‘Insidious’ Depictions of Barack Obama as a Monkey Draw More Attention – and Anger

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

You saw it coming: The suggestions of not enough brain power, the rumors about the “angry” spouse, the cartoons, the T-shirts.

The steady drumbeat racializing Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has gotten increasingly louder.

There have been T-shirts featuring cartoon monkey Curious George eating a banana with the words “Obama ’08,” as well as a Japanese commercial for a mobile phone featuring a rally with people in the crowd holding signs calling for “Change” and a monkey in a suit, holding up the phone -- clearly meant to represent Obama.

Then there is the SockObama monkey sock puppet. Its creators said they didn’t mean to offend anyone -- and they question why people are upset by Obama’s portrayal as a monkey, but not when President George W. Bush is portrayed as a chimpanzee.

‘Insidious’ Depictions of Barack Obama as a Monkey Draw More Attention – and Anger..