Question

The cartoon: An African American officer complains to his shift supervisor that posted on one of the main bulletin boards in the squad room is a cartoon caricature with his name under it. The picture depicts a black male with a bone drawn through his nose. The caption under the picture thanked the officer for his willingness to "model the new department headgear". This cartoon has been up for at least a day and everyone passes it on his or her way in and out of the main room. Therefore, at least a couple of supervisors have seen this cartoon. What should happen?

My answer should be 500 words

Answer 1

The cartoon has basically two issues. The first one is a racist message which is shown in the form of the caricatured man's color which could have been avoided. Secondly, the caricatured form where a bone is drawn through the nose could be an exaggerated form of the man's characteristic long nose. The bone drawn here also signifies captaincy as seen in certain tribal culture, It must be noted that every person might not accept caricature in a positive manner. One who is extremely sensitive might get hurt when one of the prominent characteristics of his body or face is drawn exaggerated. The only positive point here is the thanking caption under this picture. However, most of the officers might give attention more to the picture than the caption underneath. Therefore, a shift supervisor must take the concern into consideration and must take steps to remove the picture from the bulletin board. The picture can be replaced with an original photo of the Afro American officer with the same caption underneath. This would be both informative to all officers in different departments viewing the picture on who exactly the captain is and shall not hurt personal feelings of the officer in any manner.