WW welcomes letters to the editor via mail, e-mail or fax. Letters must be signed by the author and include the author's street address and phone number for verification. Preference will be given to letters of 250 words or less. NO PLACE FOR BIGOTRY Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon is greatly disturbed by Willamette Week's decision to print a cartoon in its April 26 issue depicting the pope using language that belittles African Americans. The cartoon's racist and disrespectful message was offensive and showed a flagrant disregard for African Americans and the Roman Catholic community. EMO's 15 Christian member denominations include the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland as well as denominations whose membership is predominantly African American: the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. For decades, they and our other member denominations have come together to improve the lives of Oregonians, working with mutual respect for each other's differences and an appreciation for what is shared in common. They are committed to furthering understanding between people rather than creating divisions. EMO urges Willamette Week to show respect for Oregon's diverse racial and religious communities by refraining in the future from printing material that depicts racism and religious bigotry. David A. Leslie Executive Director, Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon BLACK LIKE THEE I am writing this mostly in response to the so-called Coalition of Black Men's letter to Willamette Week [May 17, 2000]. I find that coalition name to be offensive and racist. Why? Well, consider this: How would the public respond to a "Coalition of White Men?" It is time that everyone learned the simple fact of the matter. The definition of "racist" is someone who is biased toward their own race. People usually grow up surrounded by their family and friends, and usually those people are of the same race as themselves. I wonder how many white friends the members of the Coalition of Black Men have? As a human community, hopefully someday we won't even look at another person and think "black" or "white" or "Hispanic." But until that day comes, we need to drop this hypocritic attitude and come to terms with what we really think. Robin Canaday Southwest Camelot Court ROOT NERVE Barbara Mor's May 17 letter attacking John Callahan's critics is an astounding example of rhetoric enlisted to legitimize racist language. First she says that "as a linguist," she knows that "nigger," deriving from the Latin "niger," is "not an inherently derogatory word." Sorry, but meaning in language inheres in usage. No decent linguist could possibly be so blinkered as to ignore the 200-year usage of this word as a racial slur. Looking at its Latin roots is an extraordinarily insensitive way of ignoring the history of the word's power to demean. Mor goes on to say that "as an historian" she knows that racial persecution and violence are not launched by cartoonists "...but exactly by those crowds of self-righteously humorless folk who complain about Callahan's political incorrectness." Let me get this straight. Mor is saying, for example, that all those activist citizens from the Coalition of Black Men who sent a letter protesting Callahan's cartoon lack a sense of humor because they object to the use of this historic insult? So not only do these African-Americans have to accept the slur, but they're supposed to chuckle along and participate in their own degradation? And furthermore, these are the kind of people (like that "self-righteously humorless" Dr. King, I suppose) who perpetrate racial violence? Good grief. Mor ends by saying that resisting racist language is somehow "infantile" and "prissy" and that, by implication, using racist language will somehow make us more "self-aware." What on earth? If this is what passes for linguistics, history, or self-awareness these days, heaven help us. Tim Gillespie Northeast 38th Avenue WHEN IRONISTS ATTACK As an American, I took great offense at the Derf cartoon, "White Middle-Class Suburban Man,", that was run in your May 10 edition of Willamette Week. As a white middle-class suburban man, I thought the days and ways of home-shopping mockery, yuppie-bashing, and the common usage and slanderous terms used in The City were long gone. Your consistent publication of racist, classist and anti-masculine cartoons by Derf must stop. Your promotion of Derf's latest piece of bigotry is not surprising, given your record, but it is disgusting. WW should take more responsibility to review the nature of Derf's antics. Oh, wait a second. I'm supposed to be offended by Callahan. My mistake. Dan Atkinson Eugene WATCH WHAT YOU SAY I did read and understand the April 26, 2000 Callahan cartoon, but it was the reader response that I feel must be addressed. Take a ride on Tri-Met #4 (Fessenden) in North Portland or #75 (39th-Lombard) on Dekum, and you will lose count on how many times you will hear the "N" word being spoken by young African-American people--mostly male, but surprisingly a lot of young women too. Then tell us who is racist and ignorant. As a white man I know I can never use that word, but I will never understand those who claim oppression by it yet use