The Dougco GOP’S crass, insensitive cartoon

Ican’t say I saw this coming. Twentyfive years after my last byline in The Denver Post, I’m back -- here because of a cartoon that appeared last week on a Douglas County Republicans’ social media page.

I first saw the image posted on a friend's Facebook feed Monday, at 8:37 p.m. according to the screenshot on my iphone. It also made the mainstream media rounds that evening. The cartoon was removed from Douglas County Republicans’ Facebook page, and the local party chairman Stephen Allen posted an apology, one that was deleted and subsequently reposted.

Apparently there are two versions, both drawn by someone whose name I can neither confirm or decipher from its spelling in the corner of the cartoon. The original features a weakly-looking man whose head is lowered from the pressure of a boot on the back of his neck, his face is smothered by a powder blue mask that’s being pulled back tightly by hands wielding a nightstick. There are no words, literally and figuratively. Just a drawn image.

In the altered version that appeared on Douglas County Republicans’ Facebook page, the name “Polis” is added, spelled across the pants leg tucked into the boot stepping on the back of the man’s head and neck. The word “Colorado” is added, penned in red. At the very bottom of the cartoon, the words “We Can’t Breathe” appear.

Anyone who has paid attention to the news during the past three months knows the drawing was contrived as a comparison to the manner in which a 46-year-old black man, George Floyd, was murdered in broad daylight by police in Minnesota. On the ground and handcuffed, Floyd screamed for his mother, his life, and in his final moments, gasped the words “I can’t breathe.”

Using Floyd’s death as a means to decry a mask mandate (which Polis had not issued at the time but did issue on Thursday) to slow spread of coronavirus . . . despicable, tasteless, insensitive and classless were the descriptive words I used in a Facebook post.

I thought it showed a profound lack of respect, and that it was a sucker punch to the gut of the Black Lives Matter movement. What say you?

The black community still is seething with boiling-hot anger over the manner in which Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks (all black) were killed.

The cartoonist, and the undisclosed person in Douglas County who altered the image, had to know that using Floyd’s death as a narrative would allow the issue of race to spill from the inkwell onto the drawing pad. Adding the name “Polis” and

words “We Can’t Breathe” didn’t help the county republicans nix any notions that they are racist, and that white people in Douglas County are racist.

All white people in Douglas County are not racist. All republicans in the county are not racist. However, in both ranks, some racists can be found -- and this cartoon made me wonder if one place to find them is at the county’s GOP headquarters.

According to stats, Douglas County’s black population amongst approximately 370,000 residents is somewhere between 1% and 2%. I live in Parker, which is Douglas County’s second most populous town (behind Castle Rock.) Parker has close to 60,000 residents, with approximately 600 of us being black. That’s 1%. When I’m on stage performing standup comedy I joke — 0.01 African-american . . . is that even a whole brotha? Truth is, there’s a social disconnect that breeds insensitivity and ignorance within communities void of diversity, and that’s not a laughing matter. It could be partially to blame for this cartoon.

I’ve covered the Broncos for major media outlets in Denver since 1993. The drive from my condo to the Broncos’ practice facility is about six minutes long, so being close to the facility influenced my decision to move to the town in 2006. It’s important to note that in 14 years of living in Parker, I have not

personally experienced any confrontations that led me to believe I was a victim of racism. And for fairness’ sake, I’ll add that Parker does make efforts to relate to blacks.

In February the town hosted a free Black History Month program at the very fine PACE Center facility. Unfortunately, the center’s marketing efforts weren’t enough to draw a larger audience. People missed a fine lineup of art, music and storytelling. I know. I was the event’s emcee.

Back to that cartoon. It also reminded me of how the game of politics are played in Douglas County, and in this case, with respect to the wearing of masks during the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month Douglas

County officials announced it was detaching from Tri-county Health. The move carries a smug, if not flat condescending “wegot-this” feel to me. According to statistics kept on the Web site Countyhealthrankings.org, since 2011 Douglas County has ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in Colorado for health outcomes — No. 1 overall for the past five years.

Town council in Parker will vote Monday on exercising its right to opt-out of the mask mandate. My sense is, they will optout. After all, we’re Douglas County. We’re No. 1 in Colorado. Coronavirus? We got this.

I’m 60 years old, with a history of high blood pressure, prediabetes and two bouts of lung-weakening pneumonia documented in my medical records. Coronavirus seems to pounce on these attributes, like a famished vagrant at a free all-you-can-eat buffet. I mask up because I don’t want to get this. I wish all others would show the decency to mask up too.

Back to that cartoon. I can’t excuse any adult’s inability to comprehend the malice and injustice of George Floyd’s murder. It doesn’t mean that anyone who fails to comprehend this is a racist, but it does raise a great deal of concern. For me, anyways. In fairness, anyone who disagrees with my perceptions of the cartoon’s mockery has the right to do so. As a black man and a longtime Douglas County taxpayer, I won’t mask my disappointment. I expect and demand much better than the blemish of embarrassment the cartoon left on my race, as well as my fellow residents.