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05/14/2008: "'Racist' chimp Obama T shirts"

Marietta bar owner Mike Norman says the T-shirts he's peddling, featuring a look-a-like of cartoon chimp Curious George peeling a banana, with "Obama in '08" underneath, are not meant to offend.

Norman acknowledged the imagery's Jim Crow roots but said he sees nothing wrong with depicting a prominent African-American as a monkey.

"We're not living in the (19)40's," he said. "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears he looks just like Curious George."

About a dozen prostestors rallied against the shirts Tuesday afternoon, condemning them as racist and asking Norman, longtime proprietor of Mulligan's Bar and Grill on Roswell Street, to stop selling them.

[ But there are pictures depicting President Bush as a chimp. ]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/cobb/stories/2008/05/13/mulligans_0514.html?cxntnid=amn051408e