Show us the cartoon - then we'll tell you!
Posted on 01/09/2005 7:31:05 AM PST by American Infidel
I know I shouldn't be nearly as angry as I am over this (In fact, I know I shouldn't even care), but I couldn't help but notice that featured prominently on the top of the front page of the comic section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer (big surprise) was today's blatantly racist Boondocks comic strip. The strip in question consisted of one frame in which two young black characters observed a white character jogging in the snow while dressed for warm weather. The line written for the black characters is simply “White People”. The implication was obviously that only white people would do something as stupid as to go jogging in the winter, while being dressed for warmer weather. Imagine for a moment that the strip consisted of two white men waiting for a bus to take them to work while observing a black man sitting on the corner, drinking a 40 ounce malt liquor beverage, with the line, “Black People” coming from one of the white characters, implying that only black people would be sitting on the corner on a week day, getting drunk while other people were on their way to work. Not only would this strip never see the light of day, but all future strips from the cartoonist would have been cancelled. The Philadelphia Inquirer on the other hand, chooses to run the strip and to feature it prominently at the top of the front page of the comic section. I understand that Aaron McGruder is the “voice of angry black America” and that he must be treated with kid gloves, otherwise they will be accused of being racist and no corporate entity wants that kind of P.R., but this is ridiculous. It's not the strip itself that ticked me off (it was sort of humorous actually), it was the hypocrisy and the double standard of UPI, the Philly Inquirer, and the other urban newspapers that I am sure ran the strip today. OK that's my rant. Thanks for listening.
A picture speaks a thousand words.
"You know, I'm going to start thanking
the woman who cleans the restroom in
the building I work in. I'm going to start
thinking of her as a human being"
Yup, I'd call that rascist.
Yeah, it's a racist cartoon, but not in the way the artist intended.
Aaron Macgruder (the illustrator) is vehemently anti-white. The Boston Glop (globe) runs Boondocks - it is routinely, racist, violent (against whites), crude, anti-Christian, and anti-American.
Relax...Boondocks is left-wing but not racist. Check out the Christmas strips with the black Santa picking on the black kids for being lazy and criminal, then on the ones mocking Kwanzaa [sp?].
It's true that as black man the author has more freedom to discuss racial issues than a white cartoonist would, but that's hardly his fault.
I get your point that double standards and that black people can be overly sensitive about jokes or stereotypes does that mean that white people have to be that way too? I just don't find that particular comic offensive.
Artist: Aaron McGruder
Confronting Bodies: The Washington Post
Date of Action: November 2003
Specific Location: Washington, D.C.
Description of Artwork: Aaron McGruder is the creator and author of "The Boondocks," a comic strip that features several African American characters. The teenaged protagonist, Huey Freeman, frequently asserts his political views.
Description of Incident: In the strip in question, Huey and his friend Caesar suggest that U.S. National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice, "needs some good ol' fashioned lovin'." The Washington Post suggested that since they could not verify whether Rice was involved in a relationship or not, they would not print the strip.
Results of Incident: The Washington Post discontinued "The Boondocks" for the week.
Hmmm... I do find it pretty funny, but I do acknowledge that it'd be racist if it mocked a black stereotype. (Unless the mock-ee was Condi Rice, of course.)
That old man in Boondocks is the wisest one and does have some sense. He's protrayed as being at peace with himself whereas that main character is perpetually angry and unhappy. I wonder if this is a subconcious acknowledgement of the truth.
ooo...clue me in on how to post images and I'll see what I can find...essentially Boondocks has run that imaginary 'malt liquor' strip dozens of times.
Darn! I just raced out to the box to see if it was in my Sunday paper, "The Wisconsin State Journal." No luck!
Quite surprising, though. I'll check "The Capital Times" on line. That's our local socialist rag, so I'll bet it's in there!
BRB.
If that's "racist" then I can say we can all go home and forget about the whole race thing. Pretty harmless stuff.
I think it's even funny.
You'd prefer a cartoon which notes that the only time some people run through the city streets is with a TV in their arms, trying to outrun the police dog?
Jeez.
http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/01/04/tem_tem1comic.html
'And for those outraged that the low-rated Doonesbury survived while Boondocks didn't, we made the decision to drop Boondocks because we did not want to keep publishing a comic that we regularly needed to censor. During the past year, Boondocks was substituted a number of times because it was deemed inappropriate for a family newspaper. And not just this family newspaper. Editors across the country were making the same decisions.
Our policy is that we publish a comic strip or we don't. Once we start pulling specific strips, as well as entire weeks' worth, it is time to drop that strip. Although Boondocks has its fans, many of you were uncomfortable with it, and at times we were, too. '
kudos to the Enquirer, Cincinnatti, dated 1/4/04
I, too, have seen this stip and it is truly disgusting. Those who are attracted to something of this nature are illiterates, hence only two words.
Should we mug him to get those neat tennis shoes.
Now that is racist.
I cancelled my local paper because of a Boondocks strip. The paper's circulation has since declined, in sync with MSM declines everywhere. That paper has since dropped Boondocks, which is indeed racist.
