ERC meets IAC over Stabroek News cartoon

Jun 25, 2008 News

Yesterday, the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) met with representatives of the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) to discuss a complaint made by the latter over a cartoon which appeared in the June 15 edition of the Stabroek News.

The offending cartoon, the IAC said, shows what appears to be an elderly woman of Indo-Guyanese origin being interviewed by a bespectacled member of the media.

“The old East Indian woman is drawn barefooted, sitting on a stool and wearing an undecorated rumal (Indian headwear), an earring, a pair of bangles and a foot ring and an “I Love Guyana” badge.

“(She) appears to be peeling what appears to be an agricultural product taken from a large wicker basket. At her feet is a bag with what appears to be the peeled product. In the cartoon the interviewer first asks the old woman: “How do you feel about a BLACK MAN being PRESIDENT?” After an extended pause while appearing to wait for the old woman to answer, he adds: “of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA of course!” When the old woman finally answers she exclaims: “OH! The UNITED STATES! WELL…”

The IAC while detailing what it considered to be the offensive elements of the cartoon emphasized that it “not only finds the cartoon racially offensive but denigrating to persons of Indo-Guyanese origin as it can stir up feelings of social hostility against Indo-Guyanese by promoting and perpetrating negative stereotypes of Indo-Guyanese”.