Univ. Arizona Publishes Obama Cartoon Using The “Nigg” Word
A newspaper cartoon that has already sparked controversy after being run in a New Jersey college newspaper has caused an uproar again. This time, an Arizona college newspaper has been criticized for a poorly timed oversight.
The Arizona Daily Wildcat, a newspaper serving the University of Arizona in Tuscon, on Wednesday unintentionally ran the syndicated cartoon that used the ‘N’ word in reference to President-elect Barack Obama.
The cartoon features a canvasser asking a Pennsylvania woman who she intended to vote for. The woman asks her husband, who responds from inside the home, “We’re votin’ for the n***er!” The woman then tells the baffled canvasser, “We’re votin’ for the n***er.”
According to the Arizona Daily Star in Tuscon, the cartoon appeared in the college paper Wednesday because of a “production error.” Wildcat Editor in Chief Lauren LePage had originally selected a comic that commemorated the Obama election victory; another editor had chosen the controversial comic from a server and placed it on the page. LePage then replaced the other editor’s pick with her own on the server — but not on the page. She didn’t catch the error until the newspaper was printed, the Daily Star reported.
LePage called the incident an “honest mistake.”
In an official statement in response to students upset with the cartoon being intentionally run in the Montclair State University newspaper, Knight defended his cartoon as depicting a harsh reality in this year’s election.
“Straight-up racists are prepared to pull the lever for a black man,” he said. “While some folks out there, who never thought they were prejudiced, aren’t going to vote for him because of his skin color,” Knight wrote. “Should we ignore stuff like this? I don’t think so. Should it be in a comic strip? Yes!!”
Did that make you chuckle?
I sure did.
However, to a bunch of college students in New Jersey, that cartoon was offensive trash and they are angry at their college newspaper for publishing it. You can read about the kerfuffle, here.
Maybe it’s because I was familiar with the work of Keith Knight and knew that he was black, but I didn’t find the comic offensive at all. After all, it’s based on a real story, and he actually avoided using the entire word “nigger” by cutting it off with the panel. It wasn’t a gratuitous use of the word nigger, it was using the word to make a real point about who is supporting Barack Obama.
But Not The Guy Below
Comment by E on 9 November 2008:
The cartoon is pathetic. Thinking it is funny is very very sad. Racism does exist. Our job is to call it out where and when it happens. Being “enlightened” does not make it ok to use horrible offensive images and language. The idiots who selectively use it because they “know how to and would never offend” are fools if they think the aren’t offending. And for those who claim special status because they are think they have special dispensation to use this language, they are only confirming the opinion of racists who then justify their stupidity. There is nothing funny about being degrading others.
Comment by Anonymous on 10 November 2008:
E, I think you need to relax. The cartoon was making fun of racists, not blacks. It would have made no sense if the caption had read, “We’re voting for the African-America!” It was pointing out a truth about human nature and how change moves in uneven steps forward (or in the case of knee-jerk reactions such as yours, backward).
Comment by eboloI on 10 November 2008:
Wow! must be really hilarious to some, maybe if they mass copy this toon and pass it out in and around the nearest Black neighborhoods, they can also get a big “non knee jerk” reaction from it……….it also appears that a sizeable amout of non Blacks voted for Obama, so that lame excuse of who’s supporting Obama don’t hold water. I’ve heard the wingsnuts for years yelling about Blacks voting for the democratic candidates by 90% to 95%+, but when the same Blacks, vote for a Black democratic candidate by the same percentages, they all of a sudden become racists