The Boston Herald continues its tradition of being kinda very racist:
There was never going to be a shred of plausibility that watermelon was a completely random choice of fruit with no racial overtones. But
just in case anyone was going to try to claim that shred of plausibility:
... a similar cartoon posted to an archive of [cartoonist Jerry] Holbert’s work on GoComics.com doesn’t use the watermelon stereotype—in that version, the toothpaste is raspberry-flavored, even though the rest of the cartoon is drawn up exactly the same[.]
It’s unclear at what point the choice to use “watermelon” was made before the cartoon went to print and appeared in Wednesday’s newspaper. A call to the Herald’s editorial desk was not immediately returned Wednesday morning, and the paper has yet to comment on the strip, which continues to infuriate readers online.
So, was Holbert's original cartoon the racist one run by the
Herald and changed for syndication, or did the
Herald take an innocuous enough cartoon and say "you know what this needs? a little racism."
In 2012, of course, the Herald waged a series of racist attacks on Elizabeth Warren. And as the watermelon cartoon shows, their racism remains unsubtle and cliched, no trying to pretend it's anything but the ugliness it is.
Just please go give $3 to one of Daily Kos' endorsed Democrats, because, really, screw these racists.