A local New York tabloid, West View news has come under fire after one of its headlines referred to President Barack Obama as a n**ga.
The article, which actually was pro-Obama was critisizing racism by far-right voters. Probably on account of the anticipated backlash, the article was not posted on the newspaper’s website.
Titled “The N**ga In The White House” written by James Lincoln Collier, the headline has been widely condemned, especially on social media.
Yahoo News reports:
A community newspaper in New York faced intense criticism Sunday for calling President Obama the N-word in a headline.
The WestView News, a small paper that touts itself as “The Voice of the West Village,” ran an op-ed column in its July edition titled “The Nig–r in the White House.”
The article, penned by James Lincoln Collier, was actually pro-Obama and criticized what it called “racism” by far-right voters.
Possibly fearing backlash, the paper did not put the article on its website. But a copy of it was posted online by the New York Post, along with a screen grab of another story by WestView News Columnist Alvin Hall, who criticized the article.
In a rebuttal titled ”This Headline Offends Me,” Hall wrote, “I don’t see how its use benefits anyone, but I do feel all too clearly how it deeply offends me.”
Reaction on Twitter was just as negative, with user Donna Bee asking, “How do you refer to Jews, Mexicans, Muslims and Asians? Just curious.”
While Steve Bien-Aime, a student at Penn State University tweeted “over the top?”
But not everyone was offended. A Long Beach, Calif. resident named Hayden tweeted, “How do I subscribe @WestViewNews.”
According to its website, WestView News is distributed each month to 20,000 readers in the West Village, Greenwich Village and Chelsea neighborhoods of New York City.
The paper is run by CEO George Capsis.
