A recent editorial cartoon by Philadelphia Inquirer editorial cartoonist Tony Auth has hacked off supporters of South Philly High principal LaGreta Brown who was depicted as sleeping on the job.
J. Whyatt Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP, called the cartoon “disgusting. It is a lie. It is offensive. The Inquirer should be ashamed of what it did to Mrs. Brown.”
Michael Lerner, the head of the city’s principals union, said the cartoon was “a cheap shot” at a “dedicated educator.”
“In his drawing, the cartoonist, Tony Auth, has suggested the most simplistic explanation of an unbelievably complex situation, a problem that has existed at South Philadelphia High School for years,” said Lerner, leader of the local chapter of the Commonwealth Association of School Administrators.
Auth said his cartoon responded to news coverage portraying “confusion and strained communications and inept behaviors that were going on that day on the part of school administrators.”
car·toon, n.: “the most simplistic explanation of an unbelievably complex situation”
Amen, Ted. The truth hurts!
All of a sudden cheap shots are BAD things? Crap.
The head of the Philly NAACP is correct….the cartoon “is a lie”.
Tony Auth really didn’t believe what he said in his cartoon.
I’m very curious though…how did he find out the cartoonist really didn’t believe what he expressed in the cartoon….?? And since he really didn’t believe in what he said graphically, the head of the NAACP might also want to share….. WHY…. Mr. Auth wanted to draw something he really didn’t believe was his opinion.
I’m in favor of a campaign to raise society’s awareness of Irony and Metaphor Impairment. We could sell ribbons.
This is like someone going to a baseball game and objecting to the ball being hit by a bat.
I’m still trying to figure out what the NAACP has to say about it, incompetence is color blind.
It’s a good thing that Tony didn’t draw her as a sleeping dog;
it’d be time to start locking the doors and heading for the safe room.
I live near Philly, and when I saw it in the paper, I didn’t think it was that great a cartoon. The principal in this case wasn’t just sleeping–she was actively ignoring and covering up the situation. But since so many people are pissed off, I guess it was better than I thought.
@ Terry
“But since so many people are pissed off, I guess it was better than I thought.”
Sounds like my dad! Of course, He was in a totally different line of work, but he used to say “If you aren’t pissing someone off, you’re not doing your job right.”
It might be worth mentioning this is the same principal who was fired from the atlantic city school district.
Teachers are a really tough crowd! Oops, I guess the NAACP is, too.
What came in or went out the window?
Donna, this is Philly. We don’t need an excuse for broken windows LOL