The noose, that symbol of American racism associated with the Jim Crow South, is making a comeback. Following the notorious Jena, La., incident, a rash of noose-related hate crimes has surfaced around the country, at times in the unlikeliest of places. These cases are not aberrations, but part of an endemic problem. On Oct. 9, 2007, in New York City, a… return to article
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Reader Comments (10)Page 1 of 1 pages“whites are angry and uneasy.”
Yeah, those white people are dangerous! Especially when they are “angry and uneasy”!
Or perhaps there are a small amount of crazies out there who really do hate (and they come in all colors!) and they make for lots of press. Some even wear white hoods over their heads (talk about crazy). Note that these people are very very far from the mainstream and that all races/creeds etc are represented (in fact, one easily might believe that blacks are over represented in this lamentable group).
At least no one here names their teddy bears Mohummed. :)
Posted