Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood!
It seems that my post about the racial slur “cartoon” in the NY Post a few weeks back has been misunderstood.
Those who know me well know that I have long been involved in fighting for the rights of others, and that such ugliness as “Obamonkey” would not be MY own words, or reflect any thoughts I would have.
(Hey, I’m the person who burst into tears when she got home on election night, turned on the TV, and thought that McPalin was going to win!)
Anyway, I’m writing this post from work in response to a note from a new friend who doesn’t yet know me well enough to know that I’d not say something racist and hateful like that. (Never intentionally, anyway - I’m always willing to be wrong, and hope to always have the humility to be able to “stand corrected.”)
As I recall, I originally was going to post something about Obama’s address, and in so doing, came across a bunch of hateful posts (somewhere on Yahoo!, forget where, but it’s in a post below this one) where I saw the use of that word (”Obamonkey”). I’d not heard or seen it previously, but it provided the dots necessary to comprehend that afore-mentioned ‘cartoon.” (Also below, I believe.)
When that cartoon first hit the news, I couldn’t comprehend it. Well, yes, it seemed obvious that the monkey represented President Obama, but I didn’t get WHY. Yes, of course, there have been the crude references of African Americans and apes - simply unconscionable. But it seemed like such a stretch to me, even for the NY Post. (Foolish me, I know.)
So then I came across that word and the lightbulbs went off like a freakin’ Broadway sign. The monkey-”Obamonkey” connection had been made.
I dislike it just as much now as I did then, and I don’t much like typing that word - so I won’t again, at least not in this post. If it becomes necessary again in the future, so be it.
Now, then, I urge you to march your asses over to the Southern Poverty Law Center and make a donation. Tell Morris Dees I sent you.
Yours,
FW