Looking out: Controversy and political cartoons

It is a fact that there are more [W]hite people on welfare than [B]lacks, but if politicians can label welfare, crime, poverty, etc, as "[B]lack", they can [and do] emasculate those programs and then work to provide welfare for the rich and powerful. — Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, President, Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Political cartoons can stir passions. If you are in the cartoon business, as is Mike Luckovich, your purpose in life is to stir and invite controversy. On September 21, Luckovich did precisely that. I was on my way to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Centre's visiting room when the African-American corrections officer escorting me produced a scrap of folded paper from his pocket. He asked, "Did you see that cartoon in the paper yesterday?" "What cartoon?", I questioned. There was a look of outrage all over his face as he handed me the paper. I unfolded it and saw why. My gut reaction was outrage as well. What I saw were two caricatures — one clearly an African American infant, all diapered up, with a look of shock on its face. A white man was holding the infant up by the neck of its shirt, while holding a paper with "welfare reform" in his other hand. The man had a menacing look as he blurted out: "Either your unskilled, uneducated mother gets a job, or you're dead meat!" After the initial shock I began to see Luckovich's real intent — to show that many politicians are making it look like welfare for Blacks is a drain on American society. Of course, if Americans would do some investigation and thinking for themselves — instead of letting people like Newt Gingrich do it for them — they would soon find out that there are more white mothers and children on welfare than African-Americans. Alas, it seems that thinking for yourself is very unamerican these days. On September 23 there were no less than 13 letters to the editor. Most of them were from readers who thought Luckovich had crossed the line from cartoonist to racist. I doubt that Luckovich is, or meant to be, intentionally racist. The cartoon was not entirely perfect in its projected message. Nevertheless, I think Luckovich deserves some praise for having the courage to stir up the "debate" about race and racism in America.
[The writer is a prisoner on death row in the United States. He is happy to receive letters commenting on his columns. He can be written to at: Brandon Astor Jones, EF-122216, G2-51, GD&CC, PO Box 3877, Jackson, GA 30233, USA.]