Political Cartoon Racist?

Wednesday's New York Post political cartoon featuring police shooting a monkey and then discussing the stimulus bill has troubling racial overtones, the Reverend Al Sharpton says.

The image, drawn by Sean Delonas, references an incident in Connecticut on Tuesday in which police fatally shot a rampaging chimp. It shows two officers standing with guns drawn and a bullet-riddled and bloodied monkey on the ground.

The cartoon also depicts dialogue between the officers, which reads: "Now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill."

In response to the cartoon, Sharpton released this statement: "The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual reference to this."

Sharpton also wrote: "Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?"

The Post had no immediate comment.

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