Racism in 30 Minutes or Less

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We’ve come to expect advertising to hit us over the head with the crudest of attention-getting techniques. But editorial commentary isn’t necessarily more sophisticated (or less offensive):

This cartoon appeared on January 2, 1997 in a small publication in Holden, Massachussets named The Landmark.

Racist undercurrents have coursed through the entire ebonics debate. But sometimes these sentiments manifest themselves in less subtle ways.

Out of all the offensive aspects of this cartoon, one troubles us the most: If the cartoonist is attempting to compare ebonics to the bubonic plague, who represents the rat as the “carrier” of the “ebonic plague”?

Comments on this cartoon can be written to the editor on Landmark‘s Web site.



"We realize that you work like blacks (slaves)...
...and naturally you will eat like cannibals.
That's why we're making this pearl of an offer: A DELUXE medium pan pizza for four, and two bottles of "Twisty" for only Q.58.00 (58 Quetzals, or about $10) and we'll give you four free cans of Coca-Cola.

This advertisement for Domino’s pizza was part of an ad campaign in Guatemala. Coca-Cola was none too happy about being associated with it.

Mention of this ad first appeared in the United States in the September/October 1996 issue of Third Force magazine.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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