There is a lot of chatter on the internet that Asheville Citizen-Times cartoonist David Cohen crossed the line in this cartoon, which many people say appears to compare President Barack Obama with a black man robbing someone at gunpoint.
“Editorial cartoonist David Cohen and the Asheville Citizen-Times published a racist cartoon, to appeal to racists,” wrote Chris Conklin on the North Carolina blog howRDUdoin?.
Cohen responded to the criticism about his cartoon on a thread on the Ashvegas blog:
I drew a black man pointing a gun at a white man. Not to represent ALL black people; A black person. Every white person that I draw only represents that person, not all white people.
Cartoonists use shortcuts a lot of the time to get a point across; unlike columnists, we don’t have a thousand words, so we have to get to the heart of the matter pretty quickly and succinctly.
Were the black man’s characteristic facial features, track suit, threatening posture, and gun meant to represent ALL black people?
No.
So what do you think? Is this cartoon successful, or does it cross the line?
