Some 40 years ago, this Elmhurst boy looked forward to “Injun Summer’s” annual appearance. No other words and pictures conjured autumn so well, and I absorbed it completely, my 10-year-old eyes misty with emotions.
I grew up, moved Downstate and stopped reading the Tribune for a few years. When I resubscribed, I could not wait for the next appearance of “Injun Summer,” so anxious was I to re-experience that warm emotion and be reminded of my youth.
It finally came (Oct. 5). Expectantly, I read it, and I was immediately in tears. The cartoon moved me, not to nostalgia, but to shame that I had ever enjoyed the cheap and offensive stereotypes, and to sympathy for your many Native American readers
The dignity of the minority should never be sacrificed for the enjoyment of the majority. The fact that something is popular does not make it right.
Fred Spannaus, Decatur
I heartily salute the Tribune’s decision not only to reprint John McCutcheon’s famous “Injun Summer” but also to put it in full color on the front page of the Magazine.
McCutcheon and the Tribune are important forces in the history of American newspaper cartooning, and the work of this master of the medium deserves not to be neglected.
That anyone could be offended by this cartoon is, of course, a matter of perspective. But art inherently has the capacity to offend as well as to stimulate, as witness many a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibition, an American flag displayed on the floor or a crucifix suspended in urine. It would be an empty world indeed if anything potentially controversial were wiped from our walls and from print.
Yes, “Injun Summer” is an artifact of another time, but then so is the “Mona Lisa.” Thank you for sharing it with us once again.
David L. Applegate, Chicago
So “Injun Summer” is back, and on the cover of the Tribune Magazine at that. As an artifact of the magazine’s past, I can live with it. But in the accompanying story, you say it may return as a yearly feature. This is totally unacceptable. Maybe some readers feel a misty nostalgia seeing this feature. It’s certainly a tribute to their ability to enjoy Norman Rockwellesque faux Americana, if they do, but I don’t think that excuses the reprinting of a nauseating piece of insensitivity to a people that we Americans massacred and exiled during our expansion across this continent.
The next time you run this piece of garbage will be the last time I buy the Tribune.
Rob Glaser, Chicago
When I was the age of the kid in “Injun Summer,” we had a saying for the oversensitive among us: “touchy, touchy!” To anyone who cannot see beyond the context to the human truths deeper than any race, time or country, I say “touchy, touchy!”
Robert Stanley, Des Plaines
What next? A cartoon showing cute little Sambo pickin’ dat cotton fo’ de Massa? And the Overseer assuring a little white boy that it’s OK; them slaves like to work all day for no money . . . makes ’em feel useful. . . ?!
Since my clan is most definitely Native American, we are somewhat dismayed to find we don’t exist. Yes, I know–it’s historical. Wow, you just can’t believe anyone would get so upset over a little cartoon, right?
Well, in case you haven’t noticed–and apparently you haven’t–enshrining racist attitudes and assumptions about “Injuns,” fat, red or otherwise, is detrimental.
Jenni Noah, Moline
It was great to see “Injun Summer” back in the Magazine. The Tribune has done its part to help end the dark era of political correctness.
Rick Derer, Clarendon Hills
I was raised in Ohio, Ill., just south of Dixon. My parents had little money, but we bought the Sunday Tribune. Nostalgia for the simpler times made me happy that my mother sent me the Magazine featuring “Injun Summer.” I was devastated when it was no longer published.
Mary Jo Knuth, Canoga Park, Calif.
I urge you to reprint “Injun Summer” again next year and the year after, etc. In an era where everything changes, it’s nice to see an old, familiar friend such as John T. McCutcheon’s drawing. I will treasure this issue.
Joan E. Bigos, Forest Park
Just a quick note of thanks for printing Mr. McCutcheon’s “Injun Summer.” After receiving bits and pieces of the Tribune, mainly depressing news of the Blackhawks and the Bears, “Injun Summer” made it to my cot and was most welcome. It made me think of home.
Scott Hedstrom, O Troop, Bosnia-Herzegovina
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