People Are Outraged Over This Betsy DeVos Cartoon

Gina Mei
Updated
Photo credit: Getty
Photo credit: Getty

From Cosmopolitan

The controversy surrounding one of President Donald Trump's most contentious cabinet picks just got an extra boost.

In a political cartoon published in the Belleville News-Democrat on Monday, conservative artist Glenn McCoy recreated Norman Rockwell's iconic painting "The Problem We All Live With" - with education secretary Betsy DeVos at the center instead of civil rights activist Ruby Bridges. The image was quick to go viral, with many expressing their outrage over the suggested parallels, including Chelsea Clinton.

As many have since pointed out, the cartoon seems to imply that what Bridges experienced as the first black child to attend a segregated, all-white school in New Orleans in 1960 is somehow comparable to what DeVos is experiencing now as an unpopular education secretary. In particular, The Huffington Post suggests that the cartoon was likely meant to be in reference to DeVos being blocked from entering a D.C. public school last week after protestors refused to let her by. (She was eventually able to get in.)

Soon after it made the rounds on the internet, many took to social media to add to the conversation and further explain why the cartoon and its comparisons were so offensive.

Meanwhile, others chose to celebrate Bridges for what an incredible, powerful human she is - while reflecting on the fact that former President Barack Obama once had that same Rockwell painting hanging inside the White House.

Follow Gina on Twitter.

You Might Also Like