f--cked up cartoon

[mr. x]

taken from angryasianman.com

http://www.angryasianman.com/images/angry/hate-cats.jpg

The following comic was published earlier this week in the Louisville Cardinal, at the University of Louisville in Kentucky:

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? Some cartoonist's sorry-ass racist attempt at humor? And who the hell is Megan Daman? Couldn't think of anything particulary funny to draw, so she fell back on the usual stereotypes. It's as though she WANTED to offend. Was that the desired effect? Well, she's got it. It's crap like this, gleefully celebrated and pointlessly published by this paper for a dirt-cheap laugh, that continually perpetuates ignorance and racism towards Asians in this country.

It's ironic that Monday's edition of the Louisville Cardinal also included an editorial about Rush Limbaugh's inappropriate racial remarks on ESPN, for which he was forced to resign. Also, on the comic's reverse page is a photo of the women's volleyball team, prominently featuring an Asian player. And today's front page story covers the University's "Take Back the Night" event, protesting violence against women. So much tolerance, diversity and understanding.

How do you feel about this? I'm angry. Here are a few people at the Louisville Cardinal to talk to:

Megan Daman - Illustration Director (and Cartoonist)
illustration@louisvillecardinal.com

John Abner - Editor in Chief
editor@louisvillecardinal.com


Ken Hardin - Adviser
adviser@louisvillecardinal.com

That's racist!

[kitty]

My Letter to the Editor and Ms. Daman

***
Ms. Daman-

I was recently made aware of a cartoon "Hate Cats" which your paper ran earlier this week. It featured a supposedly Asian man who hates cats and who subsequently opens a Chinese restaurant.

I am shocked and offended that this cartoon was not only published in your newspaper, but that you, as the illustration director, both illustrated and presumably approved it for publication. Among the online resources listed at the University of Louisville's website is a description of your Multi-Ethnic and Cross-Cultural Programs (MC-Squared) which describes its mission statement as a group that is "ensuring [your] campus is an oasis of appreciation and respect for the multiple ethnicities and cultures that enrich our humanity." And yet, your cartoon is in direct contradiction to the diversity efforts at your campus.

Asian Americans have endured significant discrimination in mainstream America, and one of the most pervasive, and factually incorrect, stereotypes is the myth that cats are served as main courses at Chinese restaurants. Furthermore, your slant-eyed caricature of a Chinese man is a demeaning mockery of Asian physical features. I am disgusted that such a blatant form of racist hatred could be published in your paper, under the thinly-veiled guise of humour. The message you are sending to the people of colour on your campus is not one of "appreciation" and "respect" but rather of intolerance and hatred towards people of different ethnicity or colour.

I hope that your paper will issue a full apology to the Asian American community at the University of Louisville for your ignorant and racist depiction of the Chinese culture. I hope you will also consider resigning your post as Illustration Director, in light of the fact that you are responsible for allowing the comic strip to be published. In the future, I expect that your newspaper will be more considerate towards the minority community on your campus.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Fang
Cornell University '03

[ChairmanMah]

ugh..that is racist!

[mr. x]

kitty let us know if they reply

i hate it when people who publish racist stuff usually have a double standard, like they wouldnt dare offend Blacks or Mexicans and they have a policy of "diverse diversity diversification"

[yangbahn50]

Mr. X:

I also sent an e-mail to both Daman and Mr. Ken Hardin.

I will await to see it they reply. If not, I will use my cell phone minutes to call long distance and scream bloody murder.

[kitty]

I got this response from the editor-in-chief. I gave them the info and included YW in a revised version of the letter I'm submitting to the Letters to the Editor section. Hopefully it willl be published and bring in a little local press for YW.

***
Thank you for your concern in responding to the publication of the "I Hate Cats" comic strip. I hope that you will visit our website, www.louisvillecardinal.com, and read our public apology letter. This letter will be printed in our next issue on Oct. 21. If you would like your comments run as a letter to the editor, please reply with your full name, address and a phone number we can reach you at for verification. Once again, thank you for your concern and we deeply regret our mistake.

Josh Abner
Editor in Chief, The Louisville Cardinal

[kitty]

The public apology
***

Dear Cardinal Readers:

In our opening issue, I pointed to the fact that the Cardinal had drafted a new mission statement to begin the year. I closed my column saying, "We take our mission seriously and give you the task of constantly challenging us to serve you better. We look forward to rising to the occasion." I deeply regret that in our Oct. 7 issue, we failed to rise to the occasion in printing Megan Daman's "I Hate Cats" comic.

