Tintin in the Detroit: The Horror, the Horror!

Wait until she reads Tintin in the Detroit!

One of the more anticipated movies of 2011 is The Adventures of Tintin, the tale of the boy journalist and his trusty canine companion Snowy. It appears that a few people are up in arms at one of the early stories published in a more ignorant and unenlightened time period, Tintin in the Congo, which has the audacity of depicting Black people as, well, Black people:

The Campaign for Real Education has condemned his publishers as “over the top” for deciding to package one of his early adventures, Tintin in the Congo, in shrink-wrap and with a warning about its content.

Its criticism comes within weeks of the worldwide release of Steven Spielberg’s new film about the boy reporter and his dog Snowy. 

George Remi, the Belgian artist better known as Herge, first published his tale of derring-do in Africa in 1930. When he re-worked it in 1946 he removed several references to the Congo being a Belgian colony. 

But the book still contained a number of images that were perceived as racist. One of these showed a black woman bowing to Tintin and saying `White man very great…White mister is big juju man`. 

Over the decades Herge’s work was excluded from reprints and became synonymous with racism that in 2004 a spokesman for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s government responded to criticism by a Belgian foreign minister by saying: “It’s Tintin In The Congo all over again." 

Three years later the Commission for Racial Equality claimed the book depicted "hideous racial prejudice" and said it should be removed from sale. 

The then Borders chain of bookshops agreed to move it to the adult graphic novels area of its shops, and Waterstones followed suit. 

Nick Seaton, secretary of the Campaign for Real Education, is perturbed by the restrictions being placed on the book’s sale in the run-up to the release of the Spielberg film The Adventures of Tintin. 

“Most parents will think this is over the top,” he claimed. “As long as children understand times have changed it seems ridiculous to separate this book into the adult section 

“Much of children’s literature is extremely graphic and sexually explicit these days and no one seems to bother about that.” 

He added: “It is another example of political correctness gone mad. All these silly attempts at censorship do not do a lot of good. 

“It is a bit like the restrictions on Kipling because of his old fashioned values. Bookshops have to be responsible about things like this, but it can go too far and this is ridiculous.” 

The book’s publisher, Egmont UK, said it recognised that some readers may be offended by the content.
A spokesman said: “This is why we took the unusual step of placing a protective band around the book with a warning about the content and also included an introduction inside the book by the original translators explaining the historical context. 

“Whilst being frequently requested by fans and collectors who had seen it available in other languages, the work contains scenes which some readers may find offensive.” 

The warning reads: “In his portrayal of the Belgian Congo, the young Hergé reflects the colonial attitudes of the time… 

“He depicted the African people according to the bourgeois, paternalistic stereotypes of the period – an interpretation that some of today’s readers may find offensive.”

 Of course, Disingenuous White Liberals (DWLs) must do everything in their power to keep negative depictions of Black people from entering the consciousness of the average American (or, in the case of the European Union, the average European). Even if that means banning a harmless children's story in the process, though luckily those who read Unamusement Park had a much better tour guide of the Congo than Tintin ever did.

Our question for those DWLs who would ban unflattering stories and images that barely scratch the surface of what transpired (and the depravity of life in what is now loosely called the Congo) in deepest, darkest Africa, is what to make of major American cities where the Black Undertow has been left firmly in control.

What to make of Detroit? Could you imagine the hilarious stories and dangerous adventures that Tintin could find in deepest, darkest Detroit? All he'd have to do is ride the public transportation into the heart of darkness at the Rosa Parks Transit Center (you can't make this stuff up) and he'd see behavior that isn't even found in The Congo:

People who catch the bus in Detroit may be waiting a while Friday morning. About 100 Detroit Department of Transportation bus drivers are at work, but are refusing to drive their buses.

That's Detroit... not the Congo

WWJ’s Scott Ryan spoke with Henry Gaffney, spokesman for the D-DOT bus drivers union AFL-CIO Local 26, who said this was not an organized maneuver by the union. Gaffney said it’s a matter of  bus drivers fearing for their safety, citing an incident that happened Thursday afternoon.

