I’ve never been a fan of the New Yorker, unless it features my friend Dagoberto Gilb, of course. Still, one just has to point out the travesty of a “mainstream” publication blatantly stealing ideas; especially when they are stolen from fellow Chicanos.
The New Yorker’s recent cover has Obama as the first president of the United States, George Hussein Washington. But, geez, my camarada en Califas, Lalo Alcaraz had done this one back in February when the primary campaign was just getting hot. Gustavo Arrellano at the OC Weekly post the same, in case you don’t want to trust the word of Stace.
All I can think of is one word…plagiarism!
And really, which Obama are we going to like more? The smiling Obama or the mean-looking one?
I think the New Yorker owes Lalo some reparations. ¿Que no?
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We have asked the New Yorker for an explanation:
Mr. Remnick, have you compared the January 26, 2009, cover of the New Yorker showing Barack Obama wearing a wig like the Founding Fathers wore — with the image by Latino artist Lalo Alcaraz of Barack Obama wearing a wig like the Founding Fathers wore? It seems you owe an explanation to your readers – and to Lalo.
Lalo’s Obama image was a popular image during the 2008 presidential campaign. The Latino Inaugural Celebration Executive Committee presented Lalo’s political cartoon artwork during the Presidential Inauguration. Lalo’s cartoons were used by many activists and organizers in California and nationwide during the 2009 campaign to rally the Latino vote and recruit new voters into the political process. I understand that Lalo’s image appeared as an editorial cartoon in February/March 2008 in possibly the L.A. Weekly, and on the internet, including the popular editorial cartoon site cagle.com on MSNBC. The image also appeared in a color Sunday cartoon in his daily nationally syndicated La Cucaracha comic strip, as seen locally in the Los Angeles Times, and in over 65 newspapers nationwide. It also appeared in a YouTube video, and on hundreds of posters and magnets sold at political events in Southern California.
See the letter from The City Project. http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/archives/1229