Cartoon prompts IAFF demand for apology
An Arizona Republic editorial cartoon in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of Oklahoma City Firefighter Chris Fields cradling the lifeless Baylee Almon was caricatured has offended many across the nation and drawn the ire of the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). The organization has demanded an apology from cartoonist Steve Benson and United Features Syndicate (UFS). The IAFF termed the cartoon, published in the June 11, 1997, edition, “repulsive and shamefully insulting.”
In the cartoon, an editorial on capital punishment, the firefighter is made to represent “death penalty fanatics”; the infant is pleading, “Please no more killing”; and the firefighter is saying to the baby, “Oh, stop your whining!”
“I join with professional fire fighters across this nation in expressing our shock and anger at this offensive cartoon,” IAFF General President Alfred K. Whitehead wrote in a letter to Benson and UFS. “Mr. Benson has committed a grievous insult to the family of the late baby Baylee Almon, to the loved ones of the 168 Oklahoma City Bombing victims, and to fire fighters in Oklahoma City and elsewhere who risk their own lives to save the lives of others. Benson and UFS owe them all an apology.”
Fields, an IAFF member, was reported to be “very upset by the cartoon.” He termed it “pitiful and absolutely terrible.”
(Editor`s note: The Arizona Republic has apologized for the editorial cartoon, noting that “Benson`s images and words created `unintentional stress.`” Benson told the Today show that the cartoon was a depiction of the “duality of human nature,” in which Baylee represented the “goodness” of children and Fields “the rush by society to use the death penalty” and that the death penalty continues a “bloody cycle of savagery and killing.” Benson did not apologize, citing as the rationale, “I don`t apologize to people who don`t understand cartooning.”–Based on MSNBC News Alert report, Internet, June 26, 1997; The Associated Press contributed to the report.)
