The New Yorker cover fused every white fear about the Obamas into one image.
Evidence
The Republican campaign scene that made Obama an Arab (standing for black) and the New York Times piece that made him a Muslim (standing for a Jew) then came together on a now-famous New Yorker cover (drawn by Barry Blitt for the July 21,2008, issue of the magazine) of Barack and Michelle Obama. Whether in jest or not (the cover did offend the Obama camp), it was the pictorial summation of everything that was fearful about the Obamas to white Americans. … Hanging from the wall of the Oval Office behind Obama is a portrait of Osama bin Laden. Burning in a fireplace underneath it is an American flag. Obama sports a shalwar kameez, a turban, and a pair of sandals, while Michelle Obama totes a gun and a round of ammunition, wears an Afro that recalls the Angela Davis of the 1960s, and features guerrilla-style military fatigues. The couple, fist-bumping in a gesture of solidarity and success, are black/ Muslim/Arab, and they are in the White House—of all the colors that a house might have. — Hamid Dabashi, Brown Skin, White Masks, 603
Categorization
- SEED: Angles toward an essay on how single images can collapse multiple identity anxieties (black/Arab/Muslim/Angela Davis) into one composite symbol.