Marietta tavern owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he's peddling, featuring cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with "Obama in '08" scrolled underneath, are "cute." But to a coalition of critics, the shirts are an insulting exploitation of racial stereotypes from generations past.
"It's time to put an end to this," said Rich Pellegrino, a Mableton resident and director of the Cobb-Cherokee Immigrant Alliance. It was among the organizations planning to gather outside Mulligan's Bar and Grill Tuesday afternoon to protest the "racist and highly offensive" shirts.
"There's no place for these views, not in this day and age," he said.
Just down the street from Marietta's famous Big Chicken, Mulligan's has carved a provocative niche in an increasingly multicultural area, thanks to its owner's ultra-conservative political views. If you live in Marietta, it's impossible not to know what's on Norman's mind, as he posts his views on signs in front of Mulligan's.
Among his recent musings: "I wish Hillary had married OJ," "No habla espanol — and never will" and the standard "I.N.S. Agents eat free."
"I'm saying out loud what everyone in this town whispers," Norman said.
Whatever residents think of the signs, organized opposition to his blunt commentaries — ongoing for 16 years — had been nonexistent. No longer, says Pellegrino, who, though familiar with Norman's politics, said he was still surprised by the stark imagery of the Obama T-shirts.
"There's a lot of people hurt by this," he said.
Norman said those offended are "hunting for a reason to be mad" and insisted he is "not a racist."
Why picture Obama as Curious George? "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears, he looks just like Curious George," Norman said.
He said it's just a coincidence that the character he chose for the T-shirt is a monkey. Norman said proceeds raised from sales of the T-shirts will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Cartoon t-shirts are so tame compared to the kind of campaigns that used to be standard in American politics that you have to wonder if we're becoming a nation of political wimps who get offended at every turn. Whether this shirt is considered racist is in the eye of the beholder, but anyone who doesn't think race will have an effect on the election because "we've all moved beyond that" isn't paying attention. There are still lots of people in this country for whom race will be the deciding factor, whether that's appropriate or not. And why is that? Because there's a whole industry out there, led by people like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, designed to keep race at the forefront of everyday life.
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