According to Media Bistro’s Fishbowl LA, year after Brentwood, California Patch editor Dennis Wilen was fired, Wilen is explaining what led to his firing – his publication of what Patch found to be a racist cartoon.
The cartoon, headlined “It’s Cinco de Mayo – do you know where your gardener is?,” showed “two Latinos ‘reenacting the Battle of Puebla’ (a housekeeper with broom and a gardener with a leaf blower),” according to Wilen who blogged about the firing.
The cartoon was by Lalo Alcaraz, who Wilen noted “IS a Latino.” Further, Wilen noted the cartoon was labeled opinion.
Media Bistro Fishbowl LA described the cartoon as “nowhere near racist, and is clearly satirizing the patronizing approach to race relations and cultural empathy that many people in wealthy neighborhoods like Brentwood employ.”
Wilen argued the cartoon ” perfectly expressed Brentwood’s reality.”