Newspaper apologizes for comic strip featuring 'racial slur'

A cartoon that appeared in the October 23rd issue of The Montclarion that has caused some controversy on campus: (click to enlarge)The Montclarion, the college newspaper for Montclair State University in New Jersey, has issued an apology for a cartoon they ran in their October 23rd issue featuring a woman telling a canvasser that she's going to "vote for the Nigg**."

The cartoon, drawn by syndicated cartoonist Keith Knight, is based on an actually incident featured on the popular electoral projection website FiveThirtyEight.com:

"So a canvasser goes to a woman's door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she's planning to vote for. She isn't sure, has to ask her husband who she's voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, "We're votin' for the n***er!"

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: "We're voting for the n***er.""

Montclarion editor Bobby Melok apologized for running the cartoon, and placed the focus of the blame on MCT Campus, a syndicate that provides comics, graphics, crossword puzzles and pictures, among other things, to campus newspapers nationwide.

"The Montclarion relied on others to judge content appropriateness, rather than making this choice as a staff decision," Melock said in a prepared statement.

For some students interviewed by the Star-Ledger, the apology wasn't enough.

"You can apologize, but the scar is still there," Rahfael Gordon, 24, an African-American, told the newspaper. "The wound is still fresh, and students are still talking about it. For that comment to come out on a comic strip, I didn't think it was funny at all."

Gordon Campbell's much maligned cartoon featuring Colin Powell as a modern-day Benedict Arnold, with a twist: (click to enlargeThe use of race has featured prominently in this election, and cartoons ranging from Colin Powell as a black-faced Benedict Arnold, McCain supporting a lynching, and Barack Obama serving Powell kool-aid are all a reflection of the tension that is felt by some across the nation, and showcases the razor's edge that cartoonists sometimes have to walk on.

But for Knight, an African-American that uses satire and humor to confront issues of race, this is the first backlash against this cartoon he's heard about.

"I just got an email from said editor, asking me if I want to respond," Knight said on his blog.  "I will be sending back a statement over the next coupla daze."

"Interesting. Cuz I haven't heard from anywhere else."