Question for our readers: Do you find the below comic offensive? And if so, why?
ADD Circus:
Here’s an excerpt from one e-mail we received:
“[The comic] does not make a political point and is not humorous. I realize that media outlets today hold little sacred or out of bounds when it comes to humor, however, a University newspaper should adhere to a higher standard. On one hand the University of Houston touts the diversity of our staff, faculty, and students and on the other our student newspaper prints a “joke” about lynching. It is in poor taste at best and insensitive and racist at worst… I question the judgment of both the cartoonist and the editorial staff for publishing the cartoon. I found it quite offensive. Additionally, student orientation is in full swing and many parents of students in orientation read the Daily Cougar to pass the time. How appalling that this cartoon could be their first introduction to our university. I would imagine that upon reading it parents might question the UH environment with regard to tolerance and safety. I think an apology by the cartoonist and the Daily Cougar editorial staff is in order as well as a commitment that the Daily Cougar refrain from sexist, racist, and homophobic imagery in the future.”
The Daily Cougar received multiple phone calls as well concerning the comic (drawn and illustrated by Chris Jacobs), and the feedback has only been negative. In fact, we’ve been asked… no, make that told to apologize for printing it.
But that’s not going to happen.
What I will apologize for is assuming that readers had the wherewithal to recognize the reference to Vidor, Texas, a small a small city of about 11,000 people near the Texas Gulf Coast and the Louisiana border. Vidor is not an integrated city, because it has a history of racism (and many would argue that it isn’t just their past that haunts them, but their present, too).
[Editor’s note: Legally, Vigor is integrated. But the black’s only make up about 1 percent of the population.]Read this story from CNN.com to learn more on Vidor. Here’s an excerpt from it:
“Peggy Fruge told me she’d welcome blacks to her neighborhood. Then she said this: “I don’t mind being friends with them, talking and stuff like that, but as far as mingling and eating with them, all that kind of stuff, that’s where I draw the line. I was taken aback, surprised the sound of prejudice could emerge so easily.”
It’s a quick fix though; since people don’t know about Vidor, we shouldn’t talk about, write about or draw comic concerning Vidor, right? Are you kidding me?
According to the above e-mail and the phone calls we received, The Daily Cougar should refrain from discussing sexism, racism and homophobia in our society… but is that how we as young adults change the system? Should we ignore the problems in hope that they go away? Or should we rise up, unafraid to take a stand and give our opinions as to why bigotry will no longer be tolerated? I hope I’m not alone in choosing the latter, but hey. I don’t have any trouble sleeping at night.
The comic was not meant to make light of the situation; it was meant to shed light on the situation. And although we Houstonians are lucky enough to live in a city that is pretty well integrated, the citizens of Vidor do not.
And although it shouldn’t change your perception of the comic, it might help to know that Jacobs is a black student, so the issue is closer-to-home for him than it is for many of us on staff, and we respect his right to free speech afforded him by the First Amendment, and his opinionated cartoon probably holds much more clout with readers than a simple statement from me that racism is wrong (which, by the way, it is).
I’m not a bigot, and I’m not prejudiced, but in my time with the newspaper, it has become clear to me that a lot of people read our publication simply to try and bring it down, point out errors and criticize in an de-constructive way. And we won’t have it.
The Daily Cougar is here to serve, inform and (hopefully) entertain UH students, faculty and staff. But before you judge us, you might want to ask yourselves whether or not you understand what you’re reading/looking at/etc. If you’re not sure, comment the article and ask a question, or call our offices. We also check our Facebook and Twitter pages quite often – this is, after all, our job. But to demand something of us when you don’t even know what’s going on? Come on, now… Just because we’re students doesn’t mean we don’t know how this stuff works.
We appreciate feedback, and we want to hear your thoughts on our paper’s content. But if you’re just trying to get us to step back, bow to you and beg for an apology, keep dreaming.
Because it’s not going to happen.
You can contact Matthew Keever at [email protected]
