To the Editor:

Normally, the Chronicle is sensitive to the entire Houston community, including Houston's Jewish community, so you can imagine our shock and dismay when we opened the paper to the Outlook page Monday morning and saw David Horsey's cartoon on the mortgage crisis depicting the federal government as a Jew wearing a yarmulke. The idea that Jews control the federal government is a well-known anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, and we were horrified to see the Chronicle perpetuating this harmful stereotype.

Even more disconcerting is the fact that the Chronicle either was unaware or chose to ignore the public apology by the cartoonist himself, who redrew the cartoon before the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) even addressed it. In his blog, Horsey writes: "I can fully appreciate the cause of concern. It was a complete failure on my part to comprehend how the mix of symbols in my cartoon could summon up historical libels against Jews."

We are disappointed that the Chronicle made an editorial decision that could foment rather than prevent prejudice and bigotry.