The editor of the Albuquerque Journal on Thursday issued a rare apology — sort of — for an editorial cartoon published Wednesday that many readers considered racist and bigoted.
The cartoon, by syndicated artist Sean Delonas, depicts a dark alley with several figures in jackets marked “MS-13” robbing an obviously older, conservative, white couple. The husband is saying to the wife, “No, honey, I believe they prefer to be called ‘Dreamers’ … or future Democrats.”
The response was instantaneous as readers phoned and emailed the Journal with complaints calling the cartoon racist and bigoted, and charging that the cartoon reflects the Journal’s conservative position.
The response was so massive and vocal that in its Thursday editions the Journal ran a story on the uproar with numerous response both from people who were offended by the cartoon and those who — incredibly — were not. The story quoted Editor Karen Moses and Editorial Page Editor D’Val Westphal saying that the Journal seeks to present different viewpoints on current topics. Both seemed surprised by the reaction and said the newspaper does not condone racism and bigotry and that publication of the cartoon was only to “encourage debate” and did not represent the Journal’s position. There was no apology for running the cartoon in the article.
That, it seems, was not enough, and further reaction apparently persuaded Moses around noon Thursday to issue a statement “further clarifying” the newspaper’s position.
In the three paragraph statement, Moses said she wouldn’t presume to know what Delonas was trying to convey, but “on one level it appeared to us to be poking at President Trump’s rhetoric by portraying a quaking Republican couple who were painting Dreamers with a broad, totally false, brush.
“Obviously, that was not the message received by many readers. Instead many saw an extremely objectionable cartoon and thought that was the position of the Journal. It is not.
“In hindsight, instead of generating debate, this cartoon only inflamed emotions. This was not the intent, and for that, the Journal apologizes.”
No apology for running the cartoon, only for it generating a reaction different from what the newspaper expected, especially when the newpaper’s expectations were totally tone deaf.
Moses did not explain how the newspaper’s editorial board could have missed the obvious inference that the MS-13 gang was full of Dreamers — when there is no evidence linking MS-13 to a single DACA recipient — or that Democrats couldn’t wait to welcome members of the gang into the party. She also did not explain why, when they knew in advance it presented a broad, “totally false,” picture, they chose to run it anyway.
