No Apology For Shoeshine Boy Cartoon
The Providence Journalhas eschewed an apology for a Jim Bush cartoon depicting emerging state politician Gordon Fox as a shoeshine boy working on the shoes of House Speaker William Murphy in favor of an assurance that the cartoon was not meant as racial commentary. Fox is of mixed race heritage; Murphy is white. Although the local NAACP representative seems initially encouraged by the issuance of said statement, and the progression of local complaints is what's important to the paper here, it's kind of astonishing that anyone can use a shoeshine boy as visual shorthand and not know there's a racial component for many people concerning that particular image. Maybe they can run a cartoon where a train porter accepts the explanation.
