Political Cartoon Prompts Racist Accusations against Student Paper (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog)
Exhibit A: Political cartoon, edited. Funny?
Exhibit B: Political cartoon, original version. Funny?
Exhibit C: Editorial.
Exhibit D: The controversy, in context.
Exhibit E: Debate, in situ.
Exhibit F: Your thoughts?
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I opted not to publish a comment that was posted here, because I’m uncomfortable with posts that make personal attacks instead of engaging directly with ideas. There are a lot of emotions going on this thread, and I’d rather it not escalate in an unproductive direction.
You only date white women, is that because you hate asians? Its very common.Self Loathing, its like when Jews pretend they are catholics. I know a korean model who says she hates Koreans, she wants to move to France & become a french person & never see another member of her race. If you were half black, your color would dictate your race, not your preference at what race you wish you could be.You are Asian. White people might date you , but you’re never going to be able to change your race,only water down your background so you can fit in. Well, Ward Connerly did it, so I guess if you marry a blond enough woman, you can pretend you’re not asian anymore. You’re not a racist, because you wish to be all white, instead of half asian. It makes you pathetic. A few blacks tried to ‘pass’ as white too, after being born light of a rape or a mixed relationship.
All right, since there are now 12 parts to this ongoing discussion, maybe it would help to take a step back and review what was said. Throughout this history of comments, I believe there are many of us saying the same message, but in different ways. However, I am not sure why there are multiple misunderstandings, if any. Perhaps there is a collision of rhetorics happening here?
“The Black Student Union (member of a facebook group called N*ggas that Pledge) trashed the Alligator for the use of the word. Why? He obviously doesn’t find it all that offensive. UF and the BSU have invited rappers such as Kayne West, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg to play at the O’Connel Center every year, artists who use that word in their music. Why is it that they don’t find it offensive then? ”
It’s like Hitler,Hilter was a murderer, he got lots of white people to kill minorities. They went right along for the ride, a whole generation. If you’re so quick to forget, it’s no wonder you’re doomed to repeat this.So many of the bigots in Florida are proud of their hatred legacy. None of you are fighting them, are you? It’s okay to celebrate the murder of 100 millions blacks in legal Terrorist groups like the KKK & the Neo Nazis, but it’s not okay for blacks to be angry about it. White supremacists say, blacks deserve no respect because we don’t understand rap music. They are angry, that irritates us. We liked them quiet & running scared, not loud & intimdating.
“Overnight white Americans purged racism & murder from their cultures & now everything left is black peoples fault. 400 years of slavery & 100 years of segregation & we are perfect now.” You really think you can purge that much evil in such a short time? The fascists where blind to the evil of their behaviours too.
I’m sure you’d make the same sweeping generalizations of your people, as you’re making about mine. But my opinion doesn’t rule the world, while yours always has. Keeping up your ancestors hard work!
“Explain Eminem then.”
Whew! I’ve no idea.
But words mean more than their dictionary definitions. The context and relationship between the speakers do change the significance of words.
Explain Eminem then. He is white and raps with a black vernacular all of the time and received a huge backlash from both black and white communities. Is he an example of this double standard?
Speaking as a minority, racism and discrimination are perpetuated by previous generations of hate teaching future generations of hate to do likewise (along with other factors) which is something our society attempts to not do anymore. However, such a change may be possible long after any of our lifetimes.
I currently attend UF, and I’ve been in the middle of this debate since the cartoon was published. Personally, I think that this was something that needed to be said. I don’t understand why it’s socially acceptable for someone who is black to use the n-word.
People here are up in arms over Marlette’s cartoon. The Black Student Union (member of a facebook group called N*ggas that Pledge) trashed the Alligator for the use of the word. Why? He obviously doesn’t find it all that offensive. UF and the BSU have invited rappers such as Kayne West, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg to play at the O’Connel Center every year, artists who use that word in their music. Why is it that they don’t find it offensive then?
