’)Seriously, people, this is 2007. We are in the 21st century. We’ve got to do better.
Law enforcement authorities, including the Justice Department, are expressing concern over a recent spate of noose sightings in the aftermath of events in Jena,
the small Louisiana town that has been engulfed by racial strife and was the scene of a recent civil rights demonstration.
Nooses have been looped over a tree at the University of Maryland, knotted to the end of stage-rigging ropes at a suburban Memphis theater, slung on the doorknob of a black professor’s office at Columbia University in New York, hung in a locker room at a Long Island police station, stuffed in the duffel bag of a black Coast Guard cadet aboard a historic ship, and draped around the necks of black dolls in the Pittsburgh suburbs. The hangman’s rope has become so prolific, some say, it could replace the Nazi swastika and the Ku Klux Klan’s fiery cross as the nation’s reigning symbol of hate.
"I think the noose is replacing the burning cross in the minds of many white people as the primary symbol of the Klan," said Mark Potok, editor of Intelligence Report, a magazine published by the Southern Poverty Law Center that examines hate groups.
But Oliver, according to former Bush administration spokesman and Fox News anchor Tony Snow, racism is just a thing of the past:
“Here’s the unmentionable secret: Racism isn’t that big a deal any more. No sensible person supports it. Nobody of importance preaches it. It’s rapidly becoming an ugly memory.”
Yep. And until we admit it is still a problem, it will never go away.
What makes me even more scared are the white people I’ve caught laughing about this like it’s no big deal.
At around two years into Bush’s presidency, I predicted that race relations in this country would deteriorate to the levels of the L.A. riots of 1992, based on Bush’s obvious agenda to roll back race equality advances; his deliberate, disrespectful ignoring of preeminent black organizations and leaders; the way he used racist code words to appeal to his racist, ignorant base; and the way his “in your face” attitude towards blacks emboldens his racist supporters to act out.
I could go on, but agree with Kanye West or not, the sentiment he shared was genuine, and it didn’t just pop up over night, and you can be damned sure Kanye isn’t the only feeling that way.
All these racist incidents happening around this country aren’t just coincidences. They’re the byproduct of a corrosive atmosphere deliberately created by Bush and his sycophants.
The reason the noose is so popular over the flaming cross is because it’s a stealth weapon. Mr and Mrs Nuckledrag have taught their kinder to be a little sneakier. It’s all part of the great plan to make Africa seem a reasonable alternative to America, now that my county (Canada) is meekly submitting to the fascist dogma and can’t guarantee freedom to American outcasts anymore.
Reading some of the comments at the WP site, I can’t imagine more than one message that a noose sends. Let’s say you’re white and someone puts a noose in your locker. What the heck is that supposed to mean? It means a death threat. It can’t possibly mean anything else. Is that “funny”?
I suspect that a big part of why white people laugh about it is that it didn’t happen, as far as white people were concerned. It’s the punch line of a joke, rather than a death threat, because no white person has a likelihood of getting a death threat by a noose.
My sprained ankle is real, it throbs and hobbles me. Somebody preparing a noose, walking into a building, down a hallway to a professor’s door, hanging the noose on a nail or a doorknob and then exiting the building – that did not happen. To me, and I am the universe. And the universe’s ankle throbs. Lame ibuprofen!
That’s how most white people respond to a racist death threat, not too differently from how yanghole men respond to a rape report.
Let us not forget that many white cowboys were hanged in this country as well. So it could mean a lot of things …
Yeah, 1/3rd of all cowboys were black. Maybe there is just a resurgence of Odin Worship.
Let us not forget that many white cowboys were hanged in this country as well. So it could mean a lot of things …
How many of these recent instances of noose hanging have been on the doorsteps of young white men from Wyoming or Montana?
Yes, pawtrax, a noose can mean different things to different people. But when you convey a message, you state in terms that have meaining to the receiver of the message. The meaning of a noose left on a black professor’s door or in a black Coast Guard cadet’s duffel is unmistakeable.
Let us not forget that many white cowboys were hanged in this country as well. So it could mean a lot of things …
Lots of people were crucified on the cross by the Romans too. But when most people hang a cross on their wall, they aren’t referring to Hazmet the crooked carpet salesman from Jerusalem circa 27 AD.
When someone hangs a noose on a black person’s office door, chances are they aren’t trying to make a point about white cowboys.
What about the recent comments by watson (of Watson and Crick) fame. With so many instances of the word racist being bandied about, this is as low as it gets.
come on guys, i was freaking joking …