Dead Monkey

What do I, as a cartoonist, think of the recent New York Post cartoon with the dead monkey? First of all, I think it's a poorly thought out cartoon. It's not funny and it's just not clear what the cartoonist, Sean Delonas, is trying to say. Because of its fuzzy message, the cartoon is way too open to multiple interpretations.

This is where cultural ignorance can really get you in trouble. The cartoonist may have just been saying: "The people putting this stimulus bill together were nothing but a bunch of chimps." Okay. That's how he sees it.

However, another interpretation... one that many historically and culturally aware African Americans (and others) see it as: "Damn, he's calling the president a dumb dead monkey!" It goes like this: President Obama is the key figure behind the stimulus. Blacks have historically been mocked in racist literature/pop culture/comics as apes and monkeys. And there is a history of police officers shooting black people first and asking questions later. Add it all together and it is interpreted as: "Damn! He's calling the president a dumb dead monkey!"

A lot of people (Rupert Murdoch, Rush Limbaugh, and others) may plead ignorance and say they didn't see it that way. Many will see the racist interpretation and look off as they chuckle to themselves or get outraged if they actually voted for him. This is all a part of our inability to openly talk about race and how it has and still affected us all. Or not affected us if you stay in your own little non-diversified world. One can be Harvard educated and speak seven languages, but still be totally ignorant of black culture. Just watch the game show "Jeopardy" and see how many of the white genius contestants always get stumped on the "black" questions.

To sum up, is the cartoon racist? In my interpretation yes. But then that cartoonist is just one ignorant monkey.