passing familiarity with America's long and troubled history of racism, this cartoon appears to liken Obama (who just happens to be our first black president) to a raging chimp who should be shot. Apparently, however, this was not the intention. The best part is that cartoonist, Sean Delonas, claims that there is no racist attempt; he responded as follows: "Do you really think I'm saying Obama should be shot? I didn't see that in the cartoon It's about the economic stimulus bill. If you're going to make that about anybody, it would be [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, which it's not." Um, naturally Nancy Pelosi would be the first person to come to mind, because white women have traditionally been depicted as violent, savage apes in the Untied States... The NY Post's editor-in-chief, Col Allan shares this view, describing the cartoon as "broadly mock[ing] Washington's efforts to revive the economy." How exactly white police officers (who clearly are not intended to represent politicians, but rather average citizens) shooting an ape for writing the stimulus bill qualifies as a caricature of Washington's efforts to help the economy is unclear. Not only is this cartoon clearly invoking racist hate speech (and the denials of such accusations are blatantly absurd), it is also inciting violence against the President (something that is not covered by First Amendment rights). The question of what to be done is more difficult; boycotting the Post is a clear first step for the non-racists who previously patronized the paper, but should Washington get involved? It almost certainly won't, in part because of the Democratic Party's historic dedication to First Amendment rights and also because it may well incite further racism. In this case, public outcry against racism is probably a more effective reaction than government intervention.