Hey, anything goes as long as you're on the left side of the fence. You can make a movie titled "White Girls" or "White Men Can't Jump", or if you're a stand up comic who happens to be (insert ethnicity), devote a third of your routine to making fun of whitey. Hell, I think some of it is pretty funny myself. Its just the feigned indignity and crocodile tears shed by the suddenly sensitive leftists when we return the favor that galls me.
i don't see where it is even funny...is the humor supposed to be that they are mocking the runner for running in shorts in snow: or running with a fancy outfit on: or just plain running to be running?
my first reaction is to be resentful that some paper thinks this is acceptable.
I wonder how the Philidelphia Inquirer would react if he drew an effiminately dressed man standing there and said "gay people".
The correct term, IMO, should be "bigoted," which Boondocks definitely can be at times. Including, I think, now. MacGruder occasionally shows a real level of cluelessness about the very culture in which he lives. This is an unfortunate consequence of seeing every single thing through a prism of racial divide. Yeah, he can be funny, but I usually avoid Boondocks because more often than not, he makes me sad.
If you had two white people doing a waltz, and observing black kids doing break-dancing; and the white couple said "Black People", the cartoonist would never work again.
If a white person is the target, everything's OK.
I HATE double standards.
"Just damn" ping?
"Its a Black Thing"
OK, let's reverse it:
Now is it offensive?
Isn't that precisely what you're supposed to take away from this cartoon?
I'm white and a runner (albeit treadmill, not outdoor) and found this funny. It's the running in the snow bit. I think the joke could have been handled more tactfully if it were framed in a general "Why torture yourself" way instead of pointing out the skin color.
Foxtrot did a comic like that and it was pretty funny.
Jason: "Why does Mom run, Dad?"
Dad: "To keep herself good-looking and healthy."
(Mom passes by, sweaty, wheezing, tired, frazzled hair, etc)
Jason: "No, really, why does Mom run?"
Your comic idea is funnier.
i got on board the civil rights movement in the 60s because it was obviously needed. my parents strongly disapproved of racial bias.
but since then the left has increasingly made race a partisan issue. i object to that.
i notice that the young blacks in my city spit when they see mexicans. that is just wrong. period.
Sure, that's one way of looking at it, although I personally never have taken away the feeling that MacGruder thinks that white people are inherently inferior to black people. I've always thought he's commenting on the cultural differences, which gets tiresome by itself. Like I said, I may be naive.
your cartoon was funnier...universally acceptable...
thanks for the insight - sometimes I chuckle at runners/bikers like sKerry whose clothes cost more than my car...
Or you could reverse it even more and have the white guy saying "black people."
Actually, I look at those folks out running in the rain and snow on a road with no sidewalk and call them something else. It's not nearly as nice as "white people".
Yes, well put. He's got the typical marxist/neo-marxist elitist attitude and ideas.
This is racist against black people because:
1) The White boy is obviously running away from the black children.
2) The privileged White devil is dressed in the latest style for jogging clothes. His attire includes a $95 Izod Running Shirt with matching $65 shorts, the latest $300 Adidas Cross Trainer shoes and a matching headband, sweatband and sock ensamble by the late Gianni Versace. Meanwhile the black children are relegated to the pickings from the salvation army featuring jackets purchased from Walmart and "Keds". The White devil's propensity to cling to materialism and put it on such blatant display is an obvious affront to all people, who are summarily represented by these two small children.
3) The White boy is obviously moving freely, while he passed and left the black children frozen immobile in the snow. It obviously alludes to the precarious situation that all blacks find themselves in a white man's world. Frozen in poverty, with no means to move themselves ahead. The white boy probably didn't even notice them in their need...
Hey, take it for what it's worth. In McGruder's world I'm probably spot-on.
Here in reality in my world, however, maybe we're not all joined hand in hand singing "Kumbaya", but my world is a fair site more open minded as to give people a chance to prove themselves.
McGruder seems like a man with little internal peace. Here's to hoping he'll come to terms with the hatred he has for his fellow man.
Boondocks racist! I'm shocked. This has been going on for a few years. The liberals think he's cute, so he'll continue even if no one reads it.
Yes, but there's a diffence between making sport out of a cultural idiosyncrasy and stereotyping people as criminals. Like I said, there's too much sensitivity all around.
Ah, yes, those joggers with expensive clothes make me chuckle too... when I was in high school, I was into tennis... my mother bought me a $100 tennis dress. I felt so bad not wearing it, but it was so uncomfortable... plus I never could get over putting tennis balls into my underwear instead of pockets.
NX
I doubt the paper would print things like that but "white people" is OK.
Now, as far as runners go, the cartoon itself is funny. I've never understood why some runners run where they do and when. For example, a guy running next to a very busy street with cars spewing exhaust gases. That has never made sense to me.
I remember the Movie "White Men Cant Jump" always wondered what would happen if they made a movie called "Black men Cant Read".
When people ask me if about racism I always reply,Are these folks racist? Maxine Waters, Charles Rangel, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Cynthia McKinney, Barbara Brazille the list goes on and on. These people have either been elected because of their race or gotten rich race baiting.
For some reason black people get a pass on their racism, the Congressional Black caucus is as racist as the KKK.
An enterprising t-shirt artist created a "reply" t-shirt, with a picture of Albert Einstein and a background of calculus equations, with the words "It's a White thing, you wouldn't understand".
I wonder what the response to the latter shirt on some college campuses would have been
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