Sharon's Muse.... Let's chat over coffee while I ponder some things
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Sharon's Muse.... Let's chat over coffee while I ponder some things |
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Name::Sharon Cullars
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Friday, July 18, 2008  What else is disturbing about this cover? I'm not going to parse the cover's failed satiric intent, nor the supposed obtuseness of the masses who may not "get" that the cover is taking a potshot at all of those fear-mongering rumors swirling around the internet. There are those who state they've had a visceral reaction to the implied (or obvious) racism of the cover, even if that wasn't the artist's intent and that the cover thus shouldn't have been printed. But as Ampersand points out in her post at Alas, a blog, the cover seems also to validate the misconceived "wrongness" and "otherness" that some deluded Americans have about things that really are not wrong. For instance, the rumor that Obama is a Muslim. That he isn't doesn't circumvent the fact that many Americans believe that a Muslim should never be President. With visions of 9/11 in their heads, somehow many of the deluded masses equate a valid religion with outright terrorism. They don't remember that decades ago, Catholics were seen as the "bogeyman" and yet John Kennedy's presidency erased that stigma - at least to an extent. I'm pretty sure that there are some who still think of Catholics as "papists." By playing up the absurdity of the belief that an obviously Christian Obama is a Muslim, isn't the picture actually saying that being a Muslim is somehow "wrong?" And if we're going to show an angry black woman, please let's showcase her with one of them "nappy-headed" styles that seem so subversive - when in fact, to many Af-Am women, it's just a hair style and not a political statement. (Anyone take a listen to India.Arie's "I'm Not My Hair?") To some folks, that much Africanness can't be good. Reminds them of Angela Davis. Yet, I say, Angela Davis in the White House would not be a bad thing. May stir things up a bit. As for the "hand bump," no one watches sports? No one's seen "Deal or No Deal" where the hand bump figures prominently - without any accompanying subversive message that white folks are going to get some comeuppance? "See Ma, what I tell ya. That there bump means somethin'. That's what them terrorists do when they're goin' to attack." And to bring up the spotty and still controversial issue of flag burning as a valid form of protest. Personally, I would never burn a flag, but I would fight for the right of my fellow Americans to protest their disappointment in the government, their disdain for the present administration as well the misguided public policies that have been implemented recently. After all, freedom of protest is one of America's supposed privileges. But with the steady erosion of our Constitutional rights, that's not so much the case now, I fear. Just ask the feisty sexagenarian librarian who was removed from a public forum where McCain was holding a "town meeting." All because she carried a sign that McCain's people thought was subversive. She was even threatened with jail. Now if that isn't stifling freedom of speech, I don't know what is. Threatening little old ladies. And she wasn't even burning a flag. All in all, I don't find the cover all that offensive, but I do agree that its intent wasn't executed well, especially if folk have to explain that intent. And for what it's worth, I think that Afro is slamming. And I dig the combat boots. One more thing - why aren't the NRA folk up in arms (figuratively at least) about the guns depicted on the cover - because it seems to say that guns are a bad thing. But I would hazard that those same NRA folks who would swear on their mommas' graves that guns aren't bad would sing a different tune if those same guns are in the hands of Negroes (I'm sorry, I meant colored folk). Because after all, guns don't kill people - but black folks sure will. Yes, that cover says a lot of things the artist didn't intend. Or did he?
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