Huh, this whole situation just reminded me of an Erich Kästner novel I read as a child ("Pünktchen und Anton"). It had interludes between some of the chapters that were written in cursive font, where the author summarizes what just happened and discusses the characters motives, the implications of their actions and sometimes alludes to personal anecdotes.

In the prologue of the book he wrote that the story is about serious topics he would like to get children to think about, and decided to add the notes for some children who aren't exactly great at that thinking part. In hindsight phrased rather directly and condescendingly (I just looked it up to double check), but I think quite fitting to the situation here, seeing the cartoon first and then reading the clarification.

It's IMO very sad if a cartoonist has to explain the rather thin symbolism because enough people "don't get it" and go directly to pointing and screaming "racist bigots".