Plead the First

Update, October 2014: I’m removing this cartoon. After witnessing the mess in Ferguson this summer, and the discussions surrounding it, I don’t feel I can stand behind it any longer. The intentions behind it were good, but that doesn’t mean that I was right. There’s a lot more to issues around race than I had considered at the time. Looking back on it now, it feels too much like “punching down” rather than “punching up”, which is what a good political cartoon should strive for.

Update: This cartoon garnered a letter to the editor in the July 27 edition of the News and Record. The writer takes issue with what she sees to be some implications of the cartoon. I tried to explain my position a little better in the comments there.

A few people, the letter writer included, seem to think my position here is a racist one. But drawing that unwarranted conclusion is to do the exact thing that this cartoon is critical of. As I said in the comments on the letters to the editor thread:

The mere fact that I criticize the Pulpit Forum does not make my perspective racist. … that sort of leap brushes aside the criticism as nothing more than a result of a racist attitude, and fails to look at the criticism on its own merits.

Despite the fact that there’s no objective indication of racial motivations, the Pulpit Forum has made accusations of racism a central part of their criticism of the Bellamy-Small recall effort (and of Gatten before that). This detracts from any legitimate arguments they may have with the recall effort, and is itself harmful to race relations and productive dialog.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 23rd, 2007 at 9:02 am and is filed under Cartoons, Greensboro, Local, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.