Is Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post Calling President Obama a Monkey in its Latest Editorial Cartoon?

So, after Rev. Al Sharpton made some off-the-cuff comments about Gen. Colin Powell at a recent speech at Middlebury College, he has rightly criticized the New York Post. He is demanding that the newspaper, which has come under fire in the past for racially-tinged cartoons, explain what it meant in its latest controversial offering. The cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. The incorporation of violence and, on a sinister level, race into politics is bound to be controversial. Rightly so.

Displayed prominently on today’s editorial pages, the cartoon depicts two police officers – one with his smoking gun drawn – standing over what appears to be a dead chimpanzee in a pool of blood. One officer says to the other: “Now they’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

Hmmm. Are they referring to the dead chimp as the president of the United States? That’s weird and I have to wonder what the intent of the cartoon is. Okay, the massive $787 billion stimulus bill was signed into law yesterday and the cops shot a crazy chimpanzee, but what do they have in common? Could it be President Obama being portrayed as a rabid chimpanzee? We all know that blacks are portrayed as monkeys repeatedly, so that is a sound conclusion to draw. With that in mind, Mr. Rupert Murdoch and his posse owe us an explanation and an apology. Funny, Matt Drudge has been a big critic of Barack Obama and his Administration and this cartoon is conveniently absent from the Drudge Report. It is also missing from Fox News Channel’s website, but I expected nothing different.

Filed under: African Americans, Blacks, Chimpanzee, Matt Drudge, Monkey, National Action Network, Portrayed as Chimp, President Barack H. Obama, Stimulus Bill, The Drudge Report

Hillary Clinton Wins Big in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island

I am a Barack Obama supporter but I have always said that you cannot count Hillary Clinton out. Many have called for her to step down because the math is not in her favor. I beg to differ. She is down by 86 points and that is not the deathknell to her campaign at this point. I may be a little controversial in my assessment but I believe that her goal is to take this to the convention and get the nomination through negotiations, which, I will admit would be in her favor. You just cannot count Team Clinton out. For people like Warren Ballentine who said that he will call for a “blackout” if she gets the nomination, I say to him go ahead. This will work if it become painfully obvious that the Democratic Party is trying to disenfrachised the voters of those states deliberately. I will agree with him if they give those votes to Hillary Clinton, which in essence, would be stealing the nomination. If that were to occur, I will not vote Democratic.

Ballenetine wants Billary to step down and make room for Obama. But why should she? All is not lost for her. Let us see what will transpire in the coming weeks. I say to Barack Obama, get a backbone and stand up to the vitriol that is being lobbed your way. He will be dogged by the Rezko scandal and his failure to speak up in a timely and substantive fashion about NAFTA. He needs to stop saying “I think” and start saying “I will.” Barack Obama can be the President of America, so too can Hillary Clinton, but he has to get firmer, not nastier. He has to confront her not berate her. He needs to bring up the issue of her failure to release her tax returns. Is she hiding something? Why do we have to wait until April 15th for 2007?

To all the “truthfighters” stop expecting people to treat Obama with kid gloves. This campaign and the race for the White House is much bigger than Obama. To all the blacks that are saying Hillary Clinton is low and doing bad things to Obama, get real. This is politics and what the game is all about. I want to see Obama stand up and deliver some of the sames punches he just took. If he continues on the same trajectory, we may very well see Hillary Clinton the nominee and possibly President of the United States.

Warren Ballentine, stop hating on Hillary Clinton and start focusing on the vulnerabilities of Barack Obama and how best we can overcome them. Hillary Clinton is in the fight of her life and people like fighters. Mark my words, as dirty as the game is, you cannot count Team Clinton out! Howard Dean needs to man up and do something about the delegates in the two states. I am wondering why the elected officials in both states did not speak up when the decision was made. What we have is the makings of a party in crisis, set to implode within a few weeks. If the DNC fails the people, then by all means, I am down with a “blackout.” Just my thoughts, you be the judge.

Filed under: African Americans, Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Kenya, Ohio, Team Clinton, Texas, Warren Ballentine

Four Black Employees Sue Krystal Franchise Over Strip Search

Four black former employees of Krystal restaurant have filed a lawsuit against the holding company of the restaurant alleging that they were unfairly strip searched by white managers and that three of them were fired after they complained. This is the sad reality that we face in the United States today.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit on their behalf and is seeking back wages, plus interest. The fired employees were subjected to this racist behavior after $100 disappeared from a white employee’s cash register at a Krystal restaurant in Winder, Georgia in June 2005. Herbert Hunter, Daphne Hill and Shannon Jackson said they were terminated after they complained that only black employees were strip searched. The fourth employee, Quinthony Brown did not return to work after he was searched.

Media reports have said that the employees complained to the EEOC two months after the alleged incident, and the agency has been working to negotiate a settlement with New Capital Dimensions, the Milledgeville-based company that formerly owned the Winder franchise of the Krystal chain that operates across the South.

While this happened in 2005, it is proof that we are still confronted with these iniquities and inequality on a daily basis. Why did the managers have to turn to the black employees first? That is so unfair, but it is the reality we live with as blacks everyday.

Filed under: African Americans, Discrimination, EEOC, Krystal, Strip Search