A legitimate critique of Condoleeze Rice is that she has been utterly incompetent as the National Security Advisor, and that her expertise with regard to Russia as Brent Scowcroft's pupil has made her grossly overstate the importance of state-sponsors of terrorism, thus leading to the overly sponsor-centric approach to the war on terror that the Bush Administration has adopted.
Rice's race as a black woman is not relevant to a legitimate critique, and that is why this cartoon by Jeff Danziger (whose work I previously enjoyed) is utterly disgusting.
By bringing race into the critique, Danziger crossed the line, and in doing so did a disservice to the legitimate need for a debate on Rice's qualifications and job performance.
I am sure Danziger will say he is not a racist, has black friends, etc. He might even BE black for all I know. But using race as a vehicle for his critique of Rice speaks to an obsession with her skin color that is not appropriate. He should apologise to Condoleeza Rice immediately.
This could be a tempest in a teacup, but I can't let something pass. The first comment said there is "no reference to race in the cartoon at all". Sorry, but the words "I don't know nothin' about aluminum tubes" echoes the line of Prissy (Butterfly McQueen) from Gone With the Wind when she squeeled up to Rhett Butler "I don't know nothin' about birthin' babies." If that stereotyped image of a darkie in Dixie isn't racist, then I don't know what is. Whatever else the cartoon may be is debatable, but there is definitely a racist spin at work. Aziz is correct.
ReplyDeleteaziz, don't you know that non-whites of color aren't protected from racial insults?
ReplyDeleteLooks like they've pulled it. From descriptions here, it sounds like you're right, Aziz. Kind of surprising, I've liked Danziger.
ReplyDelete