I think that there is a very big double standard in this country. There is no doubt that racism and discrimination still exist, however I think that the dualism exhibited by things such as the acceptable use of the n-word by rappers and comics fuels, if not creates a lot of this racism and discrimination.
Bobby, slightly complicating the issue is that the cartoon depicted one black person using a variant of the term to another black person. That’s not quite the same thing as a white guy walking up to a black guy and using the word out of the blue.
On the other hand, the First Amendment doesn’t promise that those who decide to use their freedom of speech will be isolated from all possible consequences.
Dennis, Is “power” not an assigned concept complicated by social mores and the First Amendment? I am thinking that freedom of speech entitles all of us to use and define terms in whatever context, but our culture’s social mores dictate whether or not such use is acceptable. Hopefully that clarifies my earlier point using Dr. Preston’s example.
Japanese and Korean cultures not compatible? Wow. My mother is half-Japanese and half-Korean. I am all Korean, but I fail to identify with my culture since I view myself as Caucasian, which is where my female preferences lie as well. Does that make me racist? No.
Perhaps it is a racist word, even when black people use it. Obviously it’s not as offensive, but what is racist? A broad definition might say that any term which brings attention to race without specific logical cause. For example, “asshole” isn’t racist (although offensive) as it applies to everyone. But nigga is, as it only applies to blacks.
It is a great misnomer that minorities can’t be racist. The fact that they are minorities doesn’t make some angelic, they’re still people – just as everyone else is. I’m not sure I’m getting the nationality right, but I remember being stunned in high school when I heard a japanese girls parents were very, very, very upset their daughter was dating a korean guy. It seemed so weird! But I was told those two races dating was considered taboo back in the country their parents came from.
Anyways, perhaps anything that infers race without sound logical reason (africans are almost all black isn’t racist, it’s purely factual) is racist?
P.S. Glad to hear the paper is standing up for itself in front of all that grandstanding though. :-)
There is a huge power issue here. Words hurt. There is a long line of history behind that word. People have died over that word. However, I do not believe that a cartoon can be taken that seriously–that what a cartoon says represents an entire community. Tastefull, no. But the cartoon was taken way out of context.
I don’t think it does anyone justice to try to understand why black icons, such as Kanye West, use the language that they do. They experienced much injustice and it’s not just to tell them how to deal with it. The power issue comes when we try to say what the word should mean to a certain group.
Whites try to keep black communities from using the word and try to rationalize this other use of power by saying: “Well, women don’t go around calling each other ‘slut’ and gays don’t call each other ‘fag’.” But what they fail to realize is that these are three completely different groups with three completely different experiences.
On the other side, we have some black constituencies using the word to say what whites can and can’t say, even when they use the word to make a statement that is meant to be positive. Some communities pulled “Huckelberry Finn” from required readings because of the dialect. Although words hurt, Huckelberry Finn made a powerful statement about the wrongs of the time.
What confuses the issue even more is that not all people use words for good messages. We must, as people sift through the process (what words are being used) to reach the content (what the words are being used for) and address the ultimate message.
When I was at UF (1987-1991), the Alligator had a campus office and had tables at the campus orientations. But that was long ago, and they may have changed…
Bobby, the student paper in question is an unofficial paper. Students from the university work on it, but it’s independent. I don’t know enough about that paper to know whether it’s given office space and access to meeting rooms on campus, can recruit at tables during orientation.
This is a discussion about power — who does, and who doesn’t — have the power to define when a word is offensive and when it is not.
I always love it when Dennis finds things involving cartoons because then I read them and get to provide feedback on it. Unfortunately, I believe I am the only comic scholar that comments here. After reading the cartoons and background articles, UF (like all universities) does not promote racism or harm toward other people but are called hypocritical when it ran the political cartoon in question. A stance like that is understandable, except when we consider how the n-word is being used, in context.
I remember Dr. Elizabeth Preston explaining in Intro to Black Authors (during my freshman year) that among black communities, the n-word is not considered negative when spoken by black people in that community. However, if a Caucasian uses the term, it takes on a negative connotation. As a community, then, blacks took a cultural term back from Caucasians and empowered it.