By: E&P Staff Signe Wilkinson's Tuesday editorial cartoon about murders drew strong reactions from her readers at the Philadelphia Daily News.
The cartoon shows a Ku Klux Klan travel agent telling two other KKKers that they should visit Philadelphia "if you want great views of young black men killing each other."
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson was quoted in a Wednesday Daily News story as saying at a press conference: "I think the News has an obligation to be responsible. To compare the Ku Klux Klan with the young black men being killed in the city of Philadelphia is irresponsible."
Daily News Editor Michael Days responded: "An editorial cartoon, of course, is open to interpretation. But when I saw it, it struck me that Signe's message is that, unfortunately, too many young black men have become like the Klan. The only difference now is that we have turned the hatred inward, and are hunting and killing our own."
The article said there have been 346 murders in Philadelphia this year, compared to 290 at the same point in 2004.
Letters to the Daily News ran the gamut. One critic wrote that the cartoon "adds great insult to the grave injury of so many young black male deaths in recent weeks. Using the Klan as a tool of intended satire is beyond tasteless, it's offensive. Ms. Wilkinson would better use her considerable talent to depict why the Pennsylvania legislature insists on keeping gun laws that make murder easy -- whether for a black teen in Philadelphia or a white teen in Lancaster County."
A supporter of the cartoon wrote: "I'm a black man just as angry as Johnson. But my anger is not with the cartoon -- I'm angry that it takes a cartoon to point out the stupidity of these idiots who think nothing of taking a life to prove how macho they are. ... I applaud Signe for having the guts to create the cartoon, and Editor Michael Days for having the backbone to back her up on this issue."
Wilkinson's Tuesday cartoon can be seen at ComicsReporter.com, which also linked to the Daily News story and reader letters.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning Wilkinson is syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group.
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