A Kansas Republican Party official apologized for posting a cartoon to his newspaper’s Facebook page that compared Governor Laura Kelly’s (D) recent order requiring public face masks to the Holocaust.
The cartoon, which was shared on Friday by Anderson County Review, a small Kansas newspaper, showed a woman wearing a mask with a star of David stamped on it standing in front of a line of people entering a cattle cart.
“Lockdown Laura says: Put on your mask … and get on the cattle cart,” said the caption.
By Sunday, Dane Hicks, editor of the newspaper and chairman of the Anderson County Republican Party, apologized for the cartoon’s invocation of the Holocaust and said he would remove it. The image no longer appears on the newspaper’s Facebook page.
“After a candid and educational conversation with Jewish leaders … I can recognize the images in my recent editorial cartoon describing the Kansas state government’s overreach with Holocaust images that deeply wounded members of a culture that was it’s done a lot of damage throughout history – people I never wanted to hurt in my point illustration, “Hicks said in a statement shared on Facebook.
“It is not my intention to accumulate more pain in this historical burden, and it is evident that previously you did not have a proper understanding of the severity of your experience and the pain of your images,” he added.
The apology followed convictions for Kelly, the Kansas Democratic Party, and other out-of-state officials. Kelly said the cartoon amounted to “deeply offensive” anti-Semitic images and demanded that they be removed.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) also weighed in on the image, calling it “another disgusting display by ignorant Republicans who don’t understand that their propaganda is costing lives.”
Another disgusting display by ignorant Republicans who don’t understand that their propaganda is costing lives.
I helped build the Illinois Holocaust Museum to fight exactly this type of hatred.
America is better than this. https://t.co/ITa4sTSoEc
– Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) July 5, 2020
The episode came as states began to implement more aggressive measures to respond to an increase in coronavirus cases in parts of the US As cases increased in Kansas last week, Kelly issued an executive order demanding residents wear face masks in public.
The policy, which allows counties to opt out, requires residents to wear facial coverage whenever they are in a covered public setting. Masks are required if people cannot maintain six feet of social distance while outside, according to the order. It is expected to remain in effect until a state disaster emergency related to the coronavirus pandemic is terminated or expires.
The push for Americans to wear face masks has created tensions in several regions of the US Hicks initially told the New York Times that he produced the cartoon comparing Kelly’s order to the Holocaust because it represented a government overreach , adding that he intended “nothing slight” against Jewish People.
“Political editorial cartoons are gross overcartoons designed to provoke debate and response, which is why newspapers publish them, fodder for the market for ideas,” he said. “The issue here is government overreach that has been the hallmark of Governor Kelly’s administration.”
Hicks initially resisted requests to apologize and delete the image. However, he said in his Facebook statement on Sunday that “it is clear that he should have chosen a less hurtful subject to convey the urgent need for such surveillance.”
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