Texas A&M Student Paper Under Fire Seems that some people didn't take too kindly to this editorial cartoon, published in The Battalion earlier this week: “The attire and speech of the mother were stereotypically exaggerated and historically characteristic of the bigoted cartoon portrayal of African-Americans in an era that we presumed was bygone,” the statement reads." I'm not sure how I feel about this one, personally. I'd say it's in pretty poor taste, but then again, I don't find the cartoon any more offensive than the racial banter in Rush Hour 2.
If you read what the woman is saying it leads me to believe that whoever contrived this racist cartoon was making fun of the African-American race. Then again, it doesnt surprise me that this type of garbage comes from someone at Texas A&M.....
So much for distinction of being known as a world-class university, where all the great minds wish to be,” Ummmmmmmm, okay. “More like a world-class bigot school where all the great rednecks wish to be.” overreaction much. i mean i'm not one to defend A&M or anything but somehow i don't think one cartoon represents the whole school. also maybe i'm weird or something but the first thing i thought when i read it was that it was making fun of airport security and i didn't even consider the racial implications until i read the article.
Oh damn....what a can of worms this one is..... While I can see how it could be seen as offensive, I do understand the point it is making: We have a lot uneducated morons in charge of airport security, put there by the lowest bidder. What I DON'T understand, is what race should the people have been? They would have taken crap if it were any race other than white. So would it have been okay to make them white? On a personal note, I've had the opportunity to travel extensively around the US and the world. I've always felt that security at American airports was lacking. For what its worth, most of the security people I've seen in the States are black. Please keep in mind that I'm not saying that security is lacking because we've got black people working the security posts, thats just merely my experience/observation. I'm not trying to defend the artist, but maybe he noticed the same thing.
This gives me a convenient opportunity to point out that this is why I titled this post the way I did. I'm referring to the editor's decision to run the comic, not whether or not it's offensive. The editor had to know it would offend people.
I read about this in the Houston Chronicle this morning, but they didn't print a copy of the cartoon, only a description of it. After viewing the cartoon in this thread, I have no idea how the A&M student newspaper editor could NOT have seen that this cartoon would offend African Americans. I would say that the editor of the student newspaper at A&M ought to seriously think about an occupation other than journalism after graduation!
Agree to that comment. The charactures of the people in the cartoon remind me of editorial cartoons from the '40s. Any person, no matter of race, can see the enforcement of stereotypes by the artist. I could care less about African Americans being the majority of security guards, I could care less that the people in the cartoon are African American..what bothers me(and undoubtadly others) is the senslessness of putting a rag on the mother's head and the protruding lips of both characters...neither of these traits add to the topic...IMO they are meaningless in the context of the editorial, however, the artist seems to have a different agenda. It's a shame that this ran at A&M..this just reenforces the hick rep. they already have.
About the caricature..... Its a caricature....its supposed to be an exaggerated interpretation. I mean, I see how some could think it "crosses the line," but caricatures are supposed to be ridiculously exaggerated, are they not? Like I said before, I get the point the cartoon is making about dummies working as airport security.......sorry...I'm just trying to see if there is any way that someone, somewhere wouldn't get in a tizzy over this. For what its worth, I've seen countless caricatures of celebrities, politicians, and races that I'm sure someone, somewhere would find offensive.
I read about this last night on the Chron website. The cartoonist can draw whatever he wants but the paper is stupid for running it. Of course it draws on outdated stereotypes. Of course it is going to be offensive to African Americans. Of course they should not have run it. There are better ways of making a point about the fact that airport security guards don't need a high school education. It's his choice to draw it, but the editor should know better than to run it.
So if the artist had drawn a more 'real' picture of a black mother and son, it would have been okay? He should have left out the ebonics dialogue as well.
Lynus: First, it isn't funny to begin with. It is making fun of kids with disadvantages which isn't funny. It would have been funnier to a kid (or parent) proudly sticking an F paper on the refrigerator and proclaiming, "I'm well on my way to a career in airport security." Taking shots at the way some people talk and the disadvantages of some kids is not only stupid, it's mean.
First off, I never said it was a "haha funny" cartoon. I think its sad. Second, I don't see it as making fun of kids with disadvantages. I see it as making fun of the uneducated people who are in charge of the security of thousands, if not millions of people in airports, in airplanes, and on the ground (in buildings, houses, etc.) every day. The cartoon makes a valid point (or attempts to, at any rate, through the unfortunate racial undertones): -- Get good grades or the only thing you'll ever be qualified to do is work in airport security. Its telling us that kids 1) Need to get good grades, and 2) We've got a bunch of uneducated morons in charge of our safety, whether we're in the airport, on a plane, or on the ground with a plane anywhere near us overhead. I addressed the above in my first post in this thread. Political correctness makes me want to puke, so my first post also asked what race the people should have been, or how the people pictured should have been shown, in order to not piss off a bunch of people. My second post addressed the issue of the caricature being used for this particular subject. I minored in art, so I know what a caricature is supposed to look like. The cartoon is unfortunate, and the newspaper is stupid for running it. What I wanted to know is how this could have been accomplished without everyone crying racism, which I am NOT denying in this instance. Your example Jeff, was a good one, but I wanted to know how virtually the same picture could have been shown without pissing off a bunch of people.
http://www.texags.com/main/reply.asp?opt=post&nexturl=/main/reply.asp&topic_id=107585&forum_id=& This was the reaction at an aggie board. Most of them don't seem to be bothered at all. Maybe some steroetypes are true? atm is full of racist rednecks?
The cartoon is offensive, yes. However, if it depicted two white slack-jawed rednecks wearing overalls while chewing tobacco, no one would have said a word.
What a pathetic cartoon. I mean you would have to be brainless to edit that cartoon and think it's ok. I don't care if it's slack-jawed rednecks, or etc., offensive is offensive. If white people would have been upset with "rednecks" being printed then complain. What a bunch of rocket scientist running that paper. They deserve all the flack they are bound to get.
<b>The cartoon is unfortunate, and the newspaper is stupid for running it. What I wanted to know is how this could have been accomplished without everyone crying racism, which I am NOT denying in this instance. Your example Jeff, was a good one, but I wanted to know how virtually the same picture could have been shown without pissing off a bunch of people.</b> I don't know, how about just doing a cartoon with normal people and do the same thing. It's not the fact that they're black, it's the fact that they're stereotypical drawings with stereotypical speech. Instead of digging into the stereotype bag how about just having a normal looking cartoon.
Lynus--I agree with you about political correctness making you want to puke...me too. I never quite understood why everything has to be peachykeen with everyone in order for it to be palatable for the masses. However, it should be noted that if the artist wanted the message to be "get good grades or be a airport security guard", or, if it meant to draw a line between the uneducated and airport security guards...he ultimatley failed to make that message the focal point. Whether we are all sensitive to PC behavior or not, it doesn't change the fact that this cartoon is getting noticed for stereotypical depictions of African Americans. I don't know the artist..but I certainly would think that any educated person would undoubtadley be aware that this would be controversial. I could maybe understand an argument for creating this image....but I don't understand why an editor would allow it to be printed in a news paper. For me the question are as follows: What was the message the artist was trying to portray? It certainly seems his message is more about portraying ignorance in a stereotypical way than bringing awareness to inadequate security guards. Could be wrong...but if I was an editor for the Aggie Rag, I would have erred on the side of caution with this one. BTW thanks for spelling caricature correctly...I was struggling with that one.
