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New York Post Continues Its Tradition Of, Uh, Fine Journalistic Integrity

February 18, 2009
Wendie
Barack Obama, Uncategorized
86 Comments

chimpcartoon

The New York Post ran a cartoon in today’s issue that has some people really upset.  The comic depicts President Obama as a dead chimpanzee.  The picture is meant to draw a parallel between the chimp attack from earlier this week and the economic stimulus bill.

Reverend Al Sharpton, president of National Action Network, had this to say:

The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual inference to this form of racism when, in the cartoon, the police say after shooting a chimpanzee, “now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.”

Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder whether the Post cartoonist was inferring that a monkey wrote it? Given that the New York Post cartoonist has come under heavy fire in the past for racially tinged cartoons including the infamous cartoons depicting 2001 mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer and me in very unflattering ways (that ultimately was used as a campaign tactic to inflame racial prejudices), one cannot ignore that history when looking at this morning’s cartoon.

The Post should at least clarify what point they were trying to make in this cartoon, and reprimand their cartoonist for making inferences that are offensive and divisive at a time the nation struggles to come together to stabilize the economy if, in fact, this was yet another racially charged cartoon.

In general, a comparison between our African-American president and an assassinated primate?  Probably not a good idea.

86 CommentsLeave a comment

  • Ah, it’s so good see a man of integrity like Al Sharpton stepping up to the plate one more time to cry racism. I doubt that the cartoon was meant to be “racially charged.” If Obama was considered the sole author of the bill, maybe. However, it was compiled by several different individuals, including members of Congress and also from his own staff, who happen to made of different races.

  • i dont think the cartoon is depicting obama as a monkey i think they are trying to say that the bill was written as well as if a monkey wrote it theyre not being racist. i think people are jumping to racial conclusions waaay to quickly.

    • That’s what I got when I read it, and I am all over racial sensitivity. I’m pretty sure they were saying that a bunch of chimps wrote the bill.

      Not that they have always been the sensitive types, but perhaps people jumped to conclusions here. I guess we’ll see when the Post replies to the outcry.

      • that’s what i thought. I thought they were saying a chimp wrote the bill and compared it to the chimp that attacked that poor woman.
        Al Sharpton is an opportunist. almost Omarosa like.

    • I agree with sdfgtyui (what the hell is up with that name, sheesh) in that I didn’t think it was a racially charged cartoon. If Bush was still in office when this bill got passed, I wouldn’t be surprised if this cartoon still ran. I took from it that the cartoonist thought the bill was written by a monkey.

  • Yep, he/she may very well be in line for “the check” soon. Sad really. You simply can’t go there, first amendment or no first amendment.

  • Maybe I’m stupid but when Sharpton says, ‘clarify what point they were trying to make’ – is there actually any other way to read this?

  • Yeah, not such a good idea, especially since I didn’t even know about the chimp attack, so I saw it as much more offensive that it was probably intended to be.

  • You think one of the editors would look at this and say “hm, i bet this is going to start a shit storm.”

    • Shit storm or not you know kids who don’t read the paper or much less know there are political cartoons in it will either be buying it or taking some sort of interest in it due to this.

      That cartoons sells papers. Which is probably why they ran it.

      Not that its right, or smart, but it brings in the money.

  • I kind of thought that it was a reference to Congress and the whole infinite number of Chimps+infinite number of typewriters=Hamlet thing. When I first saw it, it didn’t even occur to me that the chimp might be Obama. Of course, I can sometimes be completely clueless about things like that.

  • Really? That’s the leap people are making? That the assassinated chimp and President Obama are one in the same? I hate the New York Post but I’m going to give them a pass on this one.

    There are people out there who don’t like the way the stimulus bill was written, “a monkey could do a better job.” Coincidentally, a chimp–erroneously called a monkey–goes crazy and gets shot right around the time the stimulus passes, the joke being that the crazed chimp was in fact the original author of the bill. Don’t get me wrong, the joke isn’t funny, but it is hyper-topical combining two rather large news stories coming out within days of each other.

    Oh, if only Lindsay Lohan had attacked a bunch of people and been gunned down in the street by police officers, then the cartoon would have been cookin’ with gas.

