In the wake of the tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, and the riots taking place throughout the country, we have all come to terms with the fact that racism is very much a part of our day-to-day existence. The majority of us seem to think that, because we were born in a generation that followed the civil rights movement, that we would be more open minded and prepared for issues of racism when they arose. But, sadly, this is not the case.

In the first week of October an editorial cartoon was published in the opinions section that painted Skyline’s president, Dr. Regina Stanback-Stroud, in a negative light. The location of the cartoon, in such close proximity to the editorial pertaining to issues of bigotry on campus, was purely accidental and had no connection to the cartoon’s subject, theme or message.

It was recently brought to my attention that there was iconography alluded to in the cartoon that I was unaware of, and that these images caused pain to our president. The pose Dr. Stanback-Stroud was illustrated in was not a caricature of a power fist, or the prominent meaning behind such a stance. The font that was used is one we have used in the past in reference to the Skyline Theater Club, but it was brought to my attention that it bears similarities to script that was used to promote minstrel shows and entertainment degrading towards African Americans. This was, again, not our intention at all and I am deeply saddened by the misinterpretation of these images by Dr. Stanback-Stroud.

I was prepared for the repercussions that the intended message of this cartoon would cause, the opinion that events here on campus are designed more for faculty and not for students, but the blowback we received on The Skyline View was not what was expected. Over the past two months we have been on the receiving end of a salvo of letters, accusing us of gross negligence, disrespect and a lack of journalistic integrity.

If the issues of racism or the significance of the images that were used were mentioned to us in these letters we could have addressed the issue quickly, but sadly this was not the case. So rather than handling this misunderstanding, because at the end of the day that is in fact what this is, in a timely manner we were forced to endure attacks from faculty and administration on a weekly basis.

To Dr. Stanback-Stroud I offer my apologies. It was not, in anyway shape or form, my intention to offend or hurt you. The message we were trying to get across in the cartoon was not intended to be an attack against you, and had nothing to do with race or bigotry.