ENTRY 6: CARTOON

(Picture from Flickr.com, accessed July 14, 2007)

This is a cartoon from Jeff and Bil Keane with the quote, “I dream I was African American. It was horrible.” It features a white man in bed, and saying this quote to another white man. They both have a sort of sad and distressed look on their faces.

I chose this cartoon because it sends people mixed feelings. It may be funny to read it for the first time, but it really is a degrading cartoon. There are a lot of cartoons like this, and it has become a part of society. Most of us overlook it because we find it funny, but I am sure that for some people it is not funny at all. Someone on the website even commented on this and said, “really, racist...but funny LOL.” I think that we have gotten so used to these types of cartoons (and even television shows or movies) that we are desensitized to its racial slurs.

One concept that this cartoon shows is white privilege. According to Allan Johnson and his book, Privilege, Power, and Difference, whites developed the idea of whiteness and defined a privileged social category where they were above everyone else who was not like them (46-47). Having this white privilege makes whites believe that they possess certain values and characteristics that blacks do not have because of their skin color. Blacks were unlike whites so they could not have any sort of privilege. This is a part of social construction because in the 18th and 19th century humans developed race, and from then on, gave it an importance and significance in society. It let’s people believe that things like race or gender have clear-cut definitions, and cannot be changed (Johnson 20). Race is a cultural creation over time that puts people into certain groups because of certain characteristics. The grouping of people is merely a creation of humans over time, and is not necessarily true or set in stone.

I know that when I see a cartoon like this for the first time, I laugh. I think in the back of my mind that it is rude to laugh at something like this, but everyone else is laughing, so why can't I? Race has become such a big part of our society that it is a part of many sectors in the world. Whether it is with the government, schools, work, or the media, race always plays a role in it. This four letter word has transcended into so many discussions and debates. Thomas Jefferson probably would not have thought that his discussions and “Notes on the State of Virginia” would be the basis for race in the future.


Johnson, Allan G. Privilege, Power, and Difference. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006.