    An easy way to remember the difference between monkeys and apes: A racist might refer to an African American as ‘a monkey’. This is a stupid, hateful TALE told to them by their stupid racist father who was told the same TALE by his stupid racist father etc. etc. etc. So, racists tell TALES about monkeys and monkeys have TAILS. Chimps do not have tails, therefore they are not monkeys, therefore the article which states, “The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys,” actually proves the cartoon to be not troubling at all because the author of said cartoon is not equating black people with monkeys, because that is clearly a dead chimp, not a monkey.

    • Agreed!! It doesn’t make sense if you think the chimp is Obama. The cartoon is JUST saying that the stimulus bill seems as if a chimp wrote it. nothing more nothing less.

      And it saddens me when people mix up monkeys and primates :(

      • Methinks thou didntst readeth my post…eth.

        Certainly you can find racism in everything, but, in this particular cartoon I think people are making far too big a deal out of it. I’m reminded of the Sarah Palin “Lipstick on a pig” sexism nonsense. For example, look at your handle, “Donkey Punch” that is a terrible violent sexual act and the fact that you specifically picked it as your moniker tells me a lot about you. Clearly, you hate women, you’re abusive, violent, unintelligent, and you must be at least 90% chauvinist OR maybe it’s just a name and all that stuff I just mentioned is READING TOO MUCH INTO IT like, oh, I don’t know, a cartoon about a chimp.

        I’m white, I’m male, I’m certainly not a victim and I wasn’t angry until your pithy little comment.

      • Your logic is flawed and displays a greater mental health issue.

        Poor white male victim! Such a hard life you have.

      • My logic is flawed? How? Displays a greater mental health issue? What issue is that?

        I’m not a victim, I don’t know how many times I have to say it and I don’t have a hard life. I’m a white male aged 18-49, everyone listens to me–quick, what’s that quote from?

        Donkey, I noticed what you wrote to the other comments, you’re something of a knee-jerk responder, you don’t really ‘say’ anything. At least I defended my position with examples and didn’t keep repeating the ridiculous ‘white victim’ meme.

        You should try actually formulating an argument, you seem to have opinions, kind of, so maybe next time draw up an outline and say something with value.

    • “There are people out there who don’t like the way the stimulus bill was written, ‘a monkey could do a better job.’ ”

      That was exactly my thought when I first saw the cartoon. I certainly hope that no paper is stupid enough to run a cartoon that actually INTENDS that level of racism.

    • I’m with you on this one. I thought the meaning in the cartoon was obvious. The only reason I was sad about the cartoon is because a family member of 15 years was killed when he fritzed. I know they had no choice, but I do SO love chimpanzees.

    • I think the problem here is CLEARLY PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW THEIR HISTORY. If people knew that African Americans were compared to chimps by racists as a way of saying that they were less intelligent and developed than the white man and that this was a justification for slavery because African Americans were basically wild and needed the structure and discipline of slavery to contain them. Without enforced discipline these wild black brutes were said to rape and kill white women. This theme of African Americans being more closely related to chimps than caucasians and their brutality was used in novels, caricatures and widely believed. As for your useless explanation of the difference between monkeys and apes…. NO ONE CARES.;

      • Do you honestly think I don’t know the history behind African Americans being described as wild/savage/monkey? Of course I’m aware of that, my point is, every time a monkey or chimp is referenced it does not automatically equal racism.

        I will say this much, if the cartoon is racist, then it is also offensive to the police because it assumes that the police are automatically going to shoot an unarmed chimp in the street. I feel that the police should ask for an apology from the New York Post. Oh, and Jane Goodall because the cartoon undoes 30 years of living in peace with the chimps. And, hey, chimps too, because for the most part, ‘domestic’ chimps are perfectly happy wearing roller skates and smoking cigars. Maybe Michael Jackson’s chimp, Bubbles, should demand an apology, and perhaps start an organization, the NAACP, Nation Organization for the Advancement of Chimp People, I mean ‘chimp people’ literally, in the sense that PETA thinks all animals deserve the same rights as regular people.

        This whole thing is silly, but I was bored today, so thanks for that.

      • The president does not write the bills, Congress does. To say that Obama is portrayed as the chimp in the picture is a stretch. The comic is stating that the bill was poorly written, therefore it could’ve been written by chimps. It was not written by Obama, so drawing those two points together is an assumption, and a far-stretched one at that.

