Macias 1

Erica Macias
Professor Batty
English 113A
14 December 2014
Racism is Still Alive
Racism has been part of our history for a very long time. Most people have encountered
some form of prejudice, whether it was intentional or not. Our history has proven that racism has
been one of the main things that have affected people, one of them being African Americans.
African Americans are one of many who have faced discrimination thorough out our history.
From being slaves and trying to fight for their freedom to become equal to the white man. In a
cartoon by Bearman, he restates a situation where a character is discriminating an African
American. We have seen much racial discrimination in cartoons and one race group who has
been affected by this is African Americans. Also in the article Black Men and Public Spaces,
by Brent Staples, he illustrates how he has experienced others discriminating him just because he
is an African American. Over the years African Americans have been easily targeted because of
how society has perceived them to be. Although some say racism is not as bad today as it once
was, we still see racism in many forms like in cartoons. Unfortunately, racism is something that
we have gotten used to seeing. In reality we might not view it as being racist, but in reality it is.
To illustrate the background of Bearmans cartoon, it reveals a white man dressed in
black face. Black face was popular back then and it was used to imitate African Americans and
humiliate them. In an article, by Jason Swayne Ivey, he gives an insight of what black face was
all about. He describes how black face first started in the 19th century where white performers
would blacken their faces with burnt cork to appear to be black (Ivey 1). He explains that black

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face dehumanized African Americans because they made them look like they were uneducated
and loud people that were not able to move up the social latter.
In Bearmans cartoon he demonstrates a white man dressed as black face pointing at a
black man dressed as a KKK, both characters are in a comfortable distance and they are looking
towards one another. This cartoon was publishing in January 8 of the year 2010. The colors in
the cartoon are normal colors like white, black, and green. Those colors make the reader feel
calm or indifferent. Since these colors will make someone feel indifferent they might not realize
the message that the cartoon is sending, which is being racist to African Americans. The position
of the way the white males hand is drawn is diagonal, meaning he has power over the African
American because he is pointing at him. The characters are interacting with each other. There is
a caption bubble over the white characters head that has dialogue inside of it with all capital
letters saying, COME ON! THAT IS JUST OFFENSIVE!! The all capital letters gives off a
strong connotation of how the character is feeling. Also we can see it in his face because his eyes
are wide open and his eye brows are raised up as a form to express his rage. Even though we
cannot see the black mans face because it is covered, we can still see his eye and they express
something. His eye is not as wide open and his eye brows droops down which expresses that he
feels shocked or afraid. The role that the characters play in this cartoon is dressing as offensively
towards each others race. All of these details have to do with the message that Bearman is trying
to display about how the white man is discriminating the black man because he is dressed as
black face.
To add, the white man dressed in black face finds it rude that the black man is dressed as
a KKK. Back then the KKK where known to be a white social group who seized to kill African
Americans because they were different and seen as inferior. It is ironic that the white man finds it

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insulting that the black guy is wearing a KKK suit because he himself does not see that he is
being prejudice towards the African American. It is racist for anyone to be dressed up in black
face because that was used back then to discriminate against African Americans. African
Americans were not able to be on live televisions because they were seen to be inferior to the
white man. African Americans struggled to try to fight for their rights so dressing up as black
face is racist because it would be humiliating them.
Many may say that both characters are being racist towards each other because they are
both dressed negatively towards one another. However, in reality the guy in the KKK outfit is
not being racist. The African American dressed as a KKK is just trying to prove a point. His
point is that that though dressing as a KKK might offend some white people, dressing up as
black face is far more offensive then dressing up as a KKK. Dressing up as black face is racist
because it goes back in time where African Americans where being humiliated on national
television.
To emphasize on racism, in the article Black Men and Public Spaces by Brent Staples
he reveals that he was judged because of the color of his skin. He explains that often he would
walk alone at night and when he would encountered a white woman walking alone, she would
suspect he was a mugger, [or] a rapist and she would quickly pick up her past an walk faster
(183). African Americans are placed into a stereotype that they are criminals, uneducated,
unstable, and live in low-income communities. Seeing African American being display in
cartoons in a negative way can have an influence on how people will see them. This relates to the
cartoon because it goes to show how people would judge African Americans by dressing as
black face and displaying how they are on live television to humiliate them. In this case Staples
encountered a women that had already perceived him to be a threat to her because of what

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society has said about African Americans. Society has a great influence in racism and it can
affect the way others view different types of race not just only African Americans.
To summarize, we see a connection between racism in Bearmans cartoons and racism in
Brent Staples with both directing to African Americans. Still to this day we cannot say that
racism is not a problem anymore, because there are countless factors that have occurred where
racism is being displayed. No matter what race someone is, society will already have placed a
stereotype over that race that limits them from succeeding. A way that society has an influence
racism is by putting it in the media or cartoons where people will not easily grasp the racial
aspect behind it. We are use to seeing racism that it becomes normal and less offensive that we
do not easily grasp that people are being prejudice towards a certain race.

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Work Cited
Cartoons, Bearman. "Bearman Cartoon: Aussies and Racism - Bearman

Cartoons."Bearman

Cartoons. 9 Jan. 2010. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.

http://beartoons.com/2010/01/08/bearman-cartoon-aussies-and-racism/
Ivey, Jason Dwayne. "Blackface Minstrelsy." Antebellum and Civil War America, 1784- 1865. 2
Nov. 2001. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.
Staples, Brent. Black Men and Public Spaces. 75 Thematic Readings: An Anthology:
McGraw-Hills. 2003. 182-186. Print.

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Appendix