Open Letter to the New York Post by John Legend

[Empress Yetzion]

The New York Post cartoon drew immediate criticism from Al Sharpton, the black activist and community leader

Open Letter to the New York Post
Today at 01:02

Dear Editor:

I'm trying to understand what possible motivation you may have had for publishing that vile cartoon depicting the shooting of the chimpanzee that went crazy. I guess you thought it would be funny to suggest that whomever was responsible for writing the Economic Recovery legislation must have the intelligence and judgment of a deranged, violent chimpanzee, and should be shot to protect the larger community. Really? Did it occur to you that this suggestion would imply a connection between President Barack Obama and the deranged chimpanzee? Did it occur to you that our President has been receiving death threats since early in his candidacy? Did it occur to you that blacks have historically been compared to various apes as a way of racist insult and mockery? Did you intend to invoke these painful themes when you printed the cartoon?

If that's not what you intended, then it was stupid and willfully ignorant of you not to connect these easily connectable dots. If it is what you intended, then you obviously wanted to be grossly provocative, racist and offensive to the sensibilities of most reasonable Americans. Either way, you should not have printed this cartoon, and the fact that you did is truly reprehensible. I can't imagine what possible justification you have for this. I've read your lame statement in response to the outrage you provoked. Shame on you for dodging the real issue and then using the letter as an opportunity to attack Rev. Sharpton. This is not about Rev. Sharpton. It's about the cartoon being blatantly racist and offensive.

I believe in freedom of speech, and you have every right to print what you want. But freedom of speech still comes with responsibilities and consequences. You are responsible for printing this cartoon, and I hope you experience some real consequences for it. I'm personally boycotting your paper and won't do any interviews with any of your reporters, and I encourage all of my colleagues in the entertainment business to do so as well. I implore your advertisers to seriously reconsider their business relationships with you as well.

You should print an apology in your paper acknowledging that this cartoon was ignorant, offensive and racist and should not have been printed.

I'm well aware of our country's history of racism and violence, but I truly believe we are better than this filth. As we attempt to rise above our difficult past and look toward a better future, we don't need the New York Post to resurrect the images of Jim Crow to deride the new administration and put black folks in our place. Please feel free to criticize and honestly evaluate our new President, but do so without the incendiary images and rhetoric.

Sincerely,

John Legend


and from New York Post apologises over 'racist' Barack Obama cartoon - Telegraph



New York Post apologises over 'racist' Barack Obama cartoon
20 Feb 2009

By Philip Sherwell in New York

The New York Post has apologised to those offended by an editorial cartoon that critics said was racist because it likened President Barack Obama to a chimpanzee.

The newspaper acknowledged that the cartoon published on Wednesday had drawn controversy because African Americans and others saw it as a depiction of Obama.

"This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize," the paper said in an editorial on its website headlined "That Cartoon."

"It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill. Period," the paper said.

It comes after angry protestors rallied outside the paper's Manhattan offices.

Demonstrators led by populist civil rights leader Rev Al Sharpton chanted "Boycott the Post. Shut it down. End racism now" as they milled in front of the News Corp headquarters of media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

The controversial cartoon depicted police officers shooting dead a chimpanzee - a reference to a real-life incident this week when a pet simian was killed after it horrifically mauled a woman in Connecticut.

"They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," observes an officer with a smoking gun.

The country's first African-American president had the previous day signed the $787 billion economic recovery bill after a heated debate in Washington. Mr Sharpton immediately accused the newspaper, which takes a strong conservative editorial tone, of deploying a crude racist stereotype of blacks as monkeys.

Col Allan, the Post's editor-in-chief, had vigorously defended the cartoon as a parody of Washington politics, saying it "broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy".

His comments have done nothing to defuse the anger of critics and telephone lines to the Post have also been flooded with complaints. Mr Sharpton, who is arranging meetings with advertisers to call for a commercial boycott, said: "I guess they thought we were chimpanzees. They will find out we are lions."




New York State Senator Eric Adams stands in front of the New York Post building holding a cartoon that ran in the Post Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, in New York. A New York Post cartoon that some have interpreted as comparing President Barack Obama to a violent chimpanzee gunned down by police drew outrage Wednesday from civil rights leaders and elected officials who said it echoed racist stereotypes of blacks as monkeys.


Some protestors also accused the cartoon of raising the spectre of an assassination of Mr Obama. "Just the fact that they put a monkey with gunshot wounds in his chest, it gives the idea of an assassination," said Peter Aviles, 48, a building superintendent

[Sourakhata]

It's never intentional. I've ceased to be amazed by their blatant hypocrisy.

Even if one of our kind is now the head of the country, not much has changed since the days they used to sing 'Every Race Has a Flag but the Coon'. Those who think with the utmost naïveté that the election of Obama has all of a sudden ended racism in the US, here is a taste of the long chain of disappointment & bitterness they'll have to face.
Western societies are structurally based on racism and it'll never change unless taken down.

News Corp = Zionist supremacist

[Im The Truth]

Wow a R&B singer saying something! That's something.

[nattyreb]

i've heard Legend speak out in the past as a staunch Obama supporter, hopefully he'd be just as outspoken if Obama was not involved, he is impressive!

That Post apology was a lot more half-assed and sarcastic, and came after at least one of their own employees even complained about it:

"After two days of protests, the paper posted an editorial on its Web site Thursday saying the cartoon was meant to mock the federal economic stimulus bill, but "to those who were offended by the image, we apologize."
The editorial also says some people who have long-standing differences with the paper saw the cartoon "as an opportunity for payback."
The editorial calls them "opportunists" and says: "To them, no apology is due."

Thanks for the posting, Empress!

Originally Posted by Im The Truth

Wow a R&B singer saying something! That's something.

[Majadi]

Usually being a long-winded man, I will attempt brevity and some clarity. The Post, its editors, its cartoonists have issued a threat to not simply Obama but Afrikan people. It is quite simple they have the will, the power and the desire to have you murdered. Lest you submit to the will of the beast and its multifarious machinations ye shall surely die! Now is not to ponder their reasoning for even a cursory study of recent history shall tell you this. Indeed, it is for us as the Revolutionary Cadre and Warriors to respond either in kind or shut up and accept that you and your monkey children are under constant threat of death!