TV On the Radio Vs. The Village Voice- truly racist?
Sad to say, even in 2007, it’s still difficult to have a frank discussion about race. It’s obviously still an important and volatile issue but it’s also very touchy for many people so rather than dealing with the complex issues involved, it usually gets brushed away. When someone does bring it up, all kinds of recriminations and accusations and finger-pointing follow it. All of that hardens the impression that it’s best to not talk about these things seriously, instead smoothing over things with platitudes or sweeping everything under the rug and pretending it’s not there. What got me thinking about this recently was an NME article noting that the band TV on the Radio lashed out at the Village Voice for their Pazz and Jop cover cartoon where Bob Dylan rides a mower over an African-American band member (which looks a lot like singer/guitarist Kyp Malone). So is this a legitimate case of racism?
Not surprisingly, this is never an easy issue to sort out. Take a close look at Perna letter. The issues he brings up are serious- he cites two fairly recent hate-crime murders and associates the Voice illustration with this. Do you think he makes a good point or he is being over-the-top in his associations? I don’t know that there’s a solid right or wrong answer to that- it’s going to depend on your own perspective. I have to admit that I think it’s a little over the top. If I wasn’t white, would I still feel that way? Maybe not.
One important consideration is intent. The Village Voice has been a bastion of liberal thought for decades now and remains that way even under its new ownership, though less brazen about it for sure (disclosure: I write for the Voice sometimes though I definitely don’t always agree with their policies, especially recently otherwise). On the surface, it doesn’t make sense for the Voice to even insinuate a racist subtext with such an illustration but in a letter to the Voice, TVOTR member Martin Perna challenges this, saying “the level of ignorance and racism that persists in leftist institutions like the Voice that continue to posture as hip and progressive.” Attacking the Voice is one thing but he takes a broad swipe at “leftist institutions” as if to say that racism is prevalent there. But isn’t this the exact same complaint that Rush Limbaugh made recently? And is that to say the right-wing institutions are clean when it comes to racist perspectives (even though they mostly fight against quotas and affirmitive action)?
So should we instead wonder if the cover was an unintentional racial swipe? Perna angrily compares the cover to recent lynching incidents. Look at it this way- if you were in cartoon on the cover of a well-known publication and someone was running you over, how would you feel about that? Most likely, you’d be pretty angry. The cover was meant to show Dylan symbolically beating TVOTR in the Pazz poll but the question then is this: was the way they depicted it appropriate? They could have had Dylan and a TVOTR member in a ring with the latter getting punched or even just some grand illustration of Dylan to show that he won. The fact that they went for a conflict cover where Dylan whups up on someone is more dramatic than just having a picture of himself alone. It’s likely that ANY photo of Dylan attacking/hitting someone in the band would have brought about the same response. Also, consider it an interesting irony that if many of the younger writers/voters hadn’t gravitated to the Idolator poll this year, TVOTR probably would have beaten Dylan in the Pazz poll itself and the illustration would have looked very different as such.
(Also, as several other blogs have pointed out, the cartoon is well… cartoonish and ridiculously exaggerated, maybe even making a bad turn against Dylan by giving him an extra large nose)
Sometimes another way to weigh if something is truly racist is substituting race in that particular situation. For instance, let’s say in this year’s Pazz poll, Dylan’s record had beaten a new Eminem release (I know, but this is hypothetical). If ol’ Bob had been running Em over with a tractor, no one except Em’s fans would shrug about it. Also, if the Voice had depicted Bob doing something much more blatant to a TVOTR member, that would be different too- but even the unspeakably scummy rat-bastards of the Klu Klux Klan are media savvy enough today not to promote any image of lynching, even for the supposedly dreaded illegal immigrants that they claim are ruining America.
Also, what if TVOTR had beaten Dylan in the poll and they had an image of the band beating up Dylan? Again, except for his fans, no one would really cry foul over this. It reminds me of a news story of the Whitney Bi-ennial where a curator was showing off images and slogans that lashed out at caucasians. The reporter asked if it would be acceptable to flip the idea and instead have images or slogans that denegrated minorities instead. The curator angrily snapped back that she would never do that (for the record, the curator and reporter were both white). At one level, it seems unfair that such baiting and hate can only go one way (much less that it shouldn’t happen at all!) but there’s also the contention that whites have historically beat up on Africans and their descendants for so long that any idea or notion of perpetuating this is seen as repugnant. Again, my own notion is that ANY kind of race baiting or warring is a terrible thing and it helps no one (i.e. the whole idea of “ethnic cleansing”).
Which leads back to the question of whether the Voice cover cartoon is indeed racist or not. It’s not an easy call. If you say “yes,” then you get pelted as a overly sensitive reactionary. If you say “no,” you risk getting labelled as a racist yourself. Maybe it’s not going out on much of a limb but I would have to side with the later group and say that the cartoon was not intentionally meant to have any racist connotations to it. I would add that I understand how it could be perceived otherwise (especially by the band) but in the end, I believe that context is the strongest way to measure these kind of things. Should the Voice’s editorial board been more sensitive about how they presented this image? I’d say so. Like it or not, this kind of image still has implications to it that aren’t readily obvious.
Having said that, it’s obvious that this debate is not going to be easily resolved. There’s going to be strong voices advocating each position and the thought of this will linger for a while. It’ll effect not just the Voice and TVOTR in different ways but also readers of the paper and fans of the band and not just in the way that some readers might be turned off from the band now or that the group’s fans will boycott the paper (though both scenarios may happen) but also how the readers, fans and spectators continue to view this debate.
The issue isn’t going to go away and I have to say that’s not necessarily a bad thing- we need more debate and open discussion about this. In many ways, the idea of a melting pot is still optimistic rhetoric and to use another old hoary image, unless we keep trying to deal with the issue of race directly, the pot’s gonna boil over.
Comments
One of several poor design choices artist David O’Keefe made was to colour Dylan’s “mower” red. It’s not a mower, but a senior’s mobility scooter. “Dylan’s old” and “Old people can’t drive” are more explicit statements than any accidental racist statements the piece makes. The Village Voice should know better in any case.
Comment by Kar-Wai from Toronto, Canada — February 19, 2007 @ 4:32 am
It’s really not that big of a deal. I’ve been a huge fan of Tv on the Radio since their first ep came out but I think they’re overreacting. It’s also interesting to see that the person who complained of racism was not the member who was depicted in the image. I think if they had something to be pissed about it would be that they lost to Bob Dylan’s record when he hasn’t recorded anything decent since the ‘70s. His legendary status is what won him the award not the actual album. And that’s not racism that’s just bad musical taste. They show a member of Tv on the Radio getting run over by a scooter with Dylan looking evil as hell. It’s not racism. It’s making fun of both of them. This is the reason why nothing ever gets achieved with racism. Because people focus on stuff like this instead of the actual racial inequalities that exist as a result of the legacy of slavery.
Comment by A Rock from New Jersey — February 19, 2007 @ 8:43 am
if you know anything about the history of racism in this country the accusations about racism in the cartoon are not at all “over the top” as you call it Jason, which i think was incredibly insensitive and you probably think that way because , yeah, you’re white
Readers were making comments about the inappropriate cover before the letter from the TV on the Radio guy was published. Since so many people think it was racist, there has to be something to it—-don’t ya think?
The VERY first thing i thought about when viewing the cover was that James Byrd incident in which a black guy was dragged behind a truck, particularly because of the really bugged out eyes (which could be interpreted as him being dead) Those type of eyes are also common in black face caricatures of african americans around the turn of the century.
Also the headline “Blood on the Tracks”. yes I know it’s from a Dylan abum, but if you think of the meaning of the words with the picture you come to a frightening realization that some peope could take it to mean that it’s the black guy’s blood is on the tracks—-which makes all sorts of allusions to lynchings and killing of black men. In a sense that was the metaphorical message of the cartoon.
While its probable that this was not intentional, it’s amazing to me that no one in the newsroom could see how the illustration could be misconstrued. THIS IS WHY MORE AFRICAN AMERICANS NEED TO BE IN NEWSROOMS.
Comment by observer — February 19, 2007 @ 8:47 am
You guys need to get a life.
Comment by Robert Zimmerman from here — February 20, 2007 @ 4:25 am
Who was the artist, and what has he or she said about the inspiration and editorial direction for the cover? Did the title come first, or the image? Why wasn’t the whole TVOTR band on the cover instead of just Kyp, the black guy? Did the artist try other sketches that wre rejcetd by editorial? Did he or she realize that her approach mimicked bug-eyed racist cartoons of 100 years ago?
The issue isn’t racism in general - it’s racism in the media, and yes, the most important point is that there need to be more African-Americans in newsrooms across the country.
Comment by Steve Replogle from Denver — February 20, 2007 @ 7:47 am
In terms of deconstructing this whole matter, I’m very curious why few if any observers have noted the grossly exaggerated features on the Dylan figure (Gross at least mentions that angle). If there’s an issue with the picture, anti-Semitic stereotyping would be hard to overlook.
Comment by William Robertson from North Carolina — February 20, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
To “Rock” from New Jersey who said Dylan hasn’t recorded anything decent since the 70’s…that was an extremely ignorant thing to say, and I’m going to conclude that it was an uneducated guess at the best. But I forgive you, and hope you have a day full of bliss. I’m sure you will.
Comment by Derek from Lebanon, IN — February 20, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
One might see other things in this cartoon such as Dylan at 65 riding one of those scooters is too old to walk. Is that being discriminate or being stereo typing seniors?
Comment by non from fort green — February 20, 2007 @ 10:53 pm
— PopMatters sponsor —
Didn’t anyone READ the ARTICLE? This is a literal case of judging a book by it’s cover.
Dylan has INADVERTANTLY run over the member of TvOTR with his ‘lil rascal Scooter (That he doesn’t need. The man tours 200 nights a year and stands and dances through each show).
This is supposed to be a metaphore for how Dylan just keeps doing his thing (which is making great songs,albums,concerts) and wins Awards that he Himself could care less about. Obviously TVOTR are sore losers and cared about the Pazz thing or they wouldn’t have reacted to the cover in the way that they did.
This cover is unfavorable to the band TVOTR, but it isn’t racist at all. Both people are “charicaturized”. For them to say the portrayal is racist OR antisemetic should take it up with the artist, who probably is too busy working to talk to you.
Comment by Chris Dillon from STATEN ISLAND NY — February 21, 2007 @ 1:26 pm
I don’t believe the racist inference one can make from this cartoon were intentional on the part of the artist. However, like Observer, I truly can not understand or believe that someone in the newsroom, in seeing the artwork, did not think it would cause some form of controversy, and either did not care or wanted the reactions it received from both TVOTR fans and band members.
Intentionally racist or not it’s in bad taste and I think a bit naive or manipulative on the part of Village Voice to not have expected people (Black or White) to be offended by it.
Comment by Aissa Arroyo-Hill from DC — February 23, 2007 @ 10:40 am
Aissa—This is just what I’m talking about. If you’d read the article you would then see that the cartoon is not racist (or having anything to do with race at all). I think the folks at the VOICE give people the benefit of the doubt, and assume that before someone just turns and deems an entire publication (It’s Publisher on down to the printers union, and every employee in between) that they might take the time to READ the ARTICLE that the “offensive” cartoon is advertising. Our country is going insane these days because nobody is paying attention to context. We talk about banning words outright, and in this entire thread nobody has given any legitimate arguments that there were any racial connotations here. “Someone should have realized people would be offended…” is making me insane! They probably did realize this and good for them for putting it out anyway. The Voice wants people to read the articles. If the cover makes you pass on the content it’s your loss. Thank God we live in the United States where freedom of the press is not to be taken for granted. So black people need to become journalists to keep all other journalists “in-check”, and to tell artists what is acceptable to draw? That is one very big bowl of wrong. How stupid!
Comment by Chris Dillon from STATEN ISLAND NY — February 23, 2007 @ 12:54 pm
I did read the article. Oh, and I’m not saying that the cartoon is racist or even that the intention of the artist were. If you step back and think of Dylan’s song title, read the article, then the depiction in the cartoon makes total sense, although I still find it tasteless both for Dylan and TVOTR. BUT what I am saying is that Voice should have known it would be seen as racist. Voice as well as you and I live in reality. In the real world. It is sweet to think that people would be open to see past color of a black man being run over by a white man on a scoter (removing context and names), but in truth we are not. So my biggest shock is to those who are shocked by people being upset by this.
It is what it is. I don’t find it racist, but I understand why some were uncomfortable by it. That is all I am saying.
Comment by Aissa Arroyo-Hill from DC — February 23, 2007 @ 1:07 pm
I didn’t mean to single you out… I really think that it’s a lousy illustration. You and I seem to agree basically on the fact that this has been blown out of proportion. But I am a literalist when it comes to free speech and free press. We can’t stop the presses on anything on the grounds that it will offend people.
It’s frustrating that the majority of people who blog and flap their mouths don’t read. Newspapers, books, magazines. Nothing.
We now live in a society where we have to talk to eachother like we are 5-year old children (ie. “the ‘N’-word”). Now that is a word that can be used as an epithet, and although it’s hateful and incidiary I have every right to say it, especially when merely discussing the word itself. Context is very very important, and Americans are losing it.
Comment by Chris Dillon from STATEN ISLAND NY — February 23, 2007 @ 1:18 pm
I agree with you with an added bit. Yes we are losing context, or rather perspective, in America. But we are also losing responsibility and sensitivity. We are becoming so jaded, bitter, and mean spirited that we use things like free speech and personal freedoms to excuse behavior and actions that instigate anything but solidarity. This is one of those cases. Did Voice have the right to publish the cartoon? Yes. Did Perna have the right to publish an objection? Yes.
This is your free speech at work, if anything you should feel proud.
Cheers,
p.s. No one is keeping you from using the N-word; it is the reaction you will receive for having used it that is keeping you from using it. Quite honestly, I have no want desire or yearning to use it. It makes me cringe along with the words cu*t, f*ggot, and root canal (actually I can’t wait for the day they create a PC abbreviation for root canal).
Comment by Aissa Arroyo-Hill — February 23, 2007 @ 1:36 pm