The Left and Black Authenticity

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It's hardly news that liberal elites depict liberal blacks as paragons of virtue and more, the more being the repository of sympathy and white liberal guilt. Black conservatives, however, are portrayed as traitors to their race -- Uncle Toms, backsliders, ingrates. We witnessed this with the confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, an event that one friend characterized as our Dreyfus Affair.

Via Rush's radio show, they're at it again. Several liberal political cartoonists have produced drawings of Condoleezza Rice that can only be characterized as racist, patronizing, and grotesque. I took Rush's lead and found several more, all of which back up his, and many others', point that liberals frequently violate the most elementary rules of decency and fairness in punishing blacks who get too uppity for their ostensibly refined taste. The cartoons aren't merely parodies: they present a prominent African American in a way reminiscent of the racist cartoons of pre-WWII America. Needless to say, President Bush, the man who just bested them (with the help of Red State morons, of course), is portrayed as an idiot.

This is part and parcel of the left's embrace of moral and intellectual nihilism, which in turn has led to a belief that the ends for which they labor justify the means. Wilfred McClay wrote on this, presciently, this past summer.

Here are links to some of the worst cartoons. Rush found three of them; the rest I found:

Pat Oliphant, who portrays Bush as a dunce and Rice as a parrot on his arm. Point: Dumb president plus yes-girl equals trouble ahead.

Daryl Cagle: Rice as tiny moron with buck teeth lost in Colin Powell's huge shoes.

Matt Davies: A black couple, labeled "Civil Rights Movement" and "Women's Movement" lament Rice under a banner reading "First Black, Female Warmonger Secretary of State -- Historic Celebration."

Jeff Danziger: Rice as the brainless Prissy from Gone with the Wind, complete with stereotypical vocabulary.

Gary Trudeau: Dumb Bush, dumb Rice in White House; Bush calls Rice "brown sugar."

At the same time, Colin Powell, deemed by the left to be an authentic black, is portrayed as a giant to Bush's dwarf.

Jeff Danziger: Bush as doll sitting on desk in the Oval Office, Powell as full-size, distinguished man sitting beside him.

Scot Stantis in Rice's hometown paper, the Birmingham News: Powell (distinguished) presents his letter of resignation to Bush (smallish dolt), who asks, "Who are you?"

Mike Thompson: Powell and Cheney as mobsters holding Powell prisoner behind the "bars" in their stripped suits.

Bruce Plante, Chattanooga Times: Powell exits White House carrying boxes labeled "moderation," "integrity," "experience," and "reason" as a three-foot-tall cowboy stands at door calling out, "Can't we get a better yes man this time?"

Daryl Cagle: Same cartoon as cited above, doing double duty insulting Rice and raising Powell's stature.

Update:

Steve Breen: Powell as virtuous victim.

John Darkow: Powell as marching out of WH -- the only person with an "exit strategy."

Bob Englehart: Condi as Mini-me.

Vic Harville: Powell with footprint on backsides announcing he left of his own accord.

Marshall Ramsey: Powell sent by Bush to Fallujah.

Steve Sack: Powell the lone dove (olive branch in mouth) flying away from the nest of hawks.

Mark Streeter: Powell as last ounce of integrity in administration.

John Sherffius: Rice sticking tongue out and waving hands from ears with caption, "The Secretary of State is America's face to the world. George Bush"

Mike Graston: Powell with "Iraq exit strategy that works" holding letter of resignation.

Steve Nease: Bush announing that Powell is a "self-made man of truth, integrity, and honor; he just didn't fit in."

Olle Johansson: Menacing-looking Rice takes over.

Hasan Bleibel (Lebanon): Powell as small bird in Bush's right hand, Rice as menacing black bird on Bush's shoulder, with caption (Bush): "Finally, a real MAN."

Update II: La Shawn Barber is a black conservative woman who runs a fine blog at her Corner. Check out the comments of this entry for righteous indignation at the racism expressed by such catoonists as Pat Oliphant.

Update III:

Nate Allen in The State News, Michigan State University's student newspaper (thanks to Steve Duane): Rice as empty suit. Condi's in the hairdresser's chair as Bush tells a oh-so-French-looking male hairdresser, "For the ceremony, can you give her that 'I've done this all on my own' look, instead of the 'I nodded, never thought for myself and did what I was told' look she's got right now?"

Update IV: From an anyonymous emailer -- no doubt a tolerant liberal.

Are you for real? You know exactly what those cartoons represent - A bunch of racist Republicans taking advantage of Black People, period. I feel very sorry for LaShawn Barber, she is a good person. How she got wrapped up with you fools is, well is something that is almost satanic in nature.

