In last week’s international edition of The New York Times, a cartoon appeared showing President Donald J. Trump, in dark sunglasses, apparently being led by a dog that had the face of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a Star of David hanging from its collar. The cartoon has been widely condemned as antisemitic, including by the Times’s own opinion columnist Bret Stephens, who said, in part:

Here was an image that, in another age, might have been published in the pages of Der Stürmer. The Jew in the form of a dog. The small but wily Jew leading the dumb and trusting American. The hated Trump being Judaized with a skullcap. The nominal servant acting as the true master.

Stephens and other critics did not say that the cartoon also incorporated stereotypes of blind people, especially the idea that guide dogs “lead” their handlers, who would supposedly not know where we are going otherwise. If the president’s “blindness” in the cartoon signifies that he is “dumb and trusting,” which is how Stephens and probably many others interpret it, then by implication blind people are “dumb and trusting” as well.

While not wishing to minimize the concerns about the cartoon’s antisemitism, the National Federation of the Blind felt that the incorporation of low expectations of blind people needed to be pointed out as well. We submitted the below letter to the paper, which has not been published.

To the Editor: 

Regarding: “A Despicable Cartoon in the Times” by Bret Stephens, dated April 28, 2019

Bret Stephens’s use of the stereotype of blind people as “dumb and trusting,” also present in the cartoon he criticizes for its antisemitism, is insensitive, misguided, and reeks of ableism. We do use white canes and guide dogs to aid (not direct) us in getting to school, work, and to generally explore the world. Equating these tools with a lack of ability, purpose, or knowledge is inexcusable. As the president of the nation’s largest organization of blind people, the father of two blind children, and a blind person myself, I work every day to eliminate misconceptions like these and urge Mr. Stephens and The New York Times staff to refrain from using these harmful stereotypes in the future.

Mark A. Riccobono
President of the National Federation of the Blind 
Baltimore, MD

Resources on This Story:

A Despicable Cartoon in The Times by Bret Stephens
The Uproar Over an Anti-Semitic Cartoon
N.Y. Times Apologizes for Anti-Semitic Cartoon Featuring Netanyahu and Trump