the afghanistan posts below triggered a couple responses from friends/readers about their own reactions and emotions during the events of that time. indeed, even the memories from that many years ago are still emotionally charged.
ellen made reference to The Boondocks comic strip and "The Adventures of Flagee and Ribbon" in her comment on one of the posts. i had no idea that Aaron McGruder, the artist/author behind the boondocks, had taken such a stance. here are some articles on the issue as it unfolded:
-a short essay with images of the cartoons, both the boondocks and adventures of flagee and ribbon.
-respectful disagreement and disapproval from the editors of the Daily Mississippian.
-finally, an article in the Nation recapping the whole issue in early January of '02. here's an excerpt from the article quoting one of the boondocks characters (huey freeman) saying thanksgiving prayer that november:
"Ahem... In this time of war against Osama bin Laden and the oppressive Taliban regime, we are thankful that OUR leader isn't the spoiled son of a powerful politician from a wealthy oil family who is supported by religious fundamentalists, operates through clandestine organizations, has no respect for the democratic electoral process, bombs innocents, and uses war to deny people their civil liberties. Amen."
the last line of the mississipian editorial is something else, "..and readers should question why they read the material." wow.
ReplyDeletei'm surprised the wikipedia article on mcgruder didn't mention his speech at the nation magazine's anniversary dinner (in 2004?) where he went off on white liberals and had a bit of a shouting exchange with one of the writers about voting for nader.