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    Opinion: I'm shocked by the racist cartoons and travel bans sparked by omicron

    The variant is bringing out the worst in some Western governments and global media outlets, says Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor, a global health advocate in Nigeria.
    by Ifeanyi Nsofor Dec 07, 2021 3 minutes
    An excerpt of an apology made by <em>Bangkok Post</em> on Dec. 4. The Thai media outlet apologized for using racist language in a headline on a Dec. 2 story about the omicron variant. The headline read, "Government hunts for African visitors."

    Editor's Note: Warning, some of these images contain racist and offensive content.

    Part of me can't believe that editors reviewed and approved and published racist headlines and cartoons about the highly contagious omicron variant, first detected in Botswana and South Africa.

    But another part of me can believe it.

    On Nov. 28, the Spanish newspaper depicting the omicron variants as cartoon characters with brown skin and nappy hair, packed in a boat marked with a South African flag and approaching land with a European Union flag waving on its shores. On the same day, the German newspaper published a front-page story with the headline "The virus from Africa is with us," accompanied by a photo of two Black Africans. And on Dec. 2, a headline read, "Government hunts for African visitors."

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