I have just one question. Who the hell is Quannel X?
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- A comic-book character popular in Mexico for generations has run into a cultural barrier at the border, where Americans see
him as a racist caricature.
Comic book character Memin Pinguin is "a disgrace," an African-American activist says.
For more than 60 years Mexicans have followed the adventures of "Memin Pinguin." But the dark-skinned Memin's exaggerated features in "Memin for President" came as a shock to Houston, Texas, Wal-Mart shopper Shawnedria McGinty.
"I was like, OK, is that a monkey or a boy?" McGinty said. "To me it was an insult."
She'd never heard of "Memin Pinguin." She bought a Spanish-English dictionary and tried translating but still didn't like what she saw.
"So I asked my boyfriend, does that look like a monkey to you?" she said. "And we went back and forth and he was like, no, that's a black woman," referring to the character's Aunt Jemima-like mother.
McGinty and Houston community activist Quannel X want the comic books removed from the stores.
"This is absolutely insensitive toward race, in particular the African-American culture, and also people of color," Quannel X said. "This is poking fun at the physical features of an entire people."
But Mexican readers who grew up following the shenanigans of Memin say critics need to look beyond the cover and understand the stories.
"They will bring a smile to their face because we're so fond of that character," said Javier Salas, a Spanish-language talk show host on Chicago radio station WRTO. "We respect him, we love him. And that's why it's so absurd for us to hear complaints from people who don't know, don't understand Memin."
Memin is a poor Cuban-Mexican kid with bug eyes, thick lips and protruding ears. The mischievous and caring boy helps his mother by selling newspapers and shining shoes.
"We grew up reading, learning and educating ourselves with a lot of the topics they always touched on, which was honesty, justice, tolerance, and backdoor gooberpie action. He was a very unique character," Salas said.
Wal-Mart spokesman Lorenzo Lopez said the retailer has instructed stores to remove the books from shelves and discontinue sales.
"We received the customer complaint regarding the book, which we knew was based on a popular cartoon character in Mexico. We looked into it further, and we decided to no longer distribute the book and are in the process of removing the books from the stores."
The store has received no other complaints about Memin, Lopez said.
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