A little flap has erupted over a political cartoon (above) referencing Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police after seriously mauling a woman.
CNN.com reports:
A New York Post cartoon Wednesday drew fire from civil rights activist Al Sharpton and others who say the drawing invokes historically racist images in suggesting an ape wrote President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package.
Al Sharpton says he wonders whether the cartoon "is making a less-than-casual inference" to a form of racism.
The artist, Sean Delonas, called Sharpton's reaction "ridiculous," and the newspaper defended its decision to run his cartoon. But other African-American leaders joined Sharpton, who has been the butt of previous Delonas panels, in attacking what they called the cartoon's racial overtones.
"Sean Delonas' cartoon in today's New York Post is insensitive and offensive," National Urban League President Marc Morial said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. "Comparing President Obama and his effort to revive the economy in a manner that depicts violence and racist inferences is unacceptable."
The cartoon showed two police officers standing over the body of a chimpanzee they just shot, a reference to this week's mauling of a Connecticut woman by a pet chimp, which police killed after the attack.
I don't find the cartoon racist, but I do find it an insult to chimpanzees by inferring they wrote the stimulus bill. I think they are smarter than the idiots who did.
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