She will wise up one day, I predict she will see the light by 2005 and her blog will change completely.

You all are a bunch of haters - Coulter, Malkin, and you all have the absoulute nerve to call yourselves Christians? Forget about it, you all are going to hell in a handbasket.

You should also rename your blog, there is nothing Democratic about it. And let's face it, you all are trying to make this country a Republic not a Democracy.

Update V: Don Asmussen in today's San Francisco Chronicle -- Rice drawn in personally insulting manner (lower left illustration). (Thanks to Sean for sending the link.)

Update VI: Several readers insist that I inform Anonymous that the U.S. is a republic, not a democracy, and that the Founders wouldn't have had it any other way. They're correct, of course, but my initial reaction to that email was to simply ignore its particulars and allow everyone to "enjoy" it.

More seriously, a couple of readers object that I'm lumping cartoons that are merely critical of Rice with those that are racist in their depictions of her. I offered some comments at many links in an effort to point out just how they belittled her in an effort to differentiate overtly racist drawings from others. But if that wasn't clear enough, let me note that not all of the cartoons to which I've linked are equally offensive, and there's of course a difference in drawing her in a stereotypical way that's insulting to blacks, on the one hand, and objecting to her appointment, on the other.

But I think it's beyond argument that the left has launched an effort to belittle her as either a dunce, a yes-man (woman), or at best incapable of filling Colin Powell's shoes. Here, the key is the way the left has treated Powell as compared to how they're already treating Rice. Powell is depicted as a man of immense integrity and stature because he's to the left of many in the Bush White House. I have little doubt that, had Powell been a pro-life, anti-affirmative action man with a resume that's otherwise unchanged, he, too, would suffer at the hands of cartoonists regardless of his qualifications. But he's seen by the left as an authentic African America precisely because of his views, not because of his remarkable record of accomplishments. Conversely, in spite of her own remarkable resume, Rice is the object of scorn and, at times, racist charges of not being authentically black.

Update VII: We're receiving many emails on these posts and, as you might imagine, they range from the helpful and complimentary to the unhinged. It's a bit disheartening to read those who see nothing racist or unusual in depicting Rice as some of the cartoonists linked to above have done, or to read apologias for a free press at this point (we're not trying to get anyone thrown in jail). But most emailers are as appalled as I am at the overt attempts to paint Rice as inferior, or play off old racial stereotypes, whether in physical depiction or situation, and I'm most grateful to them for writing. It should go without saying that casting Rice as George Bush's step 'n fetch it does, pace some critics, have racial overtones.

You'll find some interesting thoughts on the cartoonists' treatment of Rice, along with additional links, at Michael King's Ramblings' Journal here and, from this past July, here. And if you haven't checked out the comments at La Shawn Barber's Corner (which I cited above), you really should.

Update VIII: The Independent Women's Forum has issued a statement condemning the "Racist Depictions" of Condoleezza Rice in editorial cartoons. It's an admirable summation of the reaction of many to the left's unprincipled attack on our soon-to-be Secretary of State:

These cartoons clearly draw upon centuries of deep-rooted, wicked and indefensible portrayals of black women.

"The depiction of Dr. Condoleeza Rice by Jeff Danziger, Pat Oliphant and Garry Trudeau as an ebonics speaking, big-lipped, black mammy who just loves her 'massa' is a disturbing trend in editorial cartoons," said Michelle D. Bernard, senior vice president of the Independent Women's Forum. "These cartoons take the racism of the liberals who profess respect and adoration for black Americans to a new level. It is revolting."

Ms. Bernard continues: She [Rice] is a representation of America's past and future all at once. One must ask where is the outrage of the nation's civil rights leadership, feminist organizations, and the so-called liberals who only seem to embrace black America in election years?

Meanwhile, reaction from the international left reveals plenty of vitriol if, thankfully in this case at least, nothing overtly racist. Australian papers, including The Advertiser, report that Australian Greens leader, Senator Bob Brown, had harsh words for Rice:

"Condaleeza Rice [sic] is not a warm human being," Senator Brown told reporters.

"She's George W. Bush's echo.

"But she's lacking the compassion we need to see in the office of secretary of state for the most powerful nation on the planet."

And: "She hasn't got the compassion of her predecessor and has a certain ruthlessness about her which I think is quite frightening in an age where we need more understanding and compassion in international affairs," he said.

Perhaps someone could send Senator Bob a copy of this book, and soon.