Oklahoma bombing cartoon causes protests

Artist defends anti-death penalty drawing

June 19, 1997
Web posted at: 4:02 p.m. EDT (2002 GMT)

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'Babies are not born with the desire for revenge'
'Repulsive'
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PHOENIX (CNN) -- The unforgettable image of a firefighter cradling a child killed by the Oklahoma City bombing is the centerpiece of a controversy over an editorial cartoon attacking the death penalty. But artist Steve Benson won't apologize for his drawing, called "trash" by the child's mother and "offensive" by firefighters.

The cartoon -- published in The Arizona Republic last week before jurors in the Timothy McVeigh trial condemned him to death for the 1995 bombing -- is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo that shows a firefighter holding the limp body of Baylee Almon.

The child in the cartoon says, "Please, no more killing."

The firefighter, labeled as representing "death penalty fanatics" replies, "Oh, stop your whining!"

Benson, who won a 1993 Pulitzer for his editorial cartoons, said cartoonists commonly use well-known images and move labels around, add elements and change meanings to make a point.

"In this particular case I was trying to point out the ultimate irony of sentencing McVeigh to death," Benson said Wednesday.

'Babies are not born with the desire for revenge'

"Babies are not born hating ... with the desire for revenge ... with the desire to kill people," he told CNN affiliate KPNX in a separate interview.

But Baylee's mother, Aren Almon Kok, was angered that Benson would "make fun" of the photograph. "Obviously, he has no regard ... for Baylee's life," she told KPNX by telephone from Oklahoma City. "I think he and his work are trash."

"He does owe an apology -- not just to me but to a lot of people," she said in a separate interview. "He has just ripped my life open again, just when I thought it was healing, for nothing."

Alfred Whitehead, general president of the International Association of Firefighters, said the cartoon mocks firefighters who risked their lives searching for victims in the rubble of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

'Repulsive'

"To portray them as advocates of death in a cheap commentary is not only offensive, it is repulsive," Whitehead said.

Benson says critics who take the cartoon literally "have completely missed the intent of the cartoon and they don't understand cartooning. I don't apologize to people who don't understand cartooning."

"Firefighters (upset by the cartoon) are generating a lot of heat, but they haven't seen the light," he told KPNX.

"I would suggest that they pull their head out of the smoke and take a deep breath and realize that editorial cartoons are not literal representations of the truth."

Paul Schatt, editorial pages editor for the Republic, agreed. "The whole point of editorial cartoons is to exaggerate to make a point," Schatt said.

Reporter Lisa Carriell of CNN affiliate KPNX in Phoenix contributed to this report.

Related sites:

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Arizona Central: The Arizona Republic & Arizona Business Gazette
- News from The Arizona Republic: Firefighters seek 'Republic' cartoonist's apology
- Steve Benson's political cartoon
USA Today, OKC Bombing: Images etched in memories

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