Akin, The Philosophic Cock - James Akin’s caricature, The Philosophic Cock, depicts Thomas Jefferson as a preening rooster, Sally Hemings is the hen.
http://americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/View/8/fig8_16.htm
Cartoon racial slander has been going on for a long long time.
Racial slander is nothing new, and pretty much every ethnic group that has come to this country has endured abuse. The only thing that has changed overtime is what people feel is acceptable. This cartoon here, to me, is not about race or at the least, is not meant to demean a race and I think that's the difference. It's no secret Jefferson had sex with his slaves and this cartoon, to me, highlights the ridiculous contrast between Jefferson's spoken ideals and his actual actions in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteHistorically, black people in America have been described as apes and monkey's as an insult meant to liken them to jungle beasts who are considered less intelligent than the rest of humans. Objectively, the Post cartoonist was not likening Cruz's kids to actual apes in the jungle. That said, if the reverse had been done to Obama's kids, many, likely including me, would assume the intention was liken them to jungle apes, regardless of whether that was the intent or not. The post cartoon had a truth in it, but ironically, the bigger truth came after the fact when Cruz used the cartoon to raise money. There couldn't possibly be a more real life example of the organ grinder/monkey relationship than to post that cartoon claiming victim status from evil media (organ music) while using the image of the kids as monkey's to fire people up into giving money (just like using a live monkey to run around collecting money.)