If you ever find yourself confused and even hurt by the racism that has been levied against the Obama family, join the club. A Belgian newspaper is getting questions from around the world after it portrayed President and Mrs. Obama as apes in its publication. De Morgan is a progressive newspaper that somehow felt that the image was appropriate for the Obama’s visit to The Netherlands on Monday.
Nigeria author Chika Unigwe tweeted a picture of the image and it went global in a matter of minutes. In the spread, the newspaper not only portrayed the Obamas as apes, but it also made jokes about the president and first lady selling marijuana. The newspaper pretended that the images came from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In today's De Morgen (Belgium): #Obama
Who thought it was okay to publish this? #racist pic.twitter.com/p9eotRbLul— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 22, 2014
so photo of the Obama's as chimps in De Morgen of today is the paper's attempt at satire. I forgot to laugh #racist pic.twitter.com/jc7cW7cbgD
— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 22, 2014
“Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia. He sent us this attachment at our request, and chose to send pictures instead of text ‘because he doesn’t have a lot of time’,” the Independent said, in a failed effort at humor.
Many people took to Twitter to express their disgust for the supposed joke.
After seeing pictures n De Morgen Belgium, f president Obama nd Mrs, pity at the pathetic standard of journalism, completely racist.
— shaheen salahuddin (@shaheenindus) March 24, 2014
Belgian newspaper @demorgen demonstrates pathetic level of journalism. Truly disgusting!#Obama #newspaper #racism #demorgen
— Chantal Soeters (@ChanSoeters) March 24, 2014
@Fauzaya: “Racist Obama pic is not acceptable”.
@demorgen #racist pic Obama kan niet door de beugel
— Fauzaya Talhaoui (@Fauzaya) March 24, 2014
@communitative: “What a shameful, racist expression from @demorgen. That calls itself a quality newspaper. The newspaper apologises for Obama joke”.
Wat 'n schandelijke, racistische uiting van @demorgen. Dat noemt zich kwaliteitskrant. Excuses krant voor Obama-grap http://t.co/uCWlAGZGwo
— Marsha Tatipikalawan (@communitative) March 24, 2014
Some people see the images as a joke, but it’s not funny to those who know the history of African Americans being compared with Apes.
“In their defense, there are tons upon tons of pictures and t-shirts with Bush drawn as an ape,” someone wrote on the popular website, Reddit.com.
De Morgan did apologize for the offensive photos, admitting that they are “guilty of bad taste.”
Is De Morgen racistisch? http://t.co/27tDdLe5JC pic.twitter.com/fsYMFO5sC6
— De Morgen (@demorgen) March 24, 2014
“When you consider the fragment apart from its context, which is a properly worked out satirical section, then you don’t see the joke but just a picture evoking sheer racism,” the newspaper said. “We wrongly assumed that racism is no longer accepted, and that in this way it could be the subject of a joke.”
What are your thoughts? Was the newspaper out of line with this image.
