The morning after Barack Obama was elected President of the United States, students at the University of Arizona opened the Daily Wildcat and found a cartoon about the election – a cartoon many found offensive. On Wednesday, November 19, the man who drew that cartoon was on the UA campus defending himself.

The cartoon in question uses the “N” word twice. A public forum featuring the artist, Keith Knight, ended with many in attendance saying they got the answers they were looking for regarding why he used the racial slur.

Knight is the artist of the comic strip called the “K Chronicles.” “What is it?,” he asks. “What is it about my strip that gets people bent out of shape?” That’s a question he tried to answer in front of a crowd of about 100 students by showing examples of his work that many would call controversial.

“What makes this strip effective is the truth behind it,” says Knight. The comic strip that brought him to Tucson in the first place ran in the Daily Wildcat back on November 5^th. The comic shows a political canvasser asking a woman who she and her husband are voting for. The husband answers by saying that they’re voting for the “N” word.

When the strip first ran, it caused an uproar, but Knight says he drew the strip based on someone’s personal account. “Wow, if this couple, who are willing to call this guy the worst thing that he could be called, and elect him to be the most powerful person in the world,” says Knight.

He called it one of the most bizarre things he’s ever heard, which he says is what makes America, and his comic strip, unique. “If we as adults can’t address that word, then you know we’re not showing the younger people how to communicate and how to discuss things,” says Knight.

There was a lot of anger when the strip first came out, but surprisingly enough, people seemed very understanding once they learned the context of Knight’s work. The only thing Knight did apologize for was the fact that the comic ran the day after the election. It was scheduled to run in October, and the editor of the Daily Wildcat apologized for the mistake.