[GCFL-discuss] Fw: FW: racist "humor" in WSJ today

[Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies List]

Hello everybody,

A friend of mine in the state capital (Madison, if anyone wants to know)
sent me this email with the attached pdf cartoon. I have my own thoughts
about it:

Yes, I would say this qualifies as a gross distortion, equal to any of
the "Pollock" jokes that I used to hear the German-American kids in
Appleton tell about the residents of neighboring Menasha when I was
growing up. To parse what passes for "thought process" here ad absurdum,
there is a faulted logical premise that receipt of checks is uniquely
associated with persons of specific racial or ethnic heritage, when we
all know more people who think of themselves as "white" receive checks
than any other racial stereotype.

But let us take the lemon and make lemonade by taking a quick look at
where "Black History" is going. Originally, the discipline within the
study of history known as "Black History" served to bring into the light
all kinds of facts and associations which had been deliberately and
literally "whitewashed" out of the history books. Hopefully "Black
History" will soon cease to exist as a distinct category, not because
those facts are forgotten again, but because they become so inseparably
woven into American history, world history, western hemisphere history,
that nobody can take them out again. Nobody of any color can call
themselves proficient in the history of the USA who is ignorant of the
facts and events and personalities submerged and reconstructed as "Black
History."

We do need to phase out the practice of putting some accomplished person
on a shaky pedestal as "a black scientist" or "a black engineer" or "a
black lawyer," as if there is something EXCEPTIONAL about that. It sends
the wrong message to children, who instead of being inspired by the
example, give up on the idea that they could reach the same heights.
There is no more difficult or subtle nuance in a society at the current
level and form of racism we live in, than making it clear that all kinds
of people with dark complexions are in every trade and profession,
without making a big deal about the fact that someone of a dark
complexion is there. And let's face it: kids who identify as "black" are
just as bored with "black history" as any other kids are bored by any
other history. Their teachers, "white" or "black" love it, but the kids
are bored. It takes a special effort to inspire any child to really love
any history, even "their own."

Siarlys
----- Forwarded Message -----
I was pretty appalled that this ran in this morning's State Journal.  I
called the paper, found out the features editor is on vacation, so talked
to a high level person who agreed there was a problem once he saw the
strip. 
I have no idea who the cartoonist is, but I'm going to find out a little
more about him.  We've come to expect this level of thinking from the
Supreme Court, but I still have higher expectations for pillars of the
community like cartoonists!
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