UF Center for the Study of
Race and Race Relations
The University of Florida’s Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations (CSRRR) is committed to de-stigmatizing race. To this end, one of our primary goals is to foster communities of dialogue. Safe spaces have to be created to engender cross-racial dialogue on heated, racially-charged issues. Only then can honest, thoughtful, intelligent, and respectful discussion take place.
Last week, the Independent Florida Alligator, published an editorial cartoon by Andy Marlette, a UF student. It depicts rapper Kanye West, holding up a “race card” to Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice. She responds, “Nigga Please!” Many members of the UF community—students, staff, and faculty—as well as members of the Gainesville community, believe the cartoon is offensive and racially derogatory.
The cartoon raises many troublesome issues. The cartoon suggests that raising issues of race (in this case the government’s response to the hurricane Katrina disaster) is nonsensical, irrational, and somehow self-serving on the part of African Americans. In the cartoon, “the race card” is depicted as an African American joker. The cartoon sends the message that race is not a legitimate subject for debate, rather one to be ridiculed.
Most of the outcry against the cartoon has centered on its use of the “N word.”
The “N word” has a sad history in the United States, particularly in the South. In the not-so-distant past this epithet was widely and regularly used by Whites to refer to African Americans. This slur was buttressed by a system of segregation that relegated African Americans to second-class status. The use of the term was regularly accompanied by violence – both physical and psychological. Today the resulting wounds are part of the African American collective conscious. The fact that some African Americans publicly embrace the “N word” does not negate this history. Large numbers of African Americans still consider the “N word” a racist, derogatory term of hate, regardless of the speaker’s intent, especially when uttered by a White person. The use of the “N word” by Whites to refer to Blacks is never trivial and never appropriate.
The cartoon’s “humor” is on the backs of African Americans. Marlette, the Alligator’s Art Director, and others state that they had no intention of offending anyone. However, many were offended. In response to claims that the cartoon was racially insensitive, hurtful and degrading, the Alligator has responded by denying that any harm has occurred. In fact, a few days following the publication of the first cartoon, it ran the same cartoon again. This one uses “politically correct” language to negate the criticism of the first cartoon. Adding insult to injury, the cartoonist has dismissed all criticism, opining that “[T]here are a lot more rational and reasonable people who like the cartoon and understand that it’s not racist.” He goes on to state, “I can picture a Black woman saying that to a Black man.”
The University of Florida has a long history of racial discrimination. It has only been since the 1950s that African Americans were legally permitted to attend this flagship campus. Today, African American students account for 7.2 percent of all students. Cartoons such as Marlette’s—and the Alligator has a track record of publishing racially-charged ones—serve to alienate and stigmatize Black students and impede racial dialogue.
The Race Center respects and acknowledges the First Amendment right of free speech. It does an injustice to the notion of free speech, however, when the parties involved do not have an equal voice. UF students have no viable alternative to the Alligator for campus news. It is the de facto campus newspaper. This results in giving the Alligator the only and consequently the loudest voice.
This incident offers UF an opportunity to demonstrate leadership on issues of race and difference. UF’s 2004 Faculty Reading Initiative (co-sponsored by the UF President’s Office and the Race Center) was a big step forward. We urge the UF administration to continue this work. We do not believe that the Alligator’s racially-insensitive cartoon reflects the stated or intended goals or values of the University of Florida. It is our hope that some good can come from this episode. We encourage everyone, administrators, staff, students, and community members to speak out and “talk back.” Let us challenge ourselves to move outside of our comfort zones and talk across racial lines about what race means and why it matters.