The More Things Change...

So, clearly, with the historic election of an African-American to the highest office in America, we can really begin to move beyond the ugly history of racism in this country, right? Right??? Uh...yeah, not so much. For all those people who equate Obama's election to the fulfillment of the visions of Martin, Malcolm, Chavez, etc., for a more just, equitable society that finally began really distancing itself from xenophobia...sorry. Progress has been made, but nothing has been overcome yet. Thanks to the New York Post for reminding us of that today.

No matter how they slice it, putting two white cops shooting a chimpanzee dead that wrote the stimulus bill is unbelievably racist. Yeah...there's no legacy of equating black people to apes in America, right? And wasn't Obama the main champion of the stimulus bill? Interestingly enough...he's got some skin pigmentation! And white cops shooting brown folks dead? Never happens.

Am I overreacting here? I mean, maybe they're just having fun with the Connecticut chimpanzee story, along with the battle that the stimulus bill became. Okay, sure...but there is no way you ignore the links here. No way. Not with the legacy we have in this country. You just don't put a chimp in for Obama, along with 2 white cops shooting him dead without some conscious notion of what you're doing. They'll claim freedom of the press (just like those racists in the Netherlands claimed about those hateful cartoons that rightfully inflamed Muslims all over the world - though, you know, instead of burning Western establishments, they should have just placed unilateral sanctions on the Netherlands and those who supported them until they got a real apology...alas, most of their leaders are Western-backed despots, so that wasn't really possible - I digress!) and say people are overreacting. Whatever. You don't put something like this out without some serious racist intentions. One of the three things, maybe. But the white cops, the chimp, and a shooting? Please. And even without the obvious racism, the cartoon is also basically saying, we don't like the stimulus bill, so we'll just shoot the person who wrote it. And the "we" are supposed authority figures in society, the police. Plus, we get a pretty graphic image...3 clear bullet holes in the chimps' chest and a pool of blood underneath. Okay...so wtf is that about??? Overt racism, straight up political hit jobs....this cartoon has so many issues on so many levels. And how is it even remotely funny or witty?

So for all those who thought that electing one man was going to make everything different...yeah, no. But it is up to you to give the Post hell about this cartoon. Call them up. Email them. Write them letters. Tell your people to do the same. As "The Dude" from The Big Lebowski would probably say, this kind of racist aggression won't stand, man. Make them feel it.