When a Joke is Not Just a Joke

The first full week of the New Year was deadly.

• On Wednesday the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was attacked by a pair of French-Algerian brothers who claimed to be a part of Al-Qaeda.  
• The next day a French police officer was killed by a man claiming to belong to the same jihadist organization that the brothers belonged to.
• On Friday hostages were taken at a Kosher market by a French citizen of Senegalese origin who claimed to be in contact with the two brothers responsible for the shooting at Charlie Hebdo.  Police assert that this same man was responsible for the shooting of the police officer a day earlier.

In total 20 people were killed (including three suspects), and millions took to the streets in solidarity with the victims.

Photo: The Economist

Worldwide, millions more tweeted using the hashtag #JeSuiCharlie or I Am Charlie.  Hashtags bring awareness to important issues, but in this case I wonder how many people tweeting and re-tweeting bothered to look at the cartoons featured in Charlie Hebdo.

Black Minister of Justice Christiane Taubira depicted as a monkey

In the first image, France's Justice Minister Christiane Taubira is depicted as a monkey with large gold hoop earrings.  Supporters of Charlie Hebdo say that the image is poking fun at Taubira's racist detractors, and is therefore not racist in itself.  This argument is similar to the argument made by supporters of the New Yorker who claimed that their controversial cover was making fun of those who associate the Obamas with extremist Muslims, rather than racist itself.  The problem with satire is that some will get it, some will be offended, and some will have their racist suspicions affirmed.

The New Yorker

The title of this image below reads, "Boko Haram's Sex Slaves Are Angry."  The thought bubble over the girls' heads says "Don't Touch Our Welfare."

There are some explanations online that assert that this cartoon is a satire of racism, rather than an example of racism.  The idea is that the cartoon makes fun of anti-welfare politicians who are so irrational that they assume even Nigerian girls held as child sex slaves want welfare.  For those who are offended by the image, the larger implication is that they just don't understand French humor.  My question is do the African and Caribbean immigrants in France get French humor?  Do their children?

The pen may be mightier than the sword, but the visual image is an even more powerful.  Just as one can't talk about police brutality without considering the legacy of slavery and segregation in America, one cannot talk about terrorism in France without talking about the legacy of colonialism in Africa.   France can keep ignoring the anger of the children of it's former colonies, claiming that they "can't take" or "don't get" the joke, it but will do so at its own peril.