recently published cartoon was racist.

And he claims that he would not have been condemned for the cartoon if he was black.

Mr. Woolcock hit out after Development and Opportunities Minister Terry Lister blasted the satirist for being "not funny'' following the publication of a cartoon in Friday's newspaper. The drawing showed a black child attempting to blow up a school.

Although the Minister did not actually accuse Mr. Woolcock of being racist, he did question why the child in the cartoon was black.

But yesterday Mr. Woolcock responded to the criticism by saying that he had no intention of being funny. And he explained that the child in the picture was black simply because the majority of students at Spice Valley School -- the establishment that inspired the drawing -- were black.

"I was surprised and saddened by some people's reaction to my cartoon last Friday,'' Mr. Woolcock said.

"The drawing was not meant to be funny. Believe me, it's quite hard being funny every week about Bermudian politics.

"The cartoon was on a subject I feel strongly about and was an attack on those parents who abdicate their responsibility of bringing up their children correctly and then hand them over to the unfortunate teachers.

"These overworked people have enough on their plate instilling education into young minds without having to take on the added task of babysitting and teaching some form of basic discipline to their charges.'' Mr. Woolcock drew the cartoon after reading a report in The Royal Gazette about a Spice Valley student who was disrupting classes. Teachers at the school refused to take further classes unless the 13-year-old girl was removed.

But the student's mother insisted that her child should be allowed to stay on at the school rather than attend an alternative institution such as the CADET scheme.

"These same parents are the first to object when any form of punishment is handed down by the frustrated teacher, whose work is being undermined by unruly, disorderly pupils,'' Mr. Woolcock said. "I am sure the Bermuda Union of Teachers is behind me here and on this score I have no apology to make. Why did I depict the culprit as black? Quite simply, at the school which brought this topic to the fore most recently, the majority of the students are black.

This is not being racist, it is an undeniable fact.

"Maybe I should have drawn a girl student to be more specific. I could have referred to the Harrington Sound School case -- which involved cretinous white students -- but this has nothing whatsoever to do with parents' refusal to send their children to Warwick Camp, which is the whole point of the cartoon in question. Objectors seem to have missed this all important fact.'' Mr. Woolcock said he was an "unashamed advocate for the CADET scheme''.

Last night Royal Gazette Editor Bill Zuill defended Mr. Woolcock, saying not all cartoon were intended to be funny.

And he also dismissed further allegations made by Mr. Lister that the media in general was fixated with presenting negative images of blacks.

"With regard to the racist point, I'm not sure it would have reflected Bermudian society to show all the people in the cartoon as white.'' DISCRIMINATION DIS