“Our drivers are scared, they’re scared for their lives. This has been an ongoing situation about security. I think yesterday kind of just topped it off, when one of my drivers was beat up by some teenagers down in the middle of Rosa Parks and it took the police almost 30 minutes to get there, in downtown Detroit,” said Gaffney.

Speaking live on WWJ, Mayor Dave Bing spokesman Stephen Serkaian said they are working hard to resolve the matter and get drivers back on the road.

“We’re working diligently to work with the union and encouraging the drivers to get back on the buses and get on the street,” said Serkaian.

Gaffney said bus safety is an ongoing problem.

“If it’s to the point where if the driver is not safe on the bus, then the passengers are not safe, then the citizens are not safe. You know, what about them too? We have no security, you can’t get the police, nobody is doing anything to protect us. And I’ve been begging the mayor and the council for two years to do something to help us,” said Gaffney.

But, Serkaian said there are discussions in the city right now to improve bus safety.

“It is a concern. We want to protect drivers and passengers alike. We used to have police presence on the buses. We’re talking about the prospect of perhaps trailing buses with police cars. Nothing has been decided, it’s all in discussion right now,” said Serkaian. “It’s a short-term and a long-term matter… It’s all about money and it’s all about funding, and our transportation system is already stretched to the max.”

WWJ’s Vickie Thomas was at a deserted Rosa Parks Transit Center in downtown Detroit, which is typically booming with passengers and buses alike.

Saharah X. was waiting at the center for 30 minutes before flagging down a cab.

“They just try to find a way not to do their job. And then they got innocent old people, there an old lady on a cane sitting outside over there, that’s dangerous. And she got to walk? Wow. I mean, what is the world coming to? No love, no nothing. Everybody’s just thinking about themselves. Think about other people some,” she said.

Richard Moses, who rides the bus every day, was waiting a bus stop along Woodward Avenue when a D-DOT supervisor rolled up in an SUV and basically told him to find another form of transportation Friday morning.

“They said there’s no D-DOT buses running at this time and they don’t know when any will be starting back up. I just got off work, I work midnights. Luckily, I got dropped off right here or else I would have been sitting on 8 Mile and Woodward, and I’ve got to go all the way to Livernois and Warren,” said Moses.

Serkaian said they’re asking stranded riders who are waiting for the bus to get to school and work to hang on and be patient.

“We understand their frustration, we feel their pain. We simply have to ask folks to be a little bit more patient while we try to resolve this matter,” he said.

For those wondering, Black teenagers attacked bus drivers in Detroit, just like Black teenagers are engaging in Mahogany Mob attacks all across the country. The bus drivers are "scared for their lives" because of Black people attacking buses (rumors of spears found at the scene are unconfirmed).

How's that comeback for Detroit coming, USA Today? And all you conservatives blasting "liberal" policies for the downfall of Detroit: public transportation works swimmingly in Boulder, Denver, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco: it's not a matter of what, but who.

In the case of Detroit, a city that is roughly 82 percent Black, and should now be called The Congo of the Detroit River.

Public transportation can work; but only in cities that lack a percentage of Black people. In the case of Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Birmingham, Cleveland, etc., public transportation is a sunk cost. In the case of Portland, public transportation is a wonderful way to get around the city (but isn't Portland more liberal than Detroit?).


Tintin would have some high adventures in one of the former great cities of the world, traversing the ruins of the city and visiting former buildings, libraries, train stations, and factories where life was once vibrant, replaced with the shattered dream of racial equality. Each broken window, never replaced, in Detroit is a reminder of the nightmare unleashed by DWLs that plagues many of America's major cities.

What Tintin would see in Detroit would make his Tintin in the Congo seem like a scene out of The Wiz: he would see the reality of what happens when white flight gives way to Black Undertow rule. That, my friends, is an adventure not even Tintin would be prepared to take. Not even Tintin's dog Snowy would want to go on that adventure.

For all those who say colonialism is racist, isn't gentrification just another form of this pernicious practice?