Daman's comic was racially insensitive to Asian Americans and numerous readers rightfully called or mailed with their outrage and concern.

I offer no sound rationale for running the strip. All I can offer is that with a young staff, we are all still learning at the Cardinal and under deadline constraints some things are not checked through the proper channels as they should be. I offer this, not as an excuse, but as a point of departure for how we may move forward to heal the hurt and frustration this incident has caused. We at the Cardinal must use this incident as a learning experience in our development as journalists and as human beings.

In order to ensure this will hot happen again, I have scheduled two workshops with our staff; the first dealing with workplace sensitivity and cultural awareness and the second dealing with journalism ethics.

Also, I have suspended Daman from her post as Illustration Director indefinitely. I feel that the best course of action is to include Daman with the rest of the Cardinal staff in benefiting from this learning experience as she does not bear responsibility for this incident alone. Ultimately, final say over editorial content falls squarely on my shoulders and therefore, I too take responsibility for this unfortunate incident.

Our mission statement states that the Cardinal is committed to elevating public discourse and promoting an open learning environment. Promoting and publicizing racial stereotypes does neither of these. As journalists we must ultimately be guided by our conscience that we are providing a service that benefits and enriches our community.

Once again, I deeply regret the lapse in judgment in running this comic. I would like to reiterate that the Cardinal remains open to input from the University of Louisville community. We encourage students, faculty and staff to be a part of this publication by sending letters to the editor, calling Cardinal staff members and using the message board on our online news web site. Hopefully, our mistake is illustrative of the destructive nature of racial stereotypes and will add to the constructive dialogue on this topic.

The Cardinal staff deeply regrets any inconvenience this situation has caused and is intent on staying the number one source for campus news.

Respectfully,

Josh Abner
Editor in Chief, The Louisville Cardinal

[SunWuKong]

wow, they must have gotten a lot of complaints.

[Fireblade]

Wow. I'm surprised this was done immediately. Usually people put this off for like... ages, trying to defend why their staff or what-not. I'm actually surprised. Good for them.

[mr. x]

yup good stuff

i hope they dont look into yw though, cuz i said the f word

and a good apology too, not some clintonian non-apology

and yeah, next time something like this happens, try not to let anger get in the way, be rational, and respond with intelligent words

[golden_buns]

Are there any asians in that university?

[kitty]

well... the guy at AngryAsianMan said that the same issue featured a volleyball team with an Asian in a prominent position... so there's at least one.

[BeTheReds]

It's not even remotely funny, as that same joke has already been played out so many times. She must have been running out of ideas.

[thaite]

Holy shit, that's what passes for talent these days?

[yangbahn50]

Here's my response I got from Mr. Kevin Hardin via e-mail. I am grateful that he responded to my e-mail.

<<Mr. XXXXXXXX:

First off, let me thank you for expressing your concern over the "I Hate Cats" cartoon published in the Oct. 7 issue of The Louisville Cardinal.

The newspaper's editor, Josh Abner, has published an apology on The Cardinal's Web site at: http://www.louisvillecardinal.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/08/3f84dc618dfa0.

As a point of information, let me say that The Cardinal is an independent student newspaper. A volunteer board of community members appoints the editor annually and employs an adviser to support the staff. However, we do not review issues of The Cardinal prior to their publication.

I can assure you that The Cardinal's board considers the issues reflected in the publication of this cartoon to be of the most serious nature. We will actively pursue a course of action with the editor and student staff to repair the trust and confidence of the community that The Cardinal serves.

Thank you again,
Ken Hardin
Adviser, The Louisville Cardinal >>

[BigLew]

Just goes to show ya, speaking up gets results.

[Everglaze]

Ignorance continues to push racism...wow.

It's sad how people have to turn to racism and racial stereotyping to find humor these days...

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Ignorance continues to push racism...wow.

It's sad how people have to turn to racism and racial stereotyping to find humor these days...

These days? I dunno....stereotyping and generalizations pertaining to practically all aspects of life and society (and not just in terms of ethnic or religious groups) has been a prime source of humor for as long as time from what I've noticed.

[kasia]

The public apology
***

Dear Cardinal Readers:

In our opening issue, I pointed to the fact that the Cardinal had drafted a new mission statement to begin the year. I closed my column saying, "We take our mission seriously and give you the task of constantly challenging us to serve you better. We look forward to rising to the occasion." I deeply regret that in our Oct. 7 issue, we failed to rise to the occasion in printing Megan Daman's "I Hate Cats" comic.

