According to Politico.com, Obama’s campaign released a statement condemning New Yorker magazine’s recent cover featuring Obama in a caricature of Islamic dress and his wife adorned in a racist caricature of black femininity. The cover depicts Obama and his wife giving each other the now famous “fist bump”. In the image, Michelle Obama is lampooned as a so-called militant with ammunition, a machine gun, and a large afro. Behind the exaggerated caricatures of the candidate and his wife is a fireplace with an American flag burning in the background. The image is so offensive that even McCain’s campaign (who cannot be celebrated as champions of diversity and social justice by any means) agree stating, “We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it’s tasteless and offensive.”

Even though I believe in free speech, I agree with the campaign’s stance. The cover is gaining the attention and controversy that its creators certainly hoped to garner with this bold visual representation. My concern is that this presentation of stereotypes will reify and validate much of the hate mongering ugliness that is already infecting the national conversation about Obama,Michelle Obama, foreign policy, and race relations in general.

Moreover, as a black woman with natural hair in general, I am disturbed by their racist and sexist depiction of conscious black femininity. I find it interesting that the New Yorker’s illustrators styled Michelle Obama in a huge afro in order to depict Obama’s wife as “militant”, “angry” and “unpatriotic”–as if a black woman wearing her hair in its most natural state is synonymous with flag burning and militarism.