LEXINGTON, Ky.
An editorial cartoon depicting a bare-chested Black student on an auction block that ran in the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper on Friday has sparked student protest.
A group of more than 100 UK students held a peaceful demonstration on Friday protesting the cartoon, which ran in the day’s edition of the Kentucky Kernel. The newspaper’s editor, and the cartoonist have apologized for the cartoon.
The editorial cartoon depicted a shirtless Black student standing on an auction block with his left leg chained. Meanwhile, a White auctioneer in the cartoon calls the student a “young buck” and gets bids from three fictional fraternities: Aryan Omega, Kappa Kappa Kappa and Alpha Caucasian.
Editor in chief Keith Smiley said the cartoon shouldn’t have been published and “it wasn’t discussed like it should have been.” Smiley said in a telephone interview that the cartoon was attempting to comment on recent campus news.
“It doesn’t matter what it was trying to say because it didn’t say it,” Smiley said. “Anything it was trying to say was lost.”
Students at the protest said they were hurt by the cartoon and said it had affected racial tension on campus.
