Dartblog

It has come to my attention that a racially insensitive comic was published in The Dartmouth yesterday. Dartblog will link to the comic when an online version becomes available.

The comic, by two seniors, contains racial attacks against Bonnie Lam ‘10, who circulated a pro-Board Packing petition among current students much like the anti-Board Packing one by Diane Ellis ‘08. The central idea of the comic is that Dartmouth is now “outsourcing propaganda” to “somewhere in Asia,” where Ms. “Bone-Y-Ram” toils away “for Dartmouth Undying.” The comic depicts Ms. Lam’s face in a stereotypically Asian way, and the crudely drawn object representing Ms. Lam is unable to pronounce the English letter “L.” In the final frame, an object apparently representing a Dartmouth student asks “Who is Bone-Y-Ram,” to which an adjacent object replies, “Another self proclaimed hooker… I mean leader.”

Though I agree with the anti-Board Packing sentiment that the comic expresses, and though it goes without saying that the artists have the right to publish such work, it goes equally without saying that the work is tasteless, nasty, obnoxious, petty, and offensive.

I reject this comic in the strongest possible terms. I can only hope that the artists’ extreme imbecility will not derail the valiant anti-Board Packing efforts of the more level-headed thousands, courageous leaders all, who fight day in and day out to maintain Democracy at Dartmouth.

ZAK Adds: I could not agree with Jake more, he expresses above my feelings about the cartoon to a T. I post this addendum only to the highlight the point that the message against Board-packing should not get lost. Although Bonnie Lam ‘10 is not, to my knowledge, one of them, that some students are being paid to support the Board-packing effort and these “student initiatives” are being passed off as grassroots rather than acknowledged as artificial, is deserving of disdain.

JAKE UPDATES: The Dartmouth has decided not to post the comic online. Dartlog has a photo of the print version here.