Zille accused of suggesting ‘all black men are rapists’ after sharing cartoon

Helen Zille found herself trending on Twitter on Monday morning after sparking yet another controversy on the platform by sharing a cartoon by cartoonist Jeremy ‘Jerm’ Nell.

The cartoon depicts a man in Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) regalia – it is unclear whether it is meant to be party leader Julius Malema or just any member of the party – talking to a white person.

“You should give back the land you stole,” says the EFF member.

“You should be jailed for raping my wife!” the white person responds.

“But I didn’t do that,” says the EFF member.

“Exactly,” the white person responds.

“This aptly captures the fallacy and racism behind race generalisations,” wrote Zille by way of a caption.

The cartoon, however, caused outrage.

Multiple users interpreted the cartoon – and Zille’s decision to share it – as implying that “all black people are rapists”.

Zille has strongly denied this, with the apparent intention of the cartoon being to use an analogy to show how accusing all white people of having stolen land is the same as accusing all black people of a crime they did not commit, with rape used as an example.

She has responded to several users who read the cartoon as a generalisation regarding black men and rape by questioning their “comprehension skills” and accusing some users of wilfully misunderstanding her.

READ MORE: Outrage at colonialism tweets ‘fake’, driven by Bell Pottinger-type network – Zille

Commenting on the backlash, she told The Citizen: “It is to be expected from the woke mob, but it is still astounding. Anyone with basic comprehension would see I posted a tweet to show how WRONG and HATEFUL all race-based generalisations are.

“To then accuse me of making race-based generalisations can have only two explanations. 1) Either the problem of reading-for-meaning is worse than we thought or 2) this is just wilful misrepresentation. I suspect the latter. Entrenching a culture of outraged victimhood is the pre-occupation of a growing number of social media users,” she said.

Cartoonist Jeremy ‘Jerm’ Nell has not yet responded to requests for comment, but did post a detailed response to the outrage on his blog, echoing Zille’s assertion that the outrage is “manufactured”.

Zille has been the source of outrage on Twitter before, most recently with controversial tweets on the topic of “black privilege” in May this year.

Before this, her views on colonialism landed in hot water back in March 2017, when the former DA leader tweeted: “For those claiming legacy of colonialism was ONLY negative, think of our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water etc.”

Despite the scathing response she received on Twitter at the time, Zille continued to justify her view, making further reference to “specialised health care and medication”, which she said would not have been possible without the “colonial influence”.

After an uproar, she apologised “unreservedly for a tweet that may have come across as a defence of colonialism”.

She has, however, since suggested that the outrage surrounding her tweet was driven by “fake accounts, bots and sockpuppets, driven by a kind of Bell Pottinger network”.

The DA took disciplinary action against Zille due to the tweet, with federal chairperson James Selfe telling News24 in April 2017 that she had been charged “with having broadly brought the party into disrepute and damaging the party”.

This resulted in Zille being suspended from participation in party activities, although she has since been elected to the important position of the party’s federal council chairperson.

She has repeated her view that the legacy of colonialism is not solely negative on Twitter several times since, most recently saying that “the very concept of a state is a legacy of colonialism” in April this year.

This aptly captures the fallacy and racism behind race generalizations. pic.twitter.com/a4Q32WfdTN

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 29, 2019

It's a cartoon of two people accusing each other falsely of heinous crimes in the basis of their race. That is despicable. You really have to do a lot of contortioning to twist the meaning of that cartoon.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

Is Helen now generalising and saying all black people are rapists?

Is she also denying that land was forcefully taken from a people and people were murdered for the land?

The DA and Helen Zille are very disrespectful then if these are her views.

They do not deserve any power https://t.co/ZfyJEQXKws

— JM (@JoyMulalo) December 30, 2019

https://twitter.com/NieFollowNie/status/1211560907068911616

https://twitter.com/N_many_mo/status/1211552150117113856

Helen zille has insinuated that all black man are rapists… what a time to be alive.

— Ghazi. (@qGiancana) December 30, 2019

https://twitter.com/GrootmanTebza/status/1211531927557156865

https://twitter.com/_NewMeWhoDis/status/1211545965603229696

Oh absolute rubbish. I said it was a racist fallacy. What is wrong with your comprehension skills!?

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— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

Astounding. I post a tweet to show how WRONG and HATEFUL all race-based generalisations are, and I get accused of making race-based generalisations. Either the problem of reading-for-meaning is worse than we thought or this is just willful misrepresentation. I suspect the latter.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

100%. Tweet of the week. At least some people are actually clear-headed enough after the festivities to read for meaning. https://t.co/Md0TBygofn

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

It is a tweet debunking racial generalizations. And that is necessary in our society even if many people want to apply hateful generalizations to every white person. If generalizing about blacks is wrong, which it is, the same is true of whites.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 29, 2019

The greatest threat to our country, apart from economic collapse, is race generalisations. We need to see each other as individuals accountable for our personal actions. That cartoon exposes the lunacy of blaming everyone, on the basis of their race, for the crimes of others.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

I too, do not believe in race generalisations but I don't think that was the way to make that point, the way to break stereotypes is to build bridges and posting that certainly didn't do that!

— Amanda Reekie 🇿🇦 (@moozir) December 30, 2019

Thanks Amanda for a rational debate. I have spent my entire life building bridges. However, the woke brigade, who define whites/whiteness as SA's key problem are determined to portray every white as a criminal land thief. This is as absurd as accusing every black person of crime.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) December 30, 2019

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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