When I first saw the now infamous New York Post cartoon, I admit I was willing to look the other way. I worry about Black folks taking everything too personal, seeing an affront in every ridiculous media portrayal. Perhaps it is a function of my age, or m
When I first saw the now infamous New York Post cartoon, I admit I was willing to look the other way. I worry about Black folks taking everything too personal, seeing an affront in every ridiculous media portrayal. Perhaps it is a function of my age, or my advanced curmudgeoness, but I don’t get riled easily. I didn’t see the reference to Barack Obama.
When I looked at it, I looked at it as a newspaper editor. I saw that it was a poorly executed cartoon. It didn’t convey any clear message and instead conjured images of police brutality wrapped in a political statement. It cobbled together two different stories, the horrific mauling of a human by a pet chimpanzee who had to be shot and the signing of the federal economic stimulus package. The connection was weak, at best, and using the chimp story was insensitive.
I would not censor the New York Post cartoonist, Sean Delonas, but I would have told him that his cartoon idea was lousy and didn’t make sense, and was insensitive and the pool of blood was grotesque. I saw a bad cartoon.
So did Tim Jackson.
Jackson is the award-winning cartoonist whose cartoons grace the editorial page of the Chicago Defender.
“I saw a poor cartoon,” said Jackson, who admitted that he has his own compass guiding what he draws.
“I don’t put anything down on paper that is so vulgar that my mother wouldn’t want to see it,” said Jackson. “I’ve drawn a few things, and when I get feedback on them, people see things in my drawings that I never meant to happen.”
So, I knew that ten different people could have ten different opinions on what that cartoon meant. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like those ten different people worked at the New York Post.
That is one of the consequences of the dwindling number of newspapers, as economics and the Internet send news corporations into bankruptcy. There are fewer opposing voices remaining at some of the newspapers, and too many of those voices might be worried about losing their jobs if they speak up.
______
To read the rest of this article, subscribe to our digital or paper edition. For previous editions, contact us for details.
Copyright 2009 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
About Post Author
