Aaron McGruder's backlash series The Boondocks delivers brilliant, mordant thrusts against the modern sensibilities of both whites and blacks. © & ™ 2006 Cartoon Network.

In researching countless reviews of the recent Woody Woodpecker DVD release, I was unable to come up with any reviewer expressing outrage over stereotypical cartoons being released, and without any disclaimers. If racial attitudes have not greatly changed, and there is still a noticeable degree of polarization present between blacks and whites in America, what has changed? How is it that previously censored cartoons are appearing (or being planned for release) on DVD, and how is it that previously unspeakable race-based humor is finding its way into television animation?

I asked Chris Lehman, author of American Animated Cartoons of the Vietnam Era (as well as the upcoming book The Colored Cartoon), and a man with extensive knowledge of racist cartoons, his opinion. Lehman believes that marketing plays a major role. As he stated during an e-mail interview:

"I think that racist cartoons are emerging because DVD collections of old theatrical cartoon shorts are being marketed to adults. Those films and their stars, like Woody Woodpecker, aren't shown on television very much anymore. As a result, kids would not want a DVD collection of cartoons they know nothing about. However, adults would remember the "classic" cartoons, so the studios target adults for DVD purchases. The studios then leave in the racist content, because theoretically adults are old enough to put the content in its time context and to regard the stereotypes as grotesque exaggerations. Minoriteam probably airs in 'Adult Swim' for the same reason."

Good points, and possibly true, but there may be other reasons as well. One possibility may be that these cartoons may not carry the stigma that they once did because material even more offensive has superseded them. While there is no doubt that the racist or prejudicial attitudes that existed at the time were every bit as objectionable as they are today, it may be that these stereotypes, portrayed as they were during the 1940s, no longer push the same buttons. It may also be true that there is a different agenda among those who wish to fight racism, one consisting of matters more urgent than banning cartoon shorts made over 60 years ago.

The final volume of The Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection, released earlier this month, omits several questionable cartoons.

The stereotypes that appear in Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B and its contemporary films are those of the wide-eyed, thick-lipped, dice-tossing buffoon; those appearing in Song of the South depict plantation hands so servile, deferential, and absurdly spiritual that many viewers believe that the film is actually set in the Antebellum South. These stereotypes, shameful in their day, are old and stale. They do not resonate with those who have seen the victories of the Civil Rights movements, the gains made by blacks in business, entertainment, and virtually every field of employment. The racism in these theatrical cartoons is as antiquated today as that once subscribed to by the Know-Nothing Party or the Ku Klux Klan.

Many black journalists (and, yes, white ones as well) now decry the modern racist stereotypes, such as that of the thuggish black rapper, whose tendencies towards violence, misogyny, and lawlessness is as mendacious in its own way as the slow-talking drawl and shuffle of Stepin Fetchit. Dripping with bling, eyes perpetually hidden behind menacing shades, and ready to threaten violence to a cop, a rival, or a "ho," this stereotype is the modern face of racism and bears little resemblance to successful, law-abiding members of the black community. Coal Black, Queenie, and Prince Chawmin' are simply not in the same league; it is now the 2000s, and as Don Imus learned, racism must be confronted in more modern terms.

Recent statistics suggest there are more young black men in jail than in college, and depressing studies indicate that one in every four young black men will run afoul of the law. It is almost certain that inequities exist in the American justice system, ones that go far beyond "crimes" such as "driving while black." After decades of questioning the legal system, angry blacks (and white supporters) descended on Jena, Louisiana, where the unfortunate story of an unpunished hate crime at a school escalated into retaliatory incidents; the participant who ended up temporarily jailed was black.

At the same time, cultural attitudes that cripple young blacks through the glorification of violence and the embracing of willful ignorance unfortunately seem to exist. Bryan Burwell, a columnist for the St. Louis Dispatch, summed up the struggle in a piece appearing on MSNBC.com (23 August 2007). In writing about Michael Vick's apologists, Burwell noted: