UPDATE: One final thought as I re-read some of these posts. I apologize to anyone who came here for an intellectual discussion Ed Gamble’s cartoon and had to wade through an emotionally charged and at times racist comments. It is clear that America still working through issues of race. When the posts were coming through, I was scanning them for swear words (one of my no-nos), but not necessarily content. On topics of such weight, I will try to monitor the discussions more closely. Again, my apologies to anyone who has been offended. I would also add that opinions posted by visitors to this site are theirs alone and by not censoring their opinions one should not infer that I share those views.

Have a good weekend.

But hey, don’t you have maybe a Klan meeting or something that you have to go attend.

Hey, man, this message board has taken a turn to the worse. Any way to filter out the racist remarks and personal attacks?

DT, I think you “hit the nail on the head here.” White males have a really bad habit of justifying their wrong/immoral behavior because “blacks or _____________ (fill in the blank with any other ethnicity) did it to themselves first.”

The difference Angela is that it was you who used this “legacy of slavery” nonsense as some sort of excuse to explain poor black behavior. you wrote – “I suppose the evil white folks should have thought of THAT before they captured us like animals and brought us to the U.S. in the bottom of boats as slaves, trying to make a quick buck.”

What happened generations ago has nothing to do with the current levels of black male violence. Look at the collective trauma that the Jews and Japanese went through in WWII. Why aren’t they more violent then?

DT, I think you “hit the nail on the head here.” White males have a really bad habit of justifying their wrong/immoral behavior because “blacks or _____________ (fill in the blank with any other ethnicity) did it to themselves first.” This cartoonist is guilty of this same warped thinking.

Just like slavery was wrong for Africans, it’s ALSO wrong for whites. Just like using the word hoe it wrong for black men, it’s ALSO wrong for white men. Because some black men make misogynist statments about black women doesn’t mean that white men now get a FREE PASS to it also without criticism.

As I said before, now I have this headache from two different deomographics: young, stupid black men and old, stupid white men. Just because white men say they are merely imitating black men does NOT make it acceptable or lessen the harmful effects.

Mike, editorial cartoonist offend a large group of their readers every day (usually conservatives);). That’s what they do. A town meeting every time there’s a flap about an editorial cartoon is seems overboard. Do you mean when the groups that are offended and make enough noise, then the paper should respond? If so, I suppose that makes sense. In this case, I’m for an apology from the editor and cartoonist over an unintended slam on young girls … and use the attention this is getting to address the main issue, which is the no snitching mentality. It can be a win-win. The cartoonist/paper can turn the negative into a positive (making their point and satisfying the offended folks) if the paper and he handle it right.