File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2001/postcolonial.0111, message 12


Date: Thu, 01 Nov 2001 09:28:37 -0700
Subject: FW: Oops, there goes our Freedom of Speech...
From: "CZimmerman" <racaz-AT-earthlink.net>
To: valston-AT-u.arizona.edu



----------
From: "Ann Samuelson" <ann_samuelson-AT-hotmail.com>
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Oops, there goes our Freedom of Speech...
Date: Wed, Oct 31, 2001, 1:30 PM


====================
Boondocks Cartoon Faces Censorship By Frances M. Beal

The missiles and bombs raining down upon Afghanistan have claimed another 
victim, this one within the borders of the U.S. of A.  His name is Huey 
Freeman and he is the surly son of Aaron McGruder who conceives and inks the

ever-popular Boondocks comic strip. Huey is the main protagonist in the 
strip, a pre-teen black revolutionary who sports a huge 1970's style Afro 
hairdo and trades quips about the vagaries of Black life in white America, 
usually with his grandfather.

The strip's hard hitting social critique of race and racial discrimination 
in the U.S. has earned it a faithful following - particularly among African 
Americans - in the many newspapers throughout the country that carry it 
daily.  That is to say, the strip appeared daily until it was pulled from 
many papers this week, allegedly for "patriotic" reasons.

In some ways, this action on the part of Corporate America is not 
surprising. Despite strong messages from the White House that dissent from 
its domestic or foreign handling of the post September 11 attack on the 
World Trade Center and the Pentagon will not be welcomed, McGruder has been 
unrelenting in his social satire of current events.  In one strip, for 
example, Huey sits before the TV watching the Attorney General intone that 
it is his duty to protect us against terrorism while protecting the rights 
of all Americans, including those of Middle Eastern descent.  In the next 
panel, however, Huey is seen clutching his Afro while the AG says "so I 
would like to reassure Congress that my proposed Turban Surveillance Act, 
which would allow the FBI to covertly plant listening devices in the 
headgear of suspected terrorists, is in no way meant to single out Arab or 
Muslim Americans."

The strip that allegedly went beyond what is considered the acceptable 
political pale these days and which got it booted from competing with the 
likes of Mary Worth or Family Circus is a panel that featured Huey calling 
the FBI's terrorist hot line number.  Huey then claims he has the names of 
those who aided terrorist and public enemy #1 Osama bin Laden. When the FBI 
asks for names, the plain talking Huey says, "All right, let's see, the 
first one is Reagan. That's R-E-A-G," and then goes on to accuse the CIA of 
training bin Laden in terrorism in the struggle against the Soviets in the 
early 1980s.

What is particularly ominous about this incident is that it strongly 
suggests that those who insist upon their right to dissent, or in the case 
of Aaron McGruder, to the right to satire and yes, even ridicule of 
government policies, will face serious consequences.  In sum,  you will be 
subjected to economic and possibly political sanctions that will threaten 
your livelihood and their standing in the community if you challenge 
government policies. Those who have an appreciation for our history are 
already making comparisons with the McCarthy period when dissent with 
America's cold war policy abroad was equated with a lack of patriotism and 
even treason, and accompanied by a stultifying censorship of thought and a 
curtailment of constitutional freedoms on the domestic front.

Those who think that the McCarthy comparison is an exaggeration should take 
a look at some of the provisions of the so-called Uniting and Strengthening 
America Act ("USA Act") of 2001 (S.1510). Behind the mask of fighting 
terrorism, the law was pushed through the Senate without even a review by 
that body's judiciary committee and with minimal debate.  In one of those 
ironies of history, the sole dissenting vote came from the late Sen. 
McCarthy's home state of Wisconsin and was cast by Russ Feingold. Advocates 
of civil rights and civil liberties are aghast claiming that the legislation

is nothing more than "a prosecutor's wish list of powers that allows them 
unchecked discretion to curtail the civil liberties of all Americans." 
(--Karen K. Narasaki, President of the National Asian Pacific American Legal

Consortium).

One of the most precious freedoms we have is the freedom of dissent  - and 
not just in times of peace and harmony. Our Attorney General John Ashcroft 
should take a refresher course in Constitutional Law 101.  The right to 
dissent by citizens, journalists and commentators is particularly important 
when our government undertakes a military adventure that can cost the 
country and the world untold misery in terms of ecological and human 
devastation. If the government's expansion of police, military, security and

domestic intelligence agencies cannot be criticized by artists like Aaron 
McGruder, and if the new powers, resources and freedom to detain, and spy 
upon "suspicious characters" are not open to discussion, we are further 
along the path to the establishment of a police state than we had imagined.

What is frightening about all of this is that we have been down this path 
before. McGruder's satirical pen and biting wit stands on the shoulders of 
Black cartoonists like Ollie Harrington. His most famous character was 
Bootsey who made comic reference to Black love and life, but he too was a 
social critic.  Harrington's criticism of what he called nationwide apathy 
about legislation against lynching came under scrutiny from the FBI during 
the McCarthy era.  Finally, Harrington left the United States and lived 
first in Paris and then in the former East Germany until his death in 1995 
at the age of 84. Let us hope we can build a strong enough movement for 
peace and justice that we can turn back the tide of reaction and the 
repressive measures that would force a young talent like Aaron McGruder onto

the sidelines.

Frances M. Beal is National Secretary of the Black Radical Congress. Contact
fmbeal-AT-igc.or




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