Inexcusably Racist

It's rather mind-boggling that a newspaper in the United States in this memorable year would publish an utterly degraded cartoon purporting to bring humour to a situation that is itself reminiscent of a minor tragedy, and transforming it into a vehicle for the expression of blatant racism.

In a year where the United States of America was able to muster sufficient goodwill and hope in the promise of a brighter future through the election of a politician whose vision for the country reflected the will of the majority of its voters, and yet could also still express bitter racism of a type that has besmirched its history in a very public venue, is nothing short of amazing.

The cartoon itself, without the narrative balloon was a misery. With the printed word it became a double-entendred and utterly unmistakable attack against both the premier representative of the country's government and the large demographic of African-Americans who might have thought they had at last realized the dream of being free at last. There is no freedom anywhere, it would appear, from racial discrimination.

The publishing of the cartoon in the New York Post makes a mockery of a new vision for social relations in the United States. The Reverend Al Sharpton is not many peoples' idea of an honourable civil rights activist; he is himself guilty of nasty discriminatory statements. On this particular occasion of his mounting a protest against the Sean Delonas cartoon this repugnant man should have the support of all people of good intent.

Rupert Murdoch's apology is meaningless. To 'personally apologize to any reader who felt offended, and even insulted' is in itself an insult. He should personally feel offended and insulted, and betrayed by those whom he trusts to exercise sound judgement in publishing his newspapers. He should be so personally offended that he should take immediate steps to disown the editor, the paper and its cartoonist.

It isn't the 'sensitivities of our community' that Mr. Murdoch should be concerned with, it is the injustice and the misery he once again inflicted upon a population more than sufficiently burdened with its share of tragedy as a result of racial bigotry and intolerance. He stands himself guilty of those crimes for effectively trivializing them in the manner in which he has done.

The cartoon cannot be excused by claiming that it was not meant to be racist. It was clearly racist, in tenor and intent.