Another holiday classic has been slapped with the label “racist” by SJWs for supposedly marginalizing the token black character: “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”
People on social media have expressed outrage over the fact that the lone black character Franklin in “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” appears seated differently juxtaposed to the white characters during the famous dinner scene where Charlie Brown serves popcorn and toast to his hungry guests instead of turkey and stuffing. From The Hill:
The scene in question has four characters from Charles M. Schulz’s iconic “Peanuts” cartoon — Sally, Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty and dog Snoopy — sitting on one side of a makeshift outdoor table for Thanksgiving dinner, with Marcie at one end of the table and Linus at the head.
The cartoon’s lone black character, Franklin, is on his own side of the table seated on a lawn chair.
Comicbook.com was the first to flag the reactions to the scene on social media.
“Not watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving anymore, until they sit some people on the same side of the table as Franklin,” said one Twitter user.
“How come Franklin, Charlie Brown’s only black friend, sits alone on the other side of the table? And in a lawn chair,” said another Twitter user. “Am I woke now, why is Franklin in Charlie Brown Thanksgiving sitting all by himself at the table. Man. Things that I did not notice as a child,” said another.
One Twitter user said the scene was reminiscent of the film “Get Out,” a story about rich, white liberals who insert their brains into black people’s bodies: “Let’s talk about Franklin. Dude gets invited to Charlie Brown’s by Peppermint Patty. Then he finds out that it wasn’t a real invite, a dog is cooking the food and he’s gotta sit by himself at dinner. That’s Get Out.”
Of course, all of them have no idea what on earth they are talking about. Fortunately, black journalist Jeremy Helligar cleared up some of the controversy on Friday when he noted that the character Franklin had prime seating in other episodes of the “Peanuts.”
“A relevant aside: During the farewell dinner about one hour and five minutes into 1972’s ‘Snoopy Come Home,’ Franklin was seated on the same side of the table as Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Frieda — in a regular chair,” Helligar said on Medium.
The historical significance of the character Franklin cannot be understated; his creation was reportedly demanded by Charles Schulz following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. when a teacher named Harriet Glickman sent him a letter.
“When asked by the head of the cartoon’s publisher, United Feature Syndicate, if he was sure he wanted to add a black character, Glickman says Schulz replied, ‘Either you run it the way I drew it, or I quit,'” reports The Hill.
The Schulz Museum also celebrated Franklin’s 50th anniversary in July. He has never been treated like a token black character added for cheap lip-service to diversity and has always been a valued member of the “Peanuts” gang.
“A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is not the only holiday classic the Left has skewered as racist in recent years. In 2016, Salon.com denounced “A Christmas Story” as a racist vehicle of “white nostalgia”:
This is a perfect depiction of the nonwhite “other,” tailored to the conservative and superficial “color-blind” politics of the post-civil rights era
This is an example of the “white racial frame” in action: People of color are present in a way that does not challenge the cultural and personal psychology of white racial innocence. They are present without being objectionable or intrusive in any way; they present no threat to the way whiteness and memory combine to nurture a nostalgia for a “simpler” time that in actuality did not exist.
Fortunately, no ban of “A Christmas Story” ever came about. Hopefully, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” will enjoy the same fate.