I just don’t even know what to say about this cartoon by Chris Muir who’s popular among the right wing bloggers and papers (h/t John Swift).It’s almost like it’s no longer as shocking to my system as it used to be. It’s so gratuitous, racist and insulting, it’s hard to know where to start breaking it down and explaining the many ways in which putting politicians in blackface and using pigeon English is not ok.

Look, white people: I would like to speak for all black people just this once and inform you that we will be happy to let you know when we think a politician or public figure is being patronizing and pandering to us racially speaking. As a group, generally we’ve got a pretty good handle on the whole racism thing. We don’t need your help in recognizing and calling our attention to it. Your help in pushing back on that person and confirming the racism is extremely helpful once we’ve called it out, e.g. Don Imus. Certainly, calling out racism using blackface as a metaphor is neither welcome nor helpful. Ever. The misuse historically of that image by white entertainers and advertisers to demean and degrade us for humor and profit is still too fresh in our minds for us to feel comfortable with you using it, even if you mean well.

Do you hear any African-Americans criticizing Clinton, Obama or Edwards for pandering to the black community? It’s just not a common complaint at the moment. We are eager to hear more from candidates about issues impacting us. For most of us, it feels like it’s about time someone paid attention and engaged on more than a superficial level with black voters. Until we start complaining, Chris Muir and the rest of you wingnuts especially — back it on up and check yourselves.

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