Daman's comic was racially insensitive to Asian Americans and numerous readers rightfully called or mailed with their outrage and concern.

I offer no sound rationale for running the strip. All I can offer is that with a young staff, we are all still learning at the Cardinal and under deadline constraints some things are not checked through the proper channels as they should be. I offer this, not as an excuse, but as a point of departure for how we may move forward to heal the hurt and frustration this incident has caused. We at the Cardinal must use this incident as a learning experience in our development as journalists and as human beings.

In order to ensure this will hot happen again, I have scheduled two workshops with our staff; the first dealing with workplace sensitivity and cultural awareness and the second dealing with journalism ethics.

Also, I have suspended Daman from her post as Illustration Director indefinitely. I feel that the best course of action is to include Daman with the rest of the Cardinal staff in benefiting from this learning experience as she does not bear responsibility for this incident alone. Ultimately, final say over editorial content falls squarely on my shoulders and therefore, I too take responsibility for this unfortunate incident.

Our mission statement states that the Cardinal is committed to elevating public discourse and promoting an open learning environment. Promoting and publicizing racial stereotypes does neither of these. As journalists we must ultimately be guided by our conscience that we are providing a service that benefits and enriches our community.

Once again, I deeply regret the lapse in judgment in running this comic. I would like to reiterate that the Cardinal remains open to input from the University of Louisville community. We encourage students, faculty and staff to be a part of this publication by sending letters to the editor, calling Cardinal staff members and using the message board on our online news web site. Hopefully, our mistake is illustrative of the destructive nature of racial stereotypes and will add to the constructive dialogue on this topic.

The Cardinal staff deeply regrets any inconvenience this situation has caused and is intent on staying the number one source for campus news.

Respectfully,

Josh Abner
Editor in Chief, The Louisville Cardinal

good job, guys.

[Everglaze]

These days? I dunno....stereotyping and generalizations pertaining to practically all aspects of life and society (and not just in terms of ethnic or religious groups) has been a prime source of humor for as long as time from what I've noticed.

True...but I think it's getting a lot worse these days.

[ChairmanMah]

last week i sent an email that said that "the cartoon was racist and a real step backward."

so i did something, yay! :happy:

[Faithless]

Dead end post.

I thought that there was supposed to be some oversite by teachers or whatever on this stuff.

[bluemonq]

oh great, "workplace sensitivity and cultural awareness." i mean, it sounds like a great idea, but they're always either preaching to the choir or cause more resentment. rarely does it effect any substantial change (and yes, it *should* be 'effect' and not 'affect'). i find it funny that they responded so quickly, because these past years there's been such a fuss over 'censorship'. wonder what those people will try to say about this?

props to them for the apology though...

[Chu Chi]

This cartoon is what results when an organization lacks a member who has a "political Asian Consciousness".

CC

[Emperor_Mike]

Stupid woman. I'm glad to hear that she's been suspended for the time being. Idiocy should not be rewarded and it's nice to know that some people still have common sense in this topsy turvy world of ours.

[PropellerheadCP]

This cartoon is what results when an organization lacks a member who has a "political Asian Consciousness".

CC

Yup... that's when you get jokes like THIS:
http://www.asianjoke.com/pictures/birthday_gift.htm

The sad thing is, that it's made for male Asianphiles. So even when people are into Asian girls, it won't always mean that they'll have "political Asian consciousness"

[Irezumi Kiss]

Yup... that's when you get jokes like THIS:
http://www.asianjoke.com/pictures/birthday_gift.htm

The sad thing is, that it's made for male Asianphiles. So even when people are into Asian girls, it won't always mean that they'll have "political Asian consciousness"
Except for the ones who are sweating the "politically conscious" Asian girls, right?

[PropellerheadCP]

Except for the ones who are sweating the "politically conscious" Asian girls, right?

I've never come across jokes that make fun of "politically conscious" Asian females. I think that's because it doesn't fit into the fantasy.

[nameless]

^i think he was referring to the asiaphiles, not the asian girls.

anyway, great job for getting that woman fired. even a year later, its still nice to read! =D

[Irezumi Kiss]

Wait, she was only suspended, not exactly fired, right?

[nameless]

doh...you're right. only fired. :rolleyes: