This cartoon appeared in the San Diego Sun in 1909. It has been on display off and on in the San DIego Police Museum since the year 2000 after the San Diego Black Police Officers Association agreed it needed to be shown to illustrate the struggle African American officers had to endure in the past.
By Steve Willard
Originally published in 2015
Cartoons have an odd way of finding themselves in the news. In Paris France several journalists were slaughtered by terrorists who found the depiction of the Islamic prophet offensive. To the fundamentalists the prescribed penalty was death. In response, rational people from around the world locked arms in a statement of support for free expression and free speech.
Locally, a lot has been made about a 1908 old cartoon. Now for some background context.
I know Frank McCarter. Well, at least I know enough about him to have made an educated decision almost 20 years ago to reintroduce him to San Diego. Despite the allegations of some, the cartoon at the center of this firestorm is NOT Officer Frank McCarter nor was it ever advocated to be presented as such. The cartoon is a repulsive caricature that appeared in the San Diego Sun in 1909 and it offers an ugly glimpse of race relations in what was yet to be labeled America’s Finest city.
Some have proclaimed the cartoon was shown in a historical presentation because the police department is racist. Several community activists then echoed the claim without looking past the unsubstantiated allegation. Unfortunately they are leaving out a few key factors. If it’s due to simple ignorance then it’s regrettable. If it’s being done out of malice then it’s despicable.
I believe that while the San Diego Police Department is a microcosm of society, the men and women who serve every day were vetted through a comprehensive background and a battery of psychological screenings before they were ever allowed to earn their badge. In short, while they may not be perfect, I believe the average SDPD employee has earned the benefit of the doubt they will do the right thing, even when no one is looking.
What Frank McCarter represents has always been a source of pride that the SDPD employed a black officer decades before the United States Military was integrated and a decade before Jackie Robinson was even born. It deserves to be showcased.
Ironically, the controversy now swirling around the cartoon has brought more name recognition to Officer Frank McCarter than we could have ever imagined.
So why resurrect it? The cartoon was brought back into the public eye more than a decade and a half ago because it’s one thing to pronounce the deck was stacked against McCarter, it’s another thing to provide an example that invokes an immediate reaction.
Just like it’s important to see photos of U.S. Marshals marching a young black girl named Ruby Bridges into a public school past a hostile mob just so she had a shot at a quality education, if people are to understand the struggle Officer McCarter endured they need to see some proof of what he faced.
The image of this small girl being escorted to school by four large white men inspired Norman Rockwell to create the painting, "The Problem We All Must Live With," which graced the cover of Look magazine in 1964.
Perhaps Rockwell did the painting because he knew that words alone, even when delivered by a powerful story teller, make such a plight almost too hard to fathom. We need to see it, even if it made us squeamish. Was it offensive that the only reason some people accepted integration was by force? Absolutely! Fortunately we no longer live in that world.
If one could see the context of the cartoon as a valuable reminder of an ugly past, then perhaps they can come to deeply respect and appreciate how Officer McCarter rose above an unimaginable level of institutional racism and how he served with distinction as the first black police officer for the San Diego Police Department.
Imagine if you lived in 1909 and were the subject of that cartoon. That you would come to work the next day is amazing. If society was sick enough to allow a major publication to publish such a vile piece, what might be waiting on the streets? Would people call you names? Would they shoot at you? Would your fellow officers have your back? If you were assaulted would anyone come to your aid? Would there be 12 unbiased individuals willing to look past the color of your skin and convict the person who attacked you?
If I were Frank McCarter I would have passed on being SDPD’s first African American officer. Even though it was the right thing to do, I wouldn’t offer myself as a martyr for a cause many people were clearly not yet ready to embrace.
Frank McCarter was clearly braver than most. Despite the obvious dangers, he pinned on his badge and came
to work. Not only did he perform his police duties, he did them so well the media actually did a full reversal some months later and praised him for his professionalism. It couldn’t have been easy.
Frank McCarter is a hero – a label reserved for brave individuals who, knowing the risks, still choose to step up and walk the line because it’s the right thing to do.
There is a word for pleasant recollections - nostalgia.
When leaders of educational institutions collaborate to display only segmented pieces of positive history it’s called propaganda.
If history is to be objectively displayed, then it must be shown warts and all to allow the public to make an informed decision as to what is being displayed.
Preserving ugly history is why museums display Nazi memorabilia. Would anyone suggest the Museum of Tolerance is anti-Semitic because they have Nazi flags and uniforms on public display? Not likely.
Would anyone demand a museum destroy film footage of Sheriff Bull Connors police dogs attacking law abiding American’s simply because they had grown tired of riding in the back of the bus or being denied access to a lunch counter? I hope not.
We should all be unanimous in our sympathy and respect for the plight of Officer McCarter. That we are sickened and repulsed by it now shows we have significantly evolved. Let’s not forget, that cartoon did not come from a hate oriented newsletter of a radical organization. It was published by one of the largest media outlets in San Diego at the time. That the publisher was not burned to the ground by an outraged citizenry speaks volumes.
It’s one thing to talk about these shameful incidents but if you are going to understand the ugly world oppressed people have lived in, it helps to see the instruments of the oppression. The 1909 cartoon is one such instrument.
This why, in 2000, the cartoon was put on display in the San Diego Police Museum when we were located at 205 G Street. The cartoon was displayed for years and generated a lot of insightful comments. Fox news even showed it during a televised story on the museum. I won’t lie. A few people told us they were uncomfortable seeing it. But, to a person, everyone who took the time to discuss it admitted they got it, they understood the context in which it was displayed.
Steve Willard published the cartoon in his first book, “Images of America, San Diego Police” in 2005. He published it again in 2006 in his second book, “America’s Finest.” People needed to see firsthand the struggle of heroes like Frank McCarter and SDPD’s first black Detective, Reginald Townsend.
There is an old saying, “Those who forget history are forever doomed to repeat it.” There is no dispute the cartoon depicting Frank McCarter is disgusting and repulsive. If we are to never regress back to 1909, then people must continue to be repulsed and offended by what was once acceptable. If we are to say “never again” we all need to understand just what it is we are fighting. It’s the only way we will always remember and appreciate the sacrifices and struggles of the generations that came before us.
