Lots of Swedish in Minnesota.
Posted on 07/28/2005 11:22:38 AM PDT by Millee
A Dearborn newspaper has been accused of publishing a racist cartoon, Local 4 reported.
The cartoon featured in the Sunday, June 19 edition of the Dearborn Press & Guide has touched off a firestorm from ethnic groups across metro Detroit who characterized it as derogatory and incredibly divisive, the station reported.
"We are shocked that any newspaper, let alone one that serves a community as diverse as the one served by the Press & Guide, would publish a cartoon purveying the blatantly bigoted attitude reflected in the one that ran in that paper on June 19," said Shirley Stancato, of New Detroit Inc., a nonprofit coalition of leaders from civil rights and other organizations.
The cartoon depicted what appeared to be a Mexican man wearing a sombrero who had just crawled through a hole in the border. The man in the sombrero was holding his hand out to what appeared to be a white man who was labeled as a "taxpayer." The dialogue for the man with the sombrero read as follows: "No amigo, I'm not interested in the immigration office. Just the welfare office!"
The bottom of the cartoon read: "Services for legal and illegal immigrants cost taxpayers over $68 billion per year."
About 30 representatives from different ethnic communities including the American Jewish Committee, Institute of Mexicans in Michigan, the Council of American Islamic Relations and several other groups, gathered Thursday morning at New Detroit Inc. on West Grand Boulevard to speak out against Jim Williams, the president of Heritage Newspapers, which publishes the Press & Guide.
The community leaders said they attempted to speak with Williams last Friday, but he walked out of the meeting, according to a news release.
Ismel Ahmed, the director of ACCESS, an Arab community social services organization, received a disturbing letter in the mail after the cartoon ran in the paper, the station reported. The letter stated:
"It is a shame that the cartoon in the paper singled out Mexican people. It should have singled out your Arab people. What do your people contribute to Dearborn? Tax evasion. Narcotics pedaling. Noise. Dirty houses. Women wrapped up like mummies, and now even murder. You people are a curse on Dearborn. You are the worst people to come to this country."
Ahmed said his organization believes the letter is an example of the kind of thinking that the cartoon has inspired.
The community leaders plan to picket in front of the newspaper's offices and have asked advertisers to pull their support and readers to cancel their subscriptions. They are also asking for a meeting with the publisher to discuss the issue.
I'm Swedish... They didn't have much to say about that.
I thought anthropologically there were only 3 races. What's Australoid and Bushman?
I've never heard this "brown" race business, and I'm in Texas. Where/what agencies is it used?
My best friend is a 3rd generation American of Swedish ancestry (on both sides), and she says she's experienced the worst racist comments, etc., from ALL ethnic groups (even Irish Americans, German Americans, etc.)
What's the racist part, the sombrero?
hmmm... well im not ALL Swedish... Swedish last name probably like 30%, German about 50%, the rest is Irish and American Indian.
She's 110% Swedish. White blonde hair & dang near see-through eyes.
I was astounded when her accounts were confirmed after I spent some time around some Minnesotans, and they were speaking in very derogatory terms about Swedish people. I can't even post some of the things they were saying or some of the names she says she was called as a child.
against ILLEGAL Latino welfare mooches, isn't it? simply complaining about illegals isn't racist. drawing a white taxpayer is, because the last time I looked, Mr. HR and I (who look nothing like the taxpayer in the toon) were paying around 35% of our earnings to the moochers of all flavors, legal AND illegal.
Hey, Ahmad, don't kid yourself. The cartoon did not cause that letter to be sent. These are the feelings of the people that have observed your community and haven't liked what they saw, and the cartoon had nothing to do with their disdain for you.
So now it's racist to tell the truth?
The Minnesotans I was around made reference to Swedish being who they employed on their farms, so I don't know if it was Minnesotan Swedish or Migrant Swedish or what.
So it was Norwegians making fun of Swedish?
bump
probably.
I once read that something like 3 or 5 out of every 10 Americans can trace their heritage to Germany. I wish I could remember the exact figure. I have 2 or 3 sets of "hispanic" cousins who even have German ancestry far back on the "non-HR Family" side because of some Germans who settled in Northern Mexico.
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