On February 18th Rupert Murdock's New York Post published a cartoon of two beefy white policemen who have just slain the author of the stimulus package—a chimpanzee who lies in a pool of blood.

The paper's defense—just good-hearted fun, no harm intended to the first African American President who devised and just signed the package. Perhaps this was Murdock's contribution to African American history month or race relations? Or was it a public call for reasoned debate over the stimulus package?

Perhaps a better defense by the Murdock media empire would be to hide behind its known record of insensitivity and suggested violence toward to people of color. On May 25, 2008 during the Democratic primaries Murdock's Fox TV News specifically aimed assassination humor at candidate Obama. As co-anchor Liz Trotta signed off her Sunday evening "Fair and Balanced" news broadcast she urged that "somebody knock off Osama, um, Obama—well both, if we could.” [New York Times, May 27, 2008, 20A] So much for good night and good luck.

Soon after McCain and Palin hit the campaign trail some attendees at Republican rallies greeted Obama's name with shouts of "traitor" and "kill him." More innocent fun? Just adding excitement to the election season? The secret service did not think so.

The past warns us that threats of violence against presidents are serious matters. Gunmen have taken the lives of four U.S. presidents: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan narrowly escaped assassination attempts. During the 1968 election campaign candidate Robert Kennedy was slain, and candidate George Wallace was severely wounded during another election cycle. In a country that seems to harbor some violent individuals is there a question whether the media should encourage or discourage them?

As the first black president takes office in this trying time gunplay humor is no joke. After the Civil War, scores of African American office-holders in the South, along with many white political allies, were slain, beaten or driven from office by Ku Klux Klan nightriders. Hardly a decade after Emancipation massive intimidation and murder had nullified the civil rights laws enacted by Congress and eviscerated three Constitutional Amendments designed to protect the lives and liberties of former slaves in the states of the old Confederacy. In the middle of the 20th century, murders of white and African American civil rights workers in the South aimed to block those marching toward justice, equality and voting rights. If we factor in lynching, violent opposition to African Americans' pursuit of either public office or other citizenship rights has left a body count in the thousands. Talk about acts of terrorism against Americans!

President Obama has warned us against continuing childish ways. The Murdock media empire should curb its immature inclinations, if that's what they are. They are too dangerous for a democracy.

Photo: Luc De Leeuw