A number of really disturbing incidents have been on the news lately. Some of the coverage has been equally disturbing. I just don’t understand how anyone can think that it is funny or not a big deal. It is a big deal.
I am referring to the number of nooses that have been left in prominent places, on display for all to see. The first time I heard of this on the news was in regards to the Jena 6. From what I understand of the story, a group of black students sat underneath a tree in the schoolyard one day. This apparently was a problem because white students usually occupied this spot. The following day there were nooses hanging from the tree.
Some people laughed it off as a joke. I couldn’t believe it. This is not a joke. This is a blatant hate-filled act. There is no other way to see it.
Since this incident, a number of nooses have been found elsewhere. One was placed on a black professor’s office door. One was placed on a Tupac Shakur memorial. One was placed on a police officer’s door.
Who could possibly think that this is funny? These are not harmless pranks. These are racist acts that need to be dealt with as hate crimes. It doesn’t take a history major to know what this symbol means.
Most people upon seeing a noose left out in a prominent place immediately would think of the horrible history that the symbol calls up. Countless blacks were murdered for no other reason than they were black. Many of the bodies were then further degraded. It was not pretty. It was hateful and racist. These symbols could not be meant in any other way.
It’s sad that people still hold racist views. I don’t think anyone should be judged by race. There are great people of every colour. There are also hateful people of every colour. I don’t think blatant acts of racism should be ignored. Yet, only the vandal of the Tupac monument has been arrested. I think there needs to be very strict penalties for racism. We cannot stand for this kind of behaviour. It needs to stop now!
3 responses to “Who Thinks This is Funny?”
Umm, before you put something on your blog, you should make sure it’s true. The kids who hung the nooses WERE caught and received a nine day suspension, during which time they attended an alternative school; an additional two weeks of
in-school suspension; several Saturday detentions; an order to attend a discipline court; and a referral to a family counseling.
Thanks for the information. I am glad that they were caught and punished. I have not seen a news report about it however. I apologize for posting up incorrect information.
I was upset about the copycats who seem to think that hanging a noose up on a person’s door, office, or memorial is funny. It continues to happen too.
In my opinion, this is a hateful act. I know that it does not legally constitute a hate act. However, I don’t think that it can be seen as anything other than hate. It saddens me to no end that people could knowingly make these threats or gestures. If it was in jest, then it is extremely poor taste.
Anonymous, thanks for the comment and the new information. I have edited the incorrect information out of my post.
It’s the nature of some sad souls to thrive on attention and to follow a trend, even such a macabre one as this.
Something in their pathetic little minds derives pleasure from their pranks getting national media exposure.