Don’t think of the pink elephant! Err … chimpanzee.During a timeout at a Hornets game the other day, the team’s dance troupe, named the Honeybees, danced as they usually do. Only this time they danced to Sir Mix-A-Lot’s old booty-shaking hit “Baby Got Back,” and the dance troupe was apparently trying to prove to all the families in the Hive that they do, indeed, got back. As they shook their barely clad bottoms for a full minute and everyone in the arena felt slightly uncomfortable, it was clear this was meant to be innocent fun.It was more than apparent that, somehow, no one in the Hornets organization considered this might be slightly inappropriate and, frankly, kind of weird. It was overlooked.Someone could have called them “whores” and made the Honeybees promise never to dance provocatively again.But that person would have made a fool of himself — conducting himself exactly like Al Sharpton did in light of a controversial cartoon released by The New York Post.The cartoon, published Feb. 18, depicts a policeman shooting a chimpanzee while another officer says “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”Critics, most notably Sharpton, claimed the cartoon played with old racial stereotypes and was both inappropriate and offensive.Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., the Post’s parent company, said it was playing off the chimpanzee that was caught and shot by police after recently mauling a woman in Connecticut.Cartoonist Sean Delonas — who the NAACP wants fired — said the allegation was “absolutely friggin’ ridiculous,” reported CNN.Murdoch offered two   apologies, but Sharpton wants more — he’s being vague about exactly what constitutes “more.”He claimed, “Let us make no mistake about it: We have seen two apologies in one week — really one and a half apologies — which is unprecedented, but clearly not far enough,” according to CNN.And now it is a pink elephant for an issue that was probably just a mistake, granted a fairly bad mistake.In a short story by Orson Scott Card, a man is cloned, then each clone is sentenced to death until he can offer an acceptable apology for his treason against the state. He never can, because the state continues to kill him with each unacceptable apology.Mountains out of molehills is one thing, but Sharpton is making planets out of ant piles.Not to mention the fact that former President George W. Bush was routinely depicted as a chimp.And the only thing someone coming out against this cartoon can do is crash down on his head. There are places where racism exists clearly, blatantly and with more consequences than hurt feelings. The editorial cartoons in a joke of a newspaper is not one of those places. All this will do is gain publicity for Sharpton, which is undoubtedly what he wants. It will not shed light on racism, especially since the cartoon probably isn’t meant to be racist.Even if it was, there are bigger battles for the NAACP and Sharpton to fight. Far more Americans have seen the cartoon than would have seen it before he spoke up. In all honesty, many wouldn’t have seen this before Sharpton talked loud enough for his voice to end up in a college paper like The Daily Reveille.Sharpton created a pink elephant, and now he is continuing to peddle his horrid creation, which will do nothing more than lessen his credibility. If the cartoon was meant to spread racism, then Sharpton has given it legs to stand on.Whether that dead chimpanzee represented our president or the actual deceased chimpanzee doesn’t matter.All that matters is most of America will now think it represents our president.Top-notch work, Sharpton.Travis Andrews is a 21-year-old English major from Metairie.—-Contact Travis Andrews at [email protected]