Where I reacted
Lester at Vision Circle analyzed:
However there is a trick bag that we can't get out of. That Rice can't get out of.
Plainly put, she's black.
What this means is that every single editorial cartoon she appears in is going to look like a racist lampoon.
And that every attempt to praise/condemn her is going to fall victim to one of two stereotypes:
1. The Superwoman stereotype--look at this strong black woman who can do everything AND lift weights too!
2. The Black Aid stereotype--made famous by Thomas Jefferson's behind the back comments about Benjamin Banneker. Everything black people do cannot possibly be a product of their own agency--particularly if they go against the black grain. She's GOT to be somebody's agent.
Hell. I think Rice has a smile that lights up the room. But I think she's going to be the worst Secretary of State the modern world has seen. Her work up to this point engenders the very opposite of trust in me.
This is easy enough to say here. But how do you convey this in an editorial cartoon without playing into the long history of racial stereotypes? I don't know.
If you must know, I like that parrot cartoon and have used it here several times.
