August J. Pollak Has A Confession
Original here:
"Okay, in light of the whole Mohammed cartoon outrage issue, I want to confess something about my personal experiences with racism, racial stereotyping, and self-censorship in cartooning.
"A few months back when Tom DeLay was indicted and everyone kept making that "you could indict a ham sandwich" line, I did a strip called "Ham Sandwich: a true crime story." The gag was all the criminal exploits of a ham sandwich. In one panel I talked about how the sandwich converted to Judaism in prison to avoid being killed because it wouldn't be Kosher.
"Thinking back, I remembered that my original idea was to have the sandwich convert to Islam, and not be executed because it wouldn't have been Halal. I changed it because I was worried the stereotype of converting to Islam in prison was a slur against black prison convicts, or that I was suggesting people who converted to Islam were criminals. Looking back on it, I realize that probably makes no sense whatsoever.
"So, yeah. There you have it: my personal experience with racial self-censorship in cartooning. I changed the religion of a sandwich.
"Reading some editorial cartoon sites this morning, and observing the onslaught of self-righteous cartoonists who are all now sketching stereotypical Muslims in turbans carrying scimitars and lopping off heads, I realize I'm far from the line these guys have crossed, but for the sake of openness, there you go.
"On the other hand, people meet me at shows and tell me their favorite character in the strip is the ghost of Adolf Hitler. So I really have no idea what passes for sensitivity in this business anymore."
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)