Roxboro newspaper apologizes for ‘insensitive’ cartoon showing black man stealing white woman’s purse

ROXBORO, N.C. (WNCN) – The editor and publisher of the newspaper in Roxboro apologized Monday after backlash over a cartoon published days earlier was deemed racist by many readers.

UPDATE: Editor/publisher of Roxboro newspaper resigns after running cartoon deemed racist by many

Roxboro Courier-Times editor and publisher Johnny Whitfield wrote Monday that the cartoon “should not have been published.”

It depicted a black man stealing a white woman’s purse. The woman was asking for someone to call 911 and the man replied with a comment about defunding the police.

Whitfield wrote that his judgment “fell short.”

“I should have seen beyond the printed words in the editorial cartoon and considered the racial message that cartoon sent. I did not and I am sorry,” he wrote.

Whitfield also wrote that the paper cut ties with the cartoonist who made the comic.

“Beyond that, I bear responsibility for having selected the cartoon for publication,” Whitfield wrote.

The comic had garnered attention locally and on a larger scale on social media since its June 11 publication.