Coons. Spooks. Porch monkeys. Yard apes. Jungle bunnies. Watermelons.

For those who have lost touch on American history, these are just a few of the names Blacks here have been labeled by a racist, ignorant American society for years.

Which why it came as a surprise why the New York Post felt a recent editorial cartoon did not lie on the border of discrimination.

Critics of the paper including local activist the Rev. Al Sharpton and movie mogul Spike Lee have argued the paper’s cartoon, which was featured last month, links President Barack Obama to the chimpanzee that was shot dead by police in Connecticut. They are asking for a complete boycott of the paper.

The cartoon also enraged local politicians and journalists and created heated dialogue in how minorities — specifically African-Americans — are viewed and portrayed by the media.

The drawing by longtime Post cartoonist Sean Delonas shows a dead chimp and two police officers, one with a smoking gun. The caption reads, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.”

The cartoon refers to Travis the chimp, who was shot to death by police after it mauled a friend of its owner. Obama signed his administration’s economic stimulus plan the next day.

To be clear here, the definition of discrimination is unequal treatment, which is usually based on prejudice concerning race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. The act of discrimination also comes with misguided, hateful, nasty, targeted labels.

And, by flipping through American history books and archives, one could easily see the unequal and unfair treatment of Blacks since American slavery.

Knowing this, looking at the cartoon, it would be easy to understand why Blacks say the cartoon echoed racist stereotypes of Blacks as monkeys and even suggested that Obama should be shot.

“Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African-American president) and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?” said Sharpton, a previous target of Delonas, in a statement.

In a statement, Post editor-in-chief Col Allan said: “The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut. It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist,” Karen Matthews reported for The Associated Press.

The paper later gave a lackluster apology that was followed by one from its owner media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

With that aside, Mr. Delonas’ attempt to portray the author of the federal economic stimulus plan as a crazed chimpanzee being shot by police — mirroring another recent national story about a chimpanzee attack — is outright offensive on varying levels and sends a horribly misguided message to the American public.

And, the apologies made by the paper and Mr. Murdoch have come too late – not just for Blacks, but for any minority group in this country that has had to endure this maniacal behavior from certain members of the press for years.

Too late for the victims of lynchings. Too late for our grandparents that were forced to ride in the back of the bus. And too late for us that were told we could not vote.