The Colonial hangoverTintin in the Congo was published between 1930-31, second in the series of Tintin adventures where the opinion was that it was racist and colonialist, portraying black people as monkeys and imbeciles...This 76-year-old comic is not benign...it juxtaposes smart white men with "dumb" black people, the underlying current is man’s injustice and emasculation of other men...we cannot allow the liberal/conservative divide to give oxygen to the prejudice, because what might be the past in one society might as well be contemporaneous in others.
Herge, racism and the kids
Why is it that comics and children’s books incite such stupidity? The Brooklyn Public Library has moved Tintin in the Congo from its public shelves and placed it under lock-and-key as part of “a special collection of historic children's literature, available for viewing by appointment only”. ..There is no denying the racist elements in the book, a work by a naive and unenlightened creator...it can’t be ignored that it’s a children’s book and that stereotypes can have significant impact. The images Herge drew in Tintin...reflect the images of black people that he grew up with.