Sotomayor Cartoon In The Oklahoman Comes Under Fire

Some women's groups are outraged over an editorial cartoon that ran in The Oklahoman newspaper on Wednesday - it depicts Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor strung up like a piñata with a sombrero-clad President Obama handing out bats to Republican members of Congress.

Jean Warner, the chair of the Oklahoma Women's Coalition, wrote:

She's served on the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit for 10 years, heard over 3,000 cases and written over 380 opinions (but she's of Puerto Rican descent ~~ ergo the piñata image - right? wink, wink).

Not funny; actually stupid and damaging. A picture speaks louder than words and that cartoon sends a message to women of all ages: "Back off. Know your place. Or we'll take a stick to you and teach you a lesson."

Daily Kos poster OKC law dork wrote:

"I'm appalled that [The Oklahoman] would publish a cartoon showing a federal judge who happens to be a minority strung up from a tree... There is a vigorous racist block of voters in Oklahoma who harbor racist feelings toward 'Mexicans' (usually meaning anyone of Hispanic origin) that I believe this cartoon is catering to."

The editor of the Oklahoman, which is considered to have a conservative editorial viewpoint, did not return calls for comment.

Judge for yourself. Here's the cartoon:

Comments

[CaveatMagnusFrater]

Welcome to the world of Jim Crow. "It's just a pinatta, not a lynching!?"

[Anonymous4Now]

HISPANIC GOP LEADER CONDEMNS RACIST SOTOMAYOR CARTOON

WASHINGTON (June 6) – A prominent Hispanic Republican activist and fundraiser has demanded a formal apology from Creators’ Syndicate and The Oklahoman newspaper in Oklahoma City, OK, for an editorial cartoon circulated by Creators’ Syndicate that appeared in The Oklahoman’s Tuesday editions. The cartoon depicted Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a human piñata and President Obama wearing a sombrero with a caption that read, “Fiesta time at the confirmation hearing.”

“This grotesque insult requires a formal editorial apology from both Creators’ Syndicate and The Oklahoman,” said Jose Niño, a former President of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce who, besides co-Chairing the conservative Hispanic Alliance for Prosperity Institute, has been a major fundraiser for the campaigns of President George W. Bush, Senator John McCain and other Republican candidates and conservative causes.

Niño is a board member of the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and previously served on the Small Business Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve Bank in Chicago.

In 1992, he was tapped by then-President George H.W. Bush to secure Congressional support for the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. District Court . “In each of my meetings with her, I have consistently found her to be intelligent, focused and persuasive,” Niño wrote in a letter to Creators’ Syndicate and The Oklahoman.

[okcsteve]

check my site, The Oklahoman Editorial Watch. This is tame for these animals. http://okedwatch.blogspot.com

[southernfriedactivist]

I am constantly ashamed by the news that comes out of my state.... I gotta get out of Oklahoma!

[Richard Paul]

There is good and bad in every state. Some things you may not know about Oklahoma’s history, as I’ve heard it, are that Oklahoma had more predominantly-Black cities than the entire rest of the county combined. This was mainly due to people moving into Oklahoma during the land run (1889 on) when about half of Indian Territory was taken from Native Americans.
When I was growing up only 4 of the predominantly-Black cities remained. One of the reasons African-Americans left Oklahoma was racism towards them. As a teen, I was angry about how my African-American, Hispanic, Vietnamese, and Arab friends were treated by some Whites in Oklahoma.
So yes, Oklahoma is a racist state, but the cartoonist created this political cartoon. I could not find out much about him, but he appears to be an Ohioan and though Northerners like to portray Southerners as racist, some Northerners are too.
Like the scientist who comes up with an idea, Chip should have paused and thought about the consequences of this cartoon. But it appears that he is insensitive from comments attributed to him and likes controversial subjects.

[rlpmjp]

Here is what I could find in a brief search:
Chip Bok was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1952.
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/properties/bokc/about.php

Chip Bok is a cartoonist for the US newspaper The Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio. His first fulltime position, at Florida's long-defunct Clearwater Sun, came after a six-year hunt. It also ended in dismissal after a short six months, when a new editor who wanted only local cartoons took over. "It didn't take long before I had offended just about everybody in town and probably most of the advertisers," recalls Bok.

[BabblingBrooks]

Cartoon under fire! Fahrenheit 451! Burn the cartoons!

Constitutional question: Is a cartoon "free speech" when it's not spoken?

[Dreamer78589]

In a way, i think it is a Little bit racist. but if you see it more closely, its really not.its just showing howit really is..its like Obama saying "you guys been talking long enough, i've made it easy for you,i got her as a pinata...nows your chance,you're big right?you've talked your talk,, now let's see if you can walk it."see how da elephants are all scared..they're just dogs that only bark, the'll never bite...

[Cambridge9]

Let us see how Limba//s, Shammity, the strawberry blonde and Billo play this one out. Guaranty they think it's very funny and appropriate.

[Tena]

As a woman, I find it somewhat offensive that she's strung up and about to be beaten with sticks. But what I find terribly offensive is the entire pinata-sombrero thing - it's like Huckabee calling her "Maria."

I guess everybody with an Hispanic surname and a Latin complexion is Mexican, as far as the GOP is concerned, and Oklahoma doesn't have much BUT Repugs.

[BabblingBrooks]

Que te via bien!

[Pleneras]

He's daring them. Look at their faces...scared like cowards...after all the garbage and hate they spewed on Faux News and the stupid media stations who picked it up without challenging them as racists. The look is of none willing to hit her during the confirmation hearings. It's showing all the hate and racism these old thugs represent. The rope is not around her neck as some had mentioned. Looks like it's around her arms. Are they not trying to hang her? Destroy her? If they could they would hang her, so this is symbolic. The cartoonists is showing who the real racists are.

[BrettnCalgary]

You comment is closer to my take on it than any of the other comments I've read. It is subtle and thought provoking, but I can't see it as representing racism on the cartoonists part.

[elimenez]

I'm hispanic and I'm not offended by this. I'm more offended by the notion that Republicans were pushing two weeks ago, that is that empathy is an left wing liberal concept and it's a reason to not confirm Sotomayor. If every person in the world somehow increased or improved their ability to empathize we would be better for it, maybe end a war or two.

[HDR]

It's Oklahoma for crying out loud! Come on.

[cdwriteme]

Regardless of the intent of the cartoonist and the easing effect of the images that make it, contextually, slightly more palatable (e.g. scared elephants), the cartoon still contains very offesnive imagery. Certainly, the intent of the artist, along with his overall body of work should be considered when consdering HIM, but not when viewing the CARTOON.

Try thinking about it another way. Imagine if, in 2008, I made a cartoon showing Barrack Obama on a cross wearing a hijab, John McCain standing below him with a whiskey bottle, stakes, and hammer in hand, and right-wing reporters standing around with scared looks on their faces. Now, just because, ultimately, I was trying to make fun of right-wing journalist, does that mean the cartoon is a-okay? Hell no. African-Ameicans, Jews, Muslims, Irish-Americans, and Christians would, understandably, be offended.

[AuntiepoppyCock]

Maybe someone should paint a picture with limbaugh, and every hate filled republican congressmen sitting in the back of the bus. People are tired of their lack of wit. That drawing isn't humor it's propaganda­...tastele­ss!

[Pleneras]

What I see is the sudden outburst of the republican's shameful public display of hate, racism, ignorance and ganging banging of one particular woman simply because she's of the "wrong" ethnicity. Their ignorance of lumping all spanish ethnicities as having the same culture... e.g. the Pinata, which is not associated with PR culture, is pictured to show their lack of American cultural knowledge.

This woman is a New Yorker and an American but hated by the republicans for proving them that so-called "minorities" are NOT MINORITIES if the fake "white race" is divided by their proper ethnicity. They fight anyone who proves their "fake race" is not superior. The GOP just destroyed their party. Don't mess with The Puerto Ricans.

[Pleneras]

P.S. President Obama is daring them to hit her. The cowards have to publicly question her and are scared of the experienced judge. Her smile is her confidence knowing she has nothing dirty to hide. When they question her she will remind them of Scalia and Alito, both whom were asked the same controversial questions and answered in the same manner. The most experienced judge ever nominated will debate their accusations and put them to shame.

This Nuyorican from the Bronx knows how to fight a street fight.

[darlajane]

I'm from Oklahoma and this makes me sick. What is the matter with people? Inhofe's an embarrassment, religious zealots want god to run the legislature (although I'm sure all the different denominations would never agree on much), gun freaks want to take their weapons with them every 24/7. What is everyone so damn afraid of? Minorities, women, anyone different from the man in the mirror, my black pug? Can't we evolve into a little more sophisticated society? Oh, right...I guess not in Oklahoma.

[sleepwalkfaller]

What I find more offensive is the subtler implication that the Obama administration has presented Sotomayor as an invitation for potential critics to speak out to their own detriment. The further suggestion, then, is that Sotomayor is not a serious nominee, or, at least, that her professional merits do not warrant a nomination in and of themselves. I think it's pathetic that, as a culture, even in our efforts to be inclusive and celebrate diversity, we still manage to bobble it, backbite, and further alienate that portion of society which we initially endeavored to better include.

I also think it's a bit ridiculous to contend that the cartoon isn't ethnically insensitive simply because the figures of Sotomayor and Obama smile and the Republican figures grimace; the cartoonist's observation of Republican chagrin has little to do with his selection of imagery, and it seems to be his selection of imagery that is under fire here.