Scott Adams’ recently had his “Dilbert” cartoon pulled from newspaper circulation due to his racist comments against Black people. After a Rasmussen Reports poll allegedly found that around 26% of Black Americans disagreed with the phrase “It’s okay to be White,” Adams said Black people are a “racist hate group.”
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Last year, “Dilbert” received backlash for making fun of the ESG movement (environmental, social and governance). Additionally, Adams also introduced a character into his comic who was Black but identified as white. Racism in the cartoon world is nothing new. Here are a few more examples of racist cartoons.
White Man’s Government
German-born cartoonist Thomas Nast was notorious for giving the US the symbols of the Democratic donkey, Republican elephant and Uncle Sam. His view of the Democratic platform for the presidential election of 1868 put the Democratic candidate in solidarity with the poor Irish of the North and Confederates of the South to prevent Black men from gaining access to government—which is reflected in this disturbing illustration.
Uncle Sam In Hawaii
The Hawaiian monarchy was overthrown in January 1893 and the U.S. was on the fence about annexing Hawaii. In order to influence public opinion, newspaper cartoons portrayed people of territories with dark skin, grass skirts and bare feet. This particular illustration appeared in The Evening World in November 1893.
“Negro Rule”
In 1898, cartoonist Norman Ethre Jennett was hired at the News and Observer to make racist propaganda and spread white supremacist ideology. In one cartoon, Jennett drew a creature with wings coming out of a ballot box with “Negro Rule” written across its wings. It featured the caption: “The Vampire That Hovers Over North Carolina.”
Michelle Obama Vs. Melania Trump
In 2016, Ben Garrison released a political cartoon insisting having Melania Trump in the White House would restore femininity to the role of First Lady. Michelle Obama, who was alongside Barack for his two consecutive presidential terms, is portrayed in the illustration as a brawny brute next to a thin and smiling Melania, reiterating a racist stereotype Black women are regularly subjected to.
Uncivil Serena Williams
In 2019, Australian illustrator Mark Knight of the Herald Sun was responsible for this sexist and racist cartoon depicting Serena Williams. In it, she had “facial features reflecting the dehumanizing Jim Crow caricatures so common in the 19th and 20th centuries.” It was during a match with Naomi Osaka, with chair umpire Carlos Ramos asking her to let Williams win. Despite the blowback, the Australian Press Council insisted Knight hadn’t violated any media rules of conduct.
Racist Omicron Variants
In 2021, Spanish newspaper La Tribuna de Albacete published a cartoon which portrayed the omicron variants as round characters with brown skin and thick curly hair. They were crowded in a small boat featuring a South African flag, nearing land with a European Union flag. The illustrator behind it was Javi Salado. The paper and Salado later apologized.
The New Yorker Takes On Obamas
In 2008, Longtime New Yorker cartoonist Barry Blitt decided to address the stereotypes surrounding Barack Obama when he ran for president. However, its execution was in poor taste. When asked about the cover, he remarked: “I threw in a burning American flag and a portrait of Osama bin Laden on the wall of the Oval Office. … I had Michelle dressed as, you know, she had a gun on her back and she was sort of like a, I don’t know, a fictional Black Panther. It was a ridiculous picture and I hoped it would be seen as such.”
Obama’s Watermelon Toothpaste
In 2009, Jerry Holbert of the Boston Herald drew a cartoon of then-president Barack Obama brushing his teeth in a bathroom with a man sitting behind him in a tub asking: “Have you tried the new watermelon flavored toothpaste?” The picture was captioned: “White House Invader Got Farther Than Originally Thought.” Deval Patrick, who was the Massachusetts governor at the time, stated: “I found the cartoon offensive. It was stupid. I think even the Herald sees that.”
More Barack Obama Fodder
Back in 2009, the New York Post published an outright racist and disturbing cartoon poking fun at then-president Barack Obama. In it, police officers shot a monkey to death and a caption alongside it read: “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” Obama had signed a stimulus bill into law the day before, prompting the tabloid to use a racial slur and violent imagery to attack him. The New York Post eventually apologized to “anyone they offended.”
Sorry, Kid, I’m Broke
A controversial 2017 cartoon from Illinois Policy Institute showed then Republican governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner ignoring a young Black boy begging for money on the street. In the image, Rauner has money hanging out of his pockets yet insisted he couldn’t help the boy. Instead of condemning the image—which came from his allies—he said he couldn’t offer commentary due to him being “a white male.”
Japanese Take on BLM
Back in 2020, Japanese broadcaster NHK aired a cartoon that did its best to explain the unrest in the United States. When highlighting the power of the Black Lives Matter movement, NHK used “crude caricatures of African Americans protesting and looting and ascribed the protests to economic inequality and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.” However, there was no mention of police brutality or the death of George Floyd. The broadcaster eventually pulled the cartoon altogether.
The Australian Goes After Kamala
In 2020, a Johannes Leak cartoon was published in The Australian which was racist towards Vice President Kamala Harris. In it, President Biden calls her a “little brown girl.” The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Chris Dore, told Guardian Australia that Leak “was quoting Biden’s words” in the cartoon.
“Defund The Police” Takes Ugly Turn
In 2020, the owners of The Missourian newspaper apologized and resigned after they published a racist cartoon. In it, a white woman is being robbed by a Black man and says “Help!! Somebody call 911!” The man responds: “Good luck with that, lady … we defunded the police.” The owners, Susan Miller Warden and Jeanne Miller Wood, said they saw the cartoon at the same time as their readers. They also said they were “sorry and disgusted.”
The Australian’s Racist Cartoon
The Australian was yet again on the receiving end of backlash when they published a 2020 cartoon that was deemed racist and xenophobic. Cartoonist John Spooner drew a masked Black man kneeling on the neck of the Statue of Liberty who stated: “I am fighting for the right to do what I hate.” Meanwhile, the Statue said “I can’t breathe,” the words George Floyd spoke before he died. The Australian is known for its insensitive messaging, but this was particularly gross.
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