The Australian's cartoonist Johannes Leak released a cartoon in today's edition that's been labelled racist for its depiction of politician Kamala Harris, who was announced this week as the Democrat's vice-presidential nominee.
Harris and presidential candidate Joe Biden made their . Kamala Harris is the first woman of colour to be represented on a major ticket, and if elected in November, she would be the first woman of colour to become vice-president.
Source: The Australian
The cartoon has two speech bubbles, where Joe Biden says, “It’s time to heal a nation divided by racism,” and continues, “So I will hand over to this little brown girl while I lie down for a little.”
Australia’s Race Discrimination Commissioner Chin Tan told The Feed the candidacy of Harris as the Democrat party’s vice-presidential nominee is a watershed moment for America and the world.
"It is incumbent on all of us to support women from all backgrounds to achieve in the public sphere and not to denigrate or knock them down,” Tan told The Feed.
The Australian’s editor-in-chief Chris Dore has defended the cartoon. He, that “Johannes was quoting Biden’s words,” referencing a tweet from Biden.
Chin Tan, Australia's Race Discrimination Commissioner. Source: Facebook/Chin Tan
In the tweet, Biden was referring to the historic appointment of Harris as a vice-presidential candidate.
“This morning, little girls woke up across this nation — especially Black and Brown girls who so often may feel overlooked and undervalued in our society — potentially seeing themselves in a new way: As the stuff of Presidents and Vice Presidents,” Biden said on Twitter.
Politicians, tech giants have their say
Mark Dreyfus, the shadow Attorney-General, didn’t hold back in his criticism of The Australian.
"If The Australian has any respect for decency and standards it must apologise immediately, and never again publish cartoons like this," Dreyfus said on Twitter.
While Australia's former Race Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane also criticised the cartoon on Twitter.
"In the past, I've described this newspaper as a poor man's Breitbart. It indulges racism, and uses it as part of its business model. This sort of commentary diminishes our society," Soutphommasane said on Friday.
Writer Benjamin Law cautioned media outlets about covering the cartoon. He said on Twitter, "White TV and radio hosts: you don't need to bring in brown and black guests to debate whether or explain why the @australian's cartoon is racist today."
Zali Steggall, Independent MP for Warringah in NSW, was blunt on Twitter saying the cartoon is “unacceptable” and called for the cartoonist to be sacked.
Atlassian co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes believes cartoons are supposed to be "provocative or satirical" but said that for him, Leak's cartoon crossed that line.
"This one from today's Aus is just straight out racist & sexist? This isn't OK," Cannon-Brooks said on Twitter.
Cartoon furore
This isn't the first time a News Corp paper has had allegations of racism raised relating to cartoons. In 2018, The Herald Sun's Mark Knight drew a cartoon of US tennis star Serena Williams that critics said was comparable to a long history of minstrel cartoons that portrayed African Americans as primates.
Despite the widespread criticism, the Australian Press Council decided the cartoon didn't "depict Ms Williams as an ape".
Source: The Herald Sun
"Rather showing her as 'spitting the dummy', a non-racist caricature familiar to most Australian readers," the council said in February 2019.
"The Council acknowledges that some readers found the cartoon offensive. However, the Council also accepts that there was a sufficient public interest in commenting on behaviour and sportsmanship during a significant dispute between a tennis player with a globally high profile and an umpire at the US Open final."