  • What monkey attack? I never heard of such thing. This is pretty demeaning. But on the other hand, how many times has Bush been portrayed as a monkey?

  • From AP:

    STAMFORD, Conn. – A 175-pound chimpanzee kept as a pet was shot and killed by a police officer Monday after it attacked a woman visiting its owners’ home, leaving her with serious facial injuries, authorities said.
    The injured woman, described by police as in her 50s, was taken to a hospital; her condition and identity were not immediately available. The 15-year-old chimpanzee’s owner and two officers also were hurt, though police said the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.
    The Advocate of Stamford reported on its Web site Monday night that the primate’s owner called 911 and tried to stop the chimp from attacking the woman by stabbing it with a butcher knife.
    As emergency crews arrived to treat the victim, the chimpanzee — named Travis — revived and opened the door of a police cruiser. The officer inside fired several shots, killing the chimp, The Advocate reported.

    Stamford, CT is about 40 miles from NYC.

  • really, though? the president is always going to be mocked by someone. granted, it was a lot easier with bush, but people need to stop jumping at race issues every chance they get.

    • Agreed. If Al Sharpton is so worried about racism why doesn’t he address the vile racism in his own community? There is much intolerance and hatred within the black community itself and I’m wondering when someone will finally have the balls to address it. I won’t hold my breath.

      • “There is much intolerance and hatred within the black community itself and I’m wondering when someone will finally have the balls to address it.”

        It’s OK to talk about this stuff within the black community but to do so outside is considered traitorous.

  • How surprising – Al Sharpton making sure we still know he’s alive. Too bad he’s more racist than most of the people he rants about.

  • But it’s perfectly OK to portray Former President Bush or any other white politician as a Slave master or KKK……

    Apparently “tolerance” is a one way street.

    • Ya, it’s really tough being white Jennifer. How do you survive? You must cry yourself to sleep every night with all the injustices you face.

    • I don’t think comparing a white politician like, oh, let’s say Strom Thurmond, to a slave master/kkk member is the same as comparing a black person to a rabid monkey.

      First, black people don’t have a history of being rabid monkeys. Second, let’s be honest, there are some white politicians, even now, who are totally racist. When President Bush completely flubbed Katrina it is a perfectly reasonable thing to think that President Good Ol Boy from Texas might not care about black people hence a comparison to the KKK. Third, when you say ‘tolerance’ is a one way street in the context of your argument, you are essentially saying that when a white person does something that could be construed as ‘racist’ it would be ‘intolerant’ for a political cartoonist to paint them as a racist figure…that doesn’t make a lick of sense. For example, When Trent Lott said America would be a better place had Strom Thurmond–Senator, Presidential Candidate/Segregationist–won the election in 1948; that’s a terrible thing to say and it is certainly deserving of a drawing of Trent Lott in a KKK hood.

      Also, I think your entire argument about it being ‘Ok to portray Former President Bush as a slave master’ is pretty flimsy. For the life of me, I couldn’t find any cartoons that portrayed Bush in such a way. HOWEVER, if you type in Barack Obama Monkey in Google and search images, oh, it’s a WHOLE other story.

      You’re wrong, Jennifer, and your world view is completely one sided and let’s face it, a little bit racist.

      Ta-Ta

  • Can we finally move beyond paranoid, pot-stirring, divisive, knee-jerk, hypocritical accusations of racism by Career Whiners unable and unwilling to get a real job?

    Yes, we can!

    STFU, Al.

  • Yes of course it is racist however Obama did not write the stimulus bill, Nancy Pelosi did. DO you ever what the news??

    • She didn’t write it alone.

      It was a combined effort.

      Even the retarded republicans got their say.

      Effectively making the bill only have 600 billion stimulus (or whatever the amount is – the tax cuts (which are worthless)) Hey look parentheses inside parentheses.

  • From NY, I read the Post at lunch; I believe I correctly read the comic as “the stimulus was so ridiculous that a chimp wrote it”… Glad to see the idiot Rev. Sharpton back in the news; after he was shunned by the Obamas’ during the election and that his help was not wanted or needed. Sharpton is such a media whore, he’ll keep this nonsense going for a while; maybe hold a rally, maybe a march on the Post…

    It’s a nonstory, got a chuckle and move on…

  • The NY post’s rebuttal towards Al Sharpton:

    “The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist.”

    Ha!!!!

  • Ever since Obama won the election there has been an EXPLOSION of the “white victim” particularly the “white male victim”. It is hysterical. The poor racist Republicans are feeling a little under the weather.

  • Dp don’t be a moron, Obama won BECAUSE of white people. Blacks didn’t even like him at first because he wasn’t “black enough”. The more you troll, the more you expose yourself as a racist.

  • If you ever paid attention to the news, instead of looking for a way to be offended by any possible thing that could possibly be an attack on your savior obama, then you would know that this is not the message of that cartoon. Obama did not write the stimulus bill, instead he had Pelosi and her minions write it. If it was offensive to anyone, it was Pelosi. This cartoon has as much to do with Obama as he did with writing the stimulus bill (aka load of crap). Do your research, and in the process you will find out how many promises Obama broke, and how many lies he told in order to pass this highly questionable bill that will put us into debt for generations!!

  • Whether it be a brown, black, red, or corn filled turd…Donkey Punch, you’re like a turd that won’t flush even after the second flush! Give it a rest.

    • Still upset about McCain aren’t ya? Let me guess, you are from Florida or Texas or some other cracker state.

      • So let me get this straight, DonkeyAss is sitting here using patently RACIST words like “cracker” and “redneck” and that’s ok but then he has the nerve to sit here calling everyone else a racist? Pot meet Kettle. Hey DP, where was your outrage when the Duke Lacross players were falsley accused of a crime they didn’t commit because of their skin color? As I recall Al Sharpton still hasn’t apologised for the race baiting he did on that one.

      • That’s right Jennifer you genius, I am racist against my own race. You figured me out! Damn you are so smart.

        It isn’t because I have a problem with white bigots like you, nope, it is because I really hate whitey!

  • OMG! Seriously, you would have to be a complete moron and/or have lived under a rock to not realize that this would be taken offensively. In general, if something has been used in the past to negatively depict a group of people, it shouldn’t be used and won’t be without people automatically assuming the worst. Therefore, even if it wasn’t meant to be a racist cartoon the utter cluelessness and stupidity on the part of the cartoonist and the editors of the Post is shameful.

    I think that there are many people out there who LOOK to make things racially charged when they really aren’t, but I don’t think this is an example of that…I think people have a right to be mad over this one and anyone with half a brain wouldn’t have included this cartoon in a paper without expecting backlash from the public…

    As for who wrote the bill, several people are actually involved NOT just Peloski. It is something like 1000 pages long. Peloski herself didn’t pen all of that. The appropriations committee is involved and many amendments have been made by members of both parties. BUT, no matter WHO actually wrote the stimulus bil,l Obama signed it and it is referred to as HIS stimulus package. It has been referred to as his since the beginning and now to jump up and say “we weren’t talking about him; he didn’t even write it,” is stupid! That’s just an easy answer for this paper so they don’t have to explain how they made such a remarkably ignorant error.

  • @ David…. black people have had a history of being compared to monkeys. Had the cartoonist used a bear, lion, etc., I don’t think it would have become and issue. Using a monkey took it to a whole different level.

  • Ice Pick is completely right. There are a million other things that could have been used. An amoeba, a baby, ANYTHING. I “get” that they were trying to include current events (that a good majority of the population knew nothing about) but that is when your good judgment has to come into play. I am all for freedom of speech and couldn’t care less if they poke fun at Obama, but educated professionals should be able to find a way to do without using something like this. To think there is this much argument about this when so many people were in complete agreement that Miley Cyrus was out of line at 16 years old. I wonder where these 16 year olds are learning that this kind of thing is appropriate?

  • whether or not they intended this as racist is irrelevant. publishing this was a stupid decision because it would so CLEARLY upset so many people.

  • if someone found a joke you did was offensive- wouldn’t it be good courtesy to apologize even if it was intended as a joke. lots of black people are counting on obama to be the catalyst to change racial inequality in the states so to insult him would be insulting something they believe in. and one cannot write off history just because it is in the past. and for those white people standing up for the cartoon, have you ever been black in america? i guess not so don’t be so quick to use heuristics to judge

    ps i’m not black but i’m a minority every where i go

  • Racism card again. The cartoon did imply that a monkey wrote the bill. Nobody has herd the saying you could teach a monkey to do it… How can people still be complaining about racism… we have a black president drop the issue.