Why the New York Post Should Be Boycotted

Friday, February 20, 2009

*Note: For those of you who have a predisposition for disliking blog posts having anything to do with race matters, I very much encourage you to stop reading this now.*


The New York Post has pretty much gotten away with quite a number of provoking images under the protective umbrella of freedom of speech. However, the Post is still subject to its dependence on making a profit from its readers and advertisers, which may diminish in light of a vast number of people who have already decided to boycott the Post in response to an allegedly racist image that has angered many around the country and the world. (To be fair - I commend some Post employees who have actually stated that the cartoon was a terrible idea. Perhaps they should consider working for a more cultivated and enlightened publication.)

I have quite a number of things to say about the cartoon - however, AP News covered this topic and summed up the whole matter quite succinctly:
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NY Post cartoon of dead chimpanzee stirs outrage
By: Karen Matthews, Associated Press Writer – Wed Feb 18, 6:20 pm ET
NEW YORK – A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police drew outrage Wednesday from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkeys.
The cartoon in Wednesday's Post by Sean Delonas shows two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. The caption reads: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."
The cartoon refers to a chimpanzee named Travis who was killed Monday by police in Stamford, Conn., after it mauled a friend of its owner.
Some critics called the cartoon racist and said it trivialized a tragedy in which a woman was disfigured and a chimpanzee killed. Others said the cartoon suggests that Obama should be assassinated. Many urged a boycott of the Post and the companies that advertise in it.
"How could the Post let this cartoon pass as satire?" said Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists. "To compare the nation's first African-American commander in chief to a dead chimpanzee is nothing short of racist drivel."
State Sen. Eric Adams called it a "throwback to the days" when black men were lynched.
The Rev. Al Sharpton called the cartoon "troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys."
The cartoon set off a furious response against the Post. Its phones rang all day with angry callers. Protesters picketed the tabloid's Manhattan offices, demanding an apology and a boycott and chanting "shut the Post down."
Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, defended the work.
"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," 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."
The cartoon drew hundreds of comments on the Internet including at the liberal Huffington Post, where columnist Sam Stein wrote: "At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs declined comment.
"I have not seen the cartoon," he told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama returned to Washington from Arizona, where he announced his plan to deal with the foreclosure crisis. "But I don't think it's altogether newsworthy reading the New York Post."
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I think it would be foolish to sit back and assume that the Post did not have a clue as to the hidden meaning and/or possible interpretation of that cartoon. However, if the Post truly does lack sensitivity on race-related matters (which their half-apology appears to suggest), perhaps they should take some time to enlighten themselves before their cartoons empty their pockets.