A copy of the offending cartoon. Image from The Bluefield Daily Telegraph / Facebook
Simon Moya-Smith, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, wonders why a newspaper in West Virginia published a cartoon that features an Indian woman being dragged away by a man:
Here’s what you see in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph editorial cartoon: A Native American woman in tears, looking circa 18th century in buckskin and fringe, bound at the wrists, barefoot, while some white business-cretin in a suit jubilantly leads her against her will from a building reading “Norfolk Southern Pocahontas Division,” pulling at her like an animal on a leash to somewhere off the page. As you’ve possibly already surmised, this editorial is not only racist – it’s sexist. At a time when thousands of Native American women (who are 2.5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other demographic) are going missing or found murdered and buried AND BURNED by evil [men] who whimper and cry when caught, this type of assholery is inexcusable. Inexcusable.Get the Story:
Simon Moya-Smith: This Funny Isn't Funny; It's Racist and Sexist (Indian Country Today 1/26)
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