it in their daily speech; or are they just trying to shock an "old white guy" with the irreverence and bravado of youth? Either way, not until it is dispelled from those places will the argument for its demise elsewhere be valid. And as to the use of niggardly in speech, don't be so miserly or stingy, as only then your ignorance will show it for all to see. Wesley Ellis Southeast Washington Street KEEP IT FLOWING I am outraged that you allowed that "cartoonist" John Callahan to make fun of the river that runs though our fair town (that's the Willamette for you new folks, accent on the second syllable, silent e on the end), so I am forced to write in [Callahan, WW, May 10, 2000]. This is our river, and a beautiful one, Mr. Zusman, though it suffers from poor public relations, industrial pollution and combined sewer overflows. It is criminal that you allow this hack cartoonist to pollute its reputation further. First he has the pope spouting feminist, so-called-racist, punk-rock lyrics, and now he draws our majestic Willamette killing a whale with toxic waste--my God, John Callahan, is nothing sacred to you? What's next? I, for one, can't wait to find out. Judging from all the letters you got, I suggest WW readers have a choice: 1. Find a sense of humor somewhere, or at least realize that Calla-han's been baiting you all for years. 2. Skip that page. Houston Bolles Southwest Oak Street THE MAN BEHIND THE MOCKERY Why do we criticize the man that actually causes us to have such wonderfully interactive discussions about what is "right" and what is "wrong" [Callahan, WW, April 26, 2000]? Do we really believe that he is a bigoted, ignorant jack*ss? Or can we realize that he makes gibes about everyone of every race, of every political background, of every label that our society provides--all with the result of getting us emotionally and intellectually aroused? Something is needed to zap us out of complacency every now and then. I applaud Callahan for having the courage to slap us in our faces, for making us think, for poking at all of us. I find his cartoons rather amusing because in light of the insults, there is still some truth to what he has to say in his work. For example, in his latest cartoon where the Makah Indians are attempting to kill a gray whale with such seriousness, it is the Willamette that finally kills the whale. Yes! Why are we taking their single culturally traditional event so seriously when thousands of fish and other creatures are dying from our toxic waste?! You'll find that many of his cartoons have the same intent--bringing up the question of why we are taking ourselves so seriously, when there are other issues that should be addressed. Why not let our arousal and community discourse lead to action? Then I can happily say, Thank you, Callahan, for getting us aroused in the first place. Of course, there is one last question. If he can make fun of absolutely everyone, can he make fun of himself? Will you answer that question for us, Callahan? Denise Rhiner Southeast Portland DON'T SPEAK I just picked up this week's issue [May 17, 2000] and found that the controversy over that stupid Callahan cartoon still remains, so I just have to say something: Listen to the goddamn song, people! And if Patti Smith is a little out of reach for you, listen to Marilyn Manson's cover of it on Smells Like Children. Everybody's jumping on this guy a little prematurely (and a little post-maturely, too). Hell, let's just get rid of the scary "N" word altogether--and while we're at it, let's get rid of the words "cracker," "spic," "gook," "chink," "kike" and "goombah." I have a better idea!! Why doesn't everybody just stop talking? Talking lead to expressing opinions, and opinions lead to free speech--and we all know that free speech is a bad, scary thing. So just shut up, everyone. Happy now? Teresa Roehr Southwest 9th Avenue LET THEM TALK In the ongoing discussion of the latest Callahan controversy, it is important to remember that Patti Smith did not originate the use of the "n-word" as an expression of being outcast, nor did John Lennon in his song protesting the oppression of women, "Woman is the Nigger of the World"; in his book A Region Not Home, the writer James Alan McPherson notes that white frontiersmen in the Oregon territory affirmed their outsider status by calling themselves the same epithet. Though arguably reckless in our age, this usage has a history of at least a century and a half. Also dangerous is the painless indulgence of condemning speech rather than actions. In her letter to the editors, Adrienne Weller says that "Your consistent publication of racist, homophobic, and anti-feminist cartoons of Callahan must stop." When did ideologies, in this case feminism, earn protection from scrutiny? Should capitalist ideology enjoy the same protection? The Callahan controversy shows, with considerable irony, that the greatest threat to free speech continues to come not from the government but from those who would shame all who disagree with them into silence. Informed discussion is far more valuable to the political health of this or any city than is yet another round of indignant slogans. James Tata Beaverton     - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published May 10, 2000