A Belgian newspaper is under fire (http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/23/belgian-newspaper-de-morgen-in-racism-row-over-doctored-obama-monkey-picture-4674327/) for an image it printed showing President Barack Obama and the First Lady as apes.
The progressive newspaper De Morgen is being accused of racism (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgian-newspaper-de-morgen-accused-of-racism-over-picture-showing-obama-as-an-ape-9211916.html) for the image along with an article it published just prior to Obama's visit to the Netherlands (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/24/barack-obama-seeks-european-support-for-harder-line-on-russia-sanctions) Monday morning.
The image clearly depicts the couple as two apes-- an editorial decision that has been slammed as "stale racist drivel (http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/2130xz/this_was_printed_in_todays_de_morgan_a_belgian/cg97x5c)."
Nigerian-born author Chika Unigwe tweeted a photo of the spread:
so photo of the Obama's as chimps in De Morgen of today is the paper's attempt at satire. I forgot to laugh #racist (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23racist&src=hash) pic.twitter.com/jc7cW7cbgD (http://t.co/jc7cW7cbgD)
— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 22, 2014 (https://twitter.com/chikaunigwe/statuses/447425783460401152)
The article was reportedly a satirical piece that also joked about Obama selling marijuana. The newspaper packaged the photos as if they had been submitted by Russian president Vladimir Putin, Metro said Sunday (http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/23/belgian-newspaper-de-morgen-in-racism-row-over-doctored-obama-monkey-picture-4674327/).
The picture was joined by a message reading, "Vladimir Putin is the president of Russia. He sent us this attachment at our request, and chose to send pictures instead of text 'because he doesn't have a lot of time'," the Independent said (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/belgian-newspaper-de-morgen-accused-of-racism-over-picture-showing-obama-as-an-ape-9211916.html).
While the article has many readers outraged, there are also readers who have come to the newspapers defense. "It was a joke," one Reddit user said. (http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/2130xz/this_was_printed_in_todays_de_morgan_a_belgian/)
"In their defense, there are tons upon tons of pictures and t-shirts with Bush drawn as an ape," another user wrote.
De Morgen apologized for the image (http://www.deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws.english/News/140324_DeMorgen_apologies) in its Monday edition, admitting it was guilty of "bad taste."
"When you consider the fragment apart from its context, which is a properly worked out satirical section, then you don't see the joke but just a picture evoking sheer racism," the newspaper said. "We wrongly assumed that racism is no longer accepted, and that in this way it could be the subject of a joke."
Unigwe (https://twitter.com/chikaunigwe), who lives in Belgium, went on to tweet in depth about the controversial spread, noting that the fault lies with Belgian society moreso than De Morgen:
It is already a big step that De Morgen has apologized. But an apology is just the beginning #Obama (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Obama&src=hash) #demorgen (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23demorgen&src=hash)
— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 24, 2014 (https://twitter.com/chikaunigwe/statuses/448074013248479232)
De Morgen isn't racist. What is racist is the society that enables acts of racism to thrive with impunity #Belgium (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Belgium&src=hash)
— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 24, 2014 (https://twitter.com/chikaunigwe/statuses/448074448307224576)
Black people in Belgum have no political voice, no economic voice, so in a way society forgets that we exist #Belgium (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Belgium&src=hash)
— chika unigwe (@chikaunigwe) March 24, 2014 (https://twitter.com/chikaunigwe/statuses/448074942970888192)
Source: huffingtonpost.com