Activists Seek More Than Apology from New York Post

Washington Afro
NAACP demands editor-in-chief and cartoonist resign, more newsroom diversity
By Alan King AFRO Staff Writer

(February 24, 2009) - Nearly a week after the New York Post’s controversial cartoon sparked nationwide outrage, and just days after the paper apologized, protests and outrage have continued – with political activists and celebrities demanding the resignation of the editor-in-chief and cartoonist.
The illustration, published last Wednesday, depicts a gun-downed chimpanzee and two police officers, with a caption, saying: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”
Since the image was published a day after President Barack Obama signed the federal economic stimulus package, and two days after police killed a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut, many say the connection between the president and the ape was clear.
“This connection between simians and Black men is an old canard,” NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said on MSNBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olberman” Monday night. “That’s what this cartoon is all about.”
NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous called the illustration an “invitation to assassinate President Obama,” and he urged readers to boycott the Post.
In addition, the civil rights organization called for the removal of Post editor-in-chief, Col Allan, and cartoonist, Sean Delonas.
“This connection between simians and Black men is an old canard.”
The drawing, Jealous told the media, “picks off the scabs of all the racial wounds.”
NAACP officials said they planned to reach out to organizations across the country to join them in their efforts against the tabloid if the Post does not take “serious disciplinary action.”
Calling the cartoon “thoughtlessness taken to the extreme,” Bond said, “Anyone who is not offended by it does not have any sensitivity.”

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