An East Bay newspaper was getting a lot of heat Monday after publishing a controversial editorial cartoon linking undocumented immigrants with feces and referring to San Francisco as a human wasteland.
The Martinez News-Gazette published the cartoon in its Sunday edition, leaving readers dumbfounded. The sketch shows a cellphone displaying the city of San Francisco littered with piles of feces.
The headline reads: "One of the many hazards of being a sanctuary city ... Poop. How do you navigate through it all?"
Martinez resident Andy Pacheco couldn't believe it was published in the local paper.
"That's stupid, so stupid," he said.
Further text accompanying the cartoon calls the city "San Frans+++hole."
"Personally, I hate it," Martinez resident Chris Kapsalis said. "I think it's ugly and it's hateful. Does that mean that they think that the immigrants are pooping around."
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The newspaper's editor wrote an apology on Facebook, saying in part: "It was wrong to equate the issues of the SF homelessness problem and being a sanctuary city. I apologize for any racial overtones the cartoon made."
Resident Jason Peck doesn't think an apology was necessary.
"I think it makes a loaded point," he said. "I think it's freedom of press, freedom of speech, and I think that's exactly what I'd expect from quality journalism."
On Facebook, the editor also apologized for what he called "the error in judgment and insensitivity in allowing the cartoon to be printed."
