Just Because You’re Black?
A few months ago, the local Austin newspaper (not the free one) published a political cartoon from Mike Thompson of the Detroit Free Press that generated reader feedback that surprised me.
But first, have a look.
I understood the meaning to be that all of this bad stuff happens to black people just because they are black, and they can’t do anything about it, but as soon as they want help getting into a better school (maybe uh…to help break the cycle of poverty), you’ve got whitey out there complaining that they want a handout just because they’re black. Yes, how ironical.
I didn’t give it much more thought than that until the next week when a black woman (photo included) wrote to the newspaper upset about the cartoon. The letter byline read “Offended by bias, attitude displayed in comic”. She described the cartoon as racist and complained about the insensitivity of the white sign holder.
I was pretty shocked by this development. Even more shocked after I asked the future wife for her interpretation of the comic and she had the same view as the letter writer. How could I be so wrong? Wrong? Me? Seriously?
The thing is though, I don’t think I was wrong. I’ve viewed a few weeks worth of Mike Thompson’s work and I’m convinced that he’s of the leftward persuasion. That alone may not mean anything, but combined with the visual clues, like the man’s sign, and his exaggerated clothes and hat lead me to believe that the cartoonist intended to make a point about the blinders some people wear when they view the world.
