Last updated on January 3, 2023
Slate cartoon gets racist hate
My swine flu cartoon (H1N1 cartoon), was up on the first page of Slate on April 27, 2009, because they picked me as Cartoon of the Day! It has gotten some attention from Google, new followers on Twitter, and my first hate mail. See, now this is being a REAL editorial cartoonist.
Swine flu originated in Mexico. That’s a fact. Apparently they were hit bad, unfortunately, but swine flu in the US looks to be about the size of a head cold. It seems to kill only there – so far. I guess it’s getting weaker. In any case, I’m not a physician, and am not very interested in disease.
However, I read in the LA Times which I got hardcopy every day (update: not for a few years now) how the only incidences of tuberculosis in LA County were from Latino immigrants. (This was important to me, because a close relative died from TB, and they tested me for it.) The Times is a very liberal,minority-loving paper; it must have just killed them to admit that Mexico was the source of anything bad…like disease. And now it’s happening again.
As an editorial cartoonist, I have to report on the national news, not wild hypotheses like 8 kids in NYC had a sniffle. And Mexico has been in the news lately for other sad things, has it not? Think of me as the sundial for cloudy days.
Thanks to Mashable (on Twitter!) I found this article in CNN on
Swine flu creates controversy on Twitter:
Some observers say Twitter — a micro-blogging site where users post 140-character messages — has become a hotbed of unnecessary hype and misinformation about the outbreak, which is thought to have claimed more than 100 lives in Mexico.
For example, some Twitter users told their followers to stop eating pork, he said. Health officials have not advised that precaution.
Etc.
That will be nice, won’t it, when the USDC has some actual facts. Besides calling it H1N1 flu, to try to make it look like they’re working on it. :)
Why do white people get called racists?
Okay, let’s go to my mailbag -or hate mail, in this case – OOPS, just got another one. Blanca writes
…..and old problem for Mexico, ignorant americans like you
And Mr. del Rio writes:
Donna, you recent cartoon paints Mexico with a series of “sins” that frankly could apply to practically any other country in the world. Particularly accusing Mexico of “guns” when it is a well known fact that over 90% of all the guns in Mexico come from the US; not to mention that a 40 Billion Dollar drug consumption market is fueling the Mexico cartels. Your depiction of Mexico as bad neighbor is both offensive and ignorant. It must liberating to be able to express so freely and so un-funningly (I thought cartoons were supposed to have at least some element of humor?) your own prejudices on the face of a healthcare crisis that could have emerged from anywhere.
Shame on you!
Oh, and a third:
What do u know about mexico Lady!! U are the bad neighbor!! wee dont need ya at all!!!
(I didn’t have room to write Poor Education as a problem in the cartoon.)
In answer to my own question above…I guess white people get called racist because they’re easy targets. Often they have more money, more education, and time to volunteer. But you can’t call another race a name…and racist is the worst possible title in today’s world…without being a racist yourself! The name-calling becomes irrelevant.
Illegal immigration is Mexico’s worst problem for the US
But notice I didn’t include that in the cartoon list of bad neighbor activities! I guess I wanted to save that for next time.
No commenters here or in my comments said whether they have a trip planned there soon, or whether they would have written if I had made the map of Canada, our other neighbor. Mexico is a national problem for the US – it’s not personal! That’s why there aren’t any people in the cartoon. THEY ARE A PROBLEM NATION.
Swine flu is not Mexico’s biggest problem – notice that I put it last in the cartoon. And obviously, no one BLAMES a country or a person, for that matter, for getting a disease. But the US has been issuing warnings not to drink the water in Mexico for decades. Maybe, just maybe, their health department, run by the corrupt government there, are not the best.
About the map of Mexico drawing
I don’t know if anyone remembers the State Farm jingle that goes, “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.” Apparently not. Maybe I was trying to be too clever, turning it around like this for the caption.
And this will only be interesting to a small slice of readers, but while I was drawing this I was suddenly remembering an embroidered framed linen that I think my grandmother made in crewel embroidery of Cape Cod, which is somewhat similar in shape. It was done on taupe linen, and I think the wool was only in red and black – so simple and handsome. I think it even had a whale like this! And it had a very fancy compass pointing north that I can’t remember, and didn’t have time to research when I drew this. Yay for embroidered linens.
You can also leave comments anonymously on GoComics for this. Please note that this cartoon was picked as BEST CARTOON OF THE DAY for Slate by the editor – that’s why everyone saw it. So….guess Slate is racist, too, eh?
