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Taking a page from the principle textbook from the Sylvester Johnson School of What’s Really Important, Philadelphia mayoral candidate Chaka Fattah just sent an email out complaining about the above cartoon in the Daily News.
Fattah isn’t complaining about what you’d think — “Waah! They made fun of me! And I don’t have a blog to whine on!” — but he’s calling the cartoon “offensive,” because it trivializes something or other. He also says Nutter’s stop-and-frisk plan will search “our sons, daughters, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and neighbors.” But not our uncles and aunts! (They can have all the illegal guns they want.)
Fattah’s apparently been searching his soul for a way to stop violence, and he’s spent his entire career helping children, and to poke fun at him in a cartoon is just awful or something. How dare a satirical cartoonist use her trademark drawing style to comment on the plans of a public official running for office!
Full letter after the jump.
Dear Philadelphian,
Four of the five men running for Mayor–not to mention countless community leaders and citizens–have raised valid concerns about Michael Nutter’s proposal to allow the 6,500 members of the Philadelphia Police Department to stop and frisk our sons, daughters, grandchildren, nephews, nieces and neighbors in the pursuit of illegal guns.
I know that removing illegal guns from our streets is a key part of the plan to reduce violence in our city–in fact my gun amnesty buy back program has gotten 1,061 guns off of our streets–but I disagree with Michael Nutter about how we should go about it.
Today’s Daily News took this important difference of opinion to an ugly place with this editorial cartoon:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chakafattah/493720103/
Today’s Daily News cartoon was offensive to all of us who are searching our souls to come up with real answers to the violence and crime that are ripping our communities apart.
I have spent my entire career protecting our children and offering them opportunities to succeed. And I have raised questions about the wisdom of allowing an entire police force to stop and frisk anyone they think looks suspicious.
In my plan on gun violence, I proposed forming an elite group of specially trained police officers to pursue illegal guns in our neighborhoods that will be spread out across the city, not just in some neighborhoods.
Our city needs a Mayor who can handle the violence epidemic fairly, with sensitivity, and who can produce real results. If you agree that I am the man to do that, please vote Fattah for Mayor on Election Day.
Very truly yours,
Chaka Fattah
Nov. 30, 2005: Drawing conclusions
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He should have created a fake Nutter Flickr account and linked to that, instead of putting “Offensive Daily News Cartoon” on his own page.
If you check out ChakaFattah on Flickr, there’s a pretty good shot of him with ninjas and holding a baby up to a life sized Cookie Monster
I think he’s just mad about how he looks in the drawing — his fingers need an operation. He looks like Judge Doom at the end of Roger Rabbit, after he got run over by a steamroller.
Ha! That’s excellent. Signe does kind of draw people like they’re Judge Doom — which is kind of awesome.