There's a political cartoon in today's New York Post that some social activists are questioning this morning.
The Sean Delonas drawing morphs together two stories in the news this week -- the Obama administration's economic stimulus bill and the pet chimp that police shot to stop his attack on a Connecticut woman. The cartoon, which shows police shooting a monkey, seems to imply that a monkey (who some are interpreting as President Obama) wrote the stimulus bill.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called the cartoon "racially offensive" and released this statement.
"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that 'Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.'"
The New York Post is standing behind the cartoon. Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
Sharpton's National Action Network has already planned a protest outside the Post's mid-town Manhattan headquarters at noon on Thursday. The White House says it will not respond to the story. more
The Sean Delonas drawing morphs together two stories in the news this week -- the Obama administration's economic stimulus bill and the pet chimp that police shot to stop his attack on a Connecticut woman. The cartoon, which shows police shooting a monkey, seems to imply that a monkey (who some are interpreting as President Obama) wrote the stimulus bill.
Civil rights activist Al Sharpton called the cartoon "racially offensive" and released this statement.
"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this when in the cartoon they have police saying after shooting a chimpanzee that 'Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.'"
The New York Post is standing behind the cartoon. Editor-in-Chief Col Allan said: "The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."
Sharpton's National Action Network has already planned a protest outside the Post's mid-town Manhattan headquarters at noon on Thursday. The White House says it will not respond to the story. more
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