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Is This Comic Book Racist?
July 9th, 2008
Black activists are up in arms over a popular Mexican comic book Memin Pinguin recently sold in WalMart. It features a dark-skinned Cuban boy (named Memin) with large ears and big pink lips, who’s always being made fun of because of his color. “This is poking fun at the physical features of an entire people. Making them look buffoonish (and) portraying the young [Black] kid as stupid,” Quanell X, an activist, told The Dallas Morning News. “Whenever they are beating him, they are referring to him as Negro. Even here, when he is being punched, slapped [he is called] Negro. This is a disgrace.” The comic received such a backlash that WalMart decided to remove it from their shelves, saying in a statement: “…[W]e understand that Memin is a popular figure in Mexico. However, given the sensitivity to the negative image Memin can portray to some, we felt that it was best to no longer carry the item in our stores. We apologize to those customers who many have been offended….” The comic, originally published in the 1960s, has been very popular in Mexico for years, so much so that the government decided to issue a stamp commemorating Memin in 2005 – a decision didn’t sit well then with U.S. activists and politicians who said the character was racist. But the Mexican government thinks it’s a misunderstanding and that Americans just don’t understand the character’s cultural importance in their country. Do you think this Memin character is racist?
iant had time 2read tiz whole thing its 2much 4me
I wasn’t suprise by Walmart carry this comic book because they ‘re all about the money, until someone threatens their wallet. It’s ashame that we still have people that think this comic book is funny, it’s never a joke when a race of people feel offended by racist comments, pictures, etc.. It’s not ok to be a racist no matter what race you are. We need to stop the madness and work together to bring races together. Black people built this country with blood, tears, lynchings, sweat, and by being beat to death. People all over the world especially black people during slavery were brain washed to believe that the caucasian race is superior, so why do we keep believing the hype. I know tthat caucasians are not superior, but you just need to know that their not. God put everyone on this earth to be something special, so if you do not take that stand and believe that you are just as good as someone else then you need to get to know someone that is really superior than any race of people and that is GOD, and know that he loves you, and that JESUS died for our sins, so that we can be more than man think we can be. I Challenge you to take a stand and be better than what this world of people say we are. PROVE THEM WRONG.
It could be racist but if, the comic book was first released in the 1960’s maybe it was ideal to be that way. Times have changed but it’s obvious this comic book has not. On that note, I get tired of people saying mexicans do the jobs that we won’t do. Our country was empowered and became as powerful as it did because this nation had free labor for 500 F$$$king years. We as a people worked hard to build this country and I am still waiting for my fourty acres and a mule. You can’t mix peaches with pears. We were forced to work for free, Mexicans volunteered to work for under minimum wage. It’s not that blacks don’t want to work for less, the point is why should I settle for less, when I have worked so hard to have the equal opportunity to be just as successful as any other race. I think as a race we are owed that. The catch 22 is in order for this country to remain as powerful as it is. somebody has to work for free and the mexicans didn’t have to be forced, they VOLUNTEERED.
N0 I DONT THINK IT IS RACIST
of course it is racist and should be removed from shelves. I sincerely hope mexicans don’t think they are superior to anyone. i personally don’t have a problem with the mexicans. they are merely taking advantage of a broken system that big business dosn’t want t fix. and yes america was founded on greed and destruction of Blacks and Native Americans. For anyone to compare the struggle of mexicans to Blacks or Native Americans is insulting.
I think that it is racist if you read the pargraph under the picture it says that the boy was laughing at his color. & mexican or not anybody should know that afrian american people would not be happy if somebody was to call a black person a negro or calling he or she out of their name. if its from another race. But it dosent make it right to call a black person a negro even if you are black. That is just my opinion so if you think other than what i said thats on you.
this is a old comic, been around for awhile. Walmart took comic out the stores. the cover is not right at all. but you know God do not like ugly!!
I think it’s sad the way brown and black people treat each other. We need to look at our history and show each other more love. Peace, live in it or rest in it. It’s your choice.
No i don’t think is meant to be racist against only Black people but all people of dark color skin. Everybody knows that Spanish people have dark colored people….and if your not fair skinned with nice hair your not considered beautiful that’s just the way it is, and it probably will always be that way until people start realizing what true beauty is….and that is to love yourself and be beautiful on the inside because the outside is just a shell.
my husband gets hits like this all the time at his job he’s always being picked at for his lips color and racial ethnic backround and i see how it affects him everyday when he comes home so because of that pain i see so up close and personal i think it is wrong for this mag to be protraying people in a manner of were it’s ok to put them down or call them any king of racial name because of the way they look. and to know that my husband sits back and only worry’s for his kids growing up and having to hear that rather than take steps to get pay back on the people that harrass him only shows me that know matter what you can be a bigger person than a racist. so for all of you out there fighting for your kids and you dignity i support you!
hey yes i think it is racial
well should it matter what skin color you are
Looks racist, but there are bigger issues at hand
CbUG said: “mexican or not anybody should know that afrian american people would not be happy if somebody was to call a black person a negro”
-But CbUG, that’s how you say “black” in Spanish. It’s “negro”. Do you get it?
Gina M. said: “Black people built this country with blood, tears, lynchings, sweat, and by being beat to death.”
-Sounds like an interesting and possibly magical way to build a country. Perhaps you could explain just how that works.
How many of the people who left comments are REGISTERED VOTERS.
IF YOU DONT REGISTER OR VOTE. YOU REALLY DONT HAVE A VOICE OR A COMMENT THATS WORTH LISTENING TO.
well,I never heard of the comic before and I read it.I didn”t like it.it is not sendinging a good message to our young crowd.I think that it needs to be banned.
Honestly; when I first saw the comic book cover, my first thought was, is that Caucasian guy laughing at an ape. It was not until I read the article, and realize it was a “dark-skinned Cuban boy (named Memin) with large ears and big pink lips, who’s always being made fun of because of his color.” Myself being an African American, I felt the cover depicts black people as apes. Whether you are African American, Cuban, etc, the cover doesn’t appeal to me. I understand the comic has been around since the 1960’s, but still I fell the comic depicts young black (A.A, Cubans, etc) as apes. Also, according to the article “Whenever they are beating him, they are referring to him as Negro. Even here, when he is being punched, slapped [he is called] Negro. This is a disgrace.” I found this to be offensive, because it reminds me of what African American people have had to endure during both slavery and the civil rights movement. And I agree with all of the comments made by Geeesh, Sarah, CbUG, and Wow. Whether you are African American, Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, I don’t feel you should disrespect anyone’s race. We are all God’s children, and should treat each other with the proper dignity and respect. The cover of neither this comic, nor the text within does either, and further separates our country as a whole!
It’s not racist, it’s cultural
In Mexico there are some Mexicans that have dark skin like African Americans. The darker Mexicans are often teased,beat up, and the lighter Mexicans loook down upon them. Therefore they just made a comic about there culture
i don’t know what to put but yeah cool
Wow some of you are so ignorant it’s amazing how human beings are so ignorant and hypocritical.Get over it,it’s their culture and their issue so we can’t even ask the question nor should we care.It’s about a cuban boy and if they think its cool then it’s their perogotive focus on better things in life people like crying about vick being in jail…those comments are really ignorant if you wanna make yourself nauseous…..