Back when I was a kid, cartoons meant the Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera franchises rather than Dora the Explorer, Simpsons & Spongebob and they occasionally carried less than model minority stereotypes.
A friend of mine recently posted this cartoon on his facebook wall. Although originally published in 1971, I've got hazy memories of it still being on the air in the late 70s / early 80s (dating myself.. I know) -
Classic animation short from Sesame Street's third broadcast season. An Indian guru counts from 1 to 20 on his four arms, accompanied by sitar music and a lot of psychedelic visuals. As a bonus, there's a recap in Spanish!
One other desi portrayal I remember from the era was Johnny Quest's sidekick Hadji - an arguably positive character. On a similar note, although mistaken for Afro-American, Little Black Sambo was actually about a Tamilian boy but, AFAIK, was never made into a TV toon. A different, non-PC example I particularly remember wasn't desi but definitely pushed ill Mexican stereotypes was Slowpoke Rodriguez (Slowpoke was Speedy's less famous, less athletically-inclined cousin and although he appeared in fewer cartoons, for some reason I recall him a bit better).
So, I thought I'd cast the net open and see if mutineers had examples of non-PC desi portrayals in TV cartoons back in the day? Before 3rd grade name callers invoked Apu, what other ill desi cartoon characters fed our childhood angst?
