Daily Texan criticized for Trayvon cartoon

AUSTIN - The Daily Texan's editorial board apologized Wednesday for running an editorial cartoon that referred to Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager shot and killed in Florida, as a "colored boy."

The cartoonist, Stephanie Eisner of The Woodlands, apologized separately. She no longer works for the University of Texas' student newspaper, according to the board.

The editorial board said it will take steps, including requiring all newspaper employees to take part in a seminar each semester "about the relationship between race and the media."

"We sincerely apologize for publishing the offensive cartoon and for the harm that decision caused," the apology read.

Martin, 17, was killed Feb. 26 during an encounter with George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Fla. Zimmerman has asserted he was acting in self-defense, according to media reports. The cartoon was intended to slam media coverage of Martin's death.

Protests, reputation

It shows a woman in a chair labeled "the media," telling an open-mouthed child, "And then..... the big, bad white man killed the handsome, sweet, innocent colored boy!!"

The woman holds a book labeled "Treyvon Martin and the case of yellow journalism," misspelling the first name of the teen whose death has sparked a national controversy among those who said he drew suspicion in Zimmerman's neighborhood because of his race.

Eric L. McDaniel, associate professor of government at UT, said those who are offended at the cartoon see it as trivializing a tragedy, but that he also understands frustration over media coverage.

"I think the media jumped on it as a black-white issue," McDaniel said. "It's more complicated."

He also noted that in talking to students, he finds that the university "does not have the greatest reputation amongst African-Americans in the state."

The attention comes just months after two successive presidents of the College Republicans at UT sent out tweets about President Barack Obama that raised criticism.

One wrote, after a man was arrested for allegedly firing at the White House: "I know it may be tempting, but don't shoot President Obama. We need him to go down as the worst president in history." Her successor tweeted, "My president is black, he snorts a lot of crack. Holla."

On Wednesday, a protest organized on Facebook called the cartoon "damaging to the struggle people of color have been engaged with for generations, and it is insulting to students of color on campus."

'Goal fell flat'

Eisner apologized for what she said was "in hindsight an ambiguous cartoon."

"I intended to contribute thoughtful commentary on the media coverage of the incident, however this goal fell flat," she said in a statement. "I would like to make it explicitly clear that I am not a racist and that I am personally appalled by the killing of Trayvon Martin."

Audrey White, the Daily Texan's managing editor, said she hopes "to reach out to the university community for input on how The Daily Texan covers race and racism."

"I also want the Texan be more active in recruiting staff members with diverse backgrounds and points of view," White said by email.

The cartoon was temporarily pulled from the newspaper's website Tuesday afternoon to keep the site from crashing, according to an editor's note, but it was then reposted.

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