I Havoth Mine! Did You Get-eth Yours?

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Racists, Cartoons and Missed Messages

Today, I sent this to the Dear Editors of the New York Post:
While I can see the charges of the racial defenders crowd, as being somewhat valid, what struck me is they missed the point.
I looked at the cartoon, while watching the D.L. Hughley show, before his interview with Al Sharpton on this subject.
I knew the cartoonist was tying several elements together, those being:
1) The recent news item of the chimpanzee shooting by the police in California...and
2) the Stimulus Bill...and
3) A literary and mathematical reference to infinite monkeys and infinite typewriters hypothetically writing Shakespeare, which the Stimulus Bill is not! It's confusing and terribly organized.
I had to be told by the talking heads that this was a nasty, racially motivated cartoon, and that the editor and cartoonist are racial bigots. I'm thinking the 3 elements I had first thought of, were completely missed by Mr. Sharpton and D.L. Hughley (who stereotypes all types, but in a funny way), etc.
And then I thought maybe it's just because they aren't as well-read as I am. And THAT may have been the most racist thought I had all day.
I’m white. I voted for Obama. I live in a predominantly black neighborhood. I worry about them shooting each other, and I get tired of racial profiling against them, and I feel that America's longest contribution to the downfall of civility is the anti-nonwhite policy (I call it the brown people policy: Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Arabs, anybody non-European, basically)...but I must be a true bigot, cause I thought the cartoon was a recent events and literary reference. Dang! And I thought I had that habitual racism thing whipped.
And I sincerely wish that D.L. Hughley’s show becomes something other than his racial soapbox. He’s funny, but is overall theme is getting tired.

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From This-Is-True and Randy Cassingham

This is True®

by Randy Cassingham

Stories from My Archives ©1994-2025

Strike 1, You’re Out
Raven Furbert, 12, has four relatives in the military stationed in Iraq, including her uncle. To help her remember them, she wore a patriotic red, white and blue necklace, a Christmas gift. But officials at Mont Pleasant Middle School in Schenectady, N.Y., told her the beaded necklace is contrary to the school’s dress code, which bans “gang-related” clothing. They said if she continued to wear it in any visible place, she would be suspended. When they discovered she was wearing the beads hidden — not visible — they told her to remove them. Furbert’s mother, Katie Grzywna, says the girl was previously a good student, but is now frequently targeted for detention, so she has filed a federal lawsuit against the school. “I’ll be really glad when this is all over,” Raven says. “I just want to wear them for my uncle” in Iraq. (Albany Times-Union) ...Who, if you asked him, would say he’s there to fight for our freedoms.
Available in This is True: Book Collection Vol. 11

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