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Polish Toon

The New Yorker is under heavy criticism from residents of the predominantly Polish neighborhood of Greenpoint, Brooklyn after publishing a cartoon that they claim is racially biased. The toon, drawn by veteran cartoonist Bob Weber, appeared in the Feb. 19 issue of the magazine and depicts two kids chatting at a bus stop with the caption, "My parents named me Zbigniew because they were drunk." Zbigniew is a traditional Polish name. The New Yorker is claiming that "the tacit assumption ... is that the child is not of Polish origin" and that the intended joke was that Zbigniew is an unusual name.

While I could see why this is upsetting, it's a far cry from the outwardly homophobic work of NYP cartoonist Sean Delonas or even some of the racially charged humor that airs on, say, Comedy Central or SNL. Seems to me that choosing the name Zbigniew was an unfortunate accident; I mean, I'd never heard the name before, so the idea that it was slurring Poles went beyond me, as I'm sure most other readers. I don't think it's exposing some 'double-standard' about our country's acceptance of racism either. It's all about the name - people hate to be labeled, especially negatively. I guess the New Yorker will have to start profiling their cartoons before they put them into print.