Thursday, June 4, 2009

Another high-tech lynching: Sonia Sotomayor cartoon






















When I first saw this image -- originally published here, at The Oklahoman, about a day ago -- I was pissed. 

Just pissed because, you know, blatant, unapologetic racism is unsurprising. Another white cop shot a black cop last week Thursday night -- my gut and my mind are still meditating on that tragedy.

But then I looked at it again. And you know what -- isn't this exactly what Republican politicians, their supporters, and the neo-conservative media is doing to Sotamayor right now. 

Isn't this exactly what the Republican gang in congress will do to her at her confirmation hearing. 

Won't they rhetorically lynch her -- like FOX News has done constantly since Obama nominated her.

So, this image, like so many others we've seen since Obama became a serious contender for presidential office, represents something very real -- though much denied -- for Obama's opponents, for Sotomayor's opponents -- for those white folks that believe their rights, their power, is being stripped away by the scurge of Affirmative Action -- by deluded white liberals and deluded liberals of color who have downed too much of that subliminally socialist liberal kool-aid.

This image is another ugly birthchild of white supremacist thinking and behavior.

Lynch the bitch.

Lynch her in print. Lynch her with words. Beat the shit out of her in our racist imagination because we can't do it for real. Not like in the old days. When you could lynch her for real. So lynch her now, in this way, and make her family, her supporters, and everyone that looks like her watch. Make them as uncomfortable -- as sorry, sad, scared, and angry -- as we are. Because we (think we) are losing control.

Well, they -- the wealthy neo-conservative white male oligarchy -- is losing some control.

And I, for one, am not angry or scared (for once:). I do feel sorry and sad.

Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed. She will be the first Latina, and third woman, to serve as a Supreme Court judge. Some things are changing.

So, mostly, I am ecstatic. Because her appointment is a big deal:) Sotomayor will be in a position to help make institutional changes as part of a Court that has been predominantly conservative/Republican -- before she occupies a seat on it, that is.

Please contact The Oklahoman or call them at  (405) 475-3311, and tell them what you think about their cartoonist's depiction of Sotomayor's upcoming confirmation hearing.

Ask them, "What's up with white Republican's and their nostalgic urge to throw lynching parties?" 

Thanks to Feministing, I know that the Oklahoma Women's Network Blog has more to say here.

Also: Because of my blog's format, which I can't figure out how to change, the cartoon is partially cut off. The crude and arguably racist representation of Obama (a sombrero for goodness sakes?) is saying,"Now who wants to be first."

4 comments:

Joy said...

LA -- Thx for posting this... absolutely horrendous and even more maddening that there isn't more outcry! I first read about it on Pam's House Blend (www.pamshouseblend.com) -- do you follow that blog? If not you should be!

Hope you're doing well. Grad school marches down here in NC.

xo Joy

butchrebel said...

Joy! I love and dig your passion:)

The National Review published a caricature on their cover that is vile. I will post the image -- blogger's acting funny at the moment:)

Thanks for engraving your words here, sister. And thanks! for recommending pamshouseblend.com -- the blog is FABULOUS! Very informative. Is Pam a Queer Femme?

Grad school marches -- just don't let it march all over you ;)

Much Love

Edward Cahill said...

Right on, brother. Today, Sessions essentially called Sotomayor a racial subversive determined to tear down his white little world. But nobody's called him on it.

butchrebel said...

@Edward Cahill:

Can you post a link -- sorry I'm so late in seeing your comment.

I don't have cable, so I wasn't able to watch the sessions.

It felt good to know she was going to get confirmed despite the efforts of those upholding the slowly crumbling white supremacist power structure.
:)