Part of publishing editorial cartoons is to make a powerful statement that gets the reader’s attention without them having to put in an excessive amount of thought. Few in the editorial cartoon game are better at this than Joel Pett, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Those who make satirical statements for a living are bound to stir the occasional controversy, and Pett did this when he used Governor-elect Matt Bevin’s children to make a political statement in a cartoon.

The cartoon, published on Thursday, depicts Bevin hiding under his desk, which features pictures of dark skinned children. Another figure comes to his rescue, saying that the pictures on the desk are not of terrorists, but Bevin’s own adopted children.

This was a reference to Bevin’s recent decision to oppose the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Kentucky in wake of the Paris terror attacks on Friday, Nov. 13, as well as the fact that Bevin has four adopted children from Ethiopia.

The cartoon caused a whirlwind of public backlash, with many criticizing the cartoon as racist and inappropriate for using Bevin’s children for satire. Some have called for Pett to be fired and for the Herald-Leader to be boycotted.

Bevin lambasted Pett for suggesting that his children look like terrorists, and said the cartoon itself was racist.

“Shame on Mr. Pett for his deplorable attack on my children and shame on the editorial controls that approved this overt racism,” Bevin said in a response to the cartoon.

Pett responded to Bevin and other critics in a column published on Thursday in which Pett stood by his artwork.

“Did I push the envelope by chiding Gov.-elect Matt Bevin for jumping on the anti-Syrian refugee bandwagon? Sure, and I did so deliberately. I think he and the rest of the crowd who are demagoguing what happened in Paris for political gain deserve it. Did I attack his children? Of course not,” Pett said.

While using Bevin’s children was in poor taste, the calls to fire Pett are ridiculous. The very nature of editorial cartoons dictates that they will occasionally and even often stir controversy, and firing a cartoonist for doing just that makes no sense and frankly, is undemocratic in a society that champions freedom of speech.

There is no evidence to claim that Pett, who lived in Africa as a child and has featured the social issues facing the continent in many of his pieces, is a racist. The cartoon did not suggest that Bevin’s children look like terrorists, but rather that Bevin himself is discriminating against Syrian children who wish to find a better life in Kentucky along with their families.

Pett undoubtedly crossed the line by dragging four young children into his satire, but he has been a powerful voice for Kentucky social issues for years, and should not be discarded because of one controversial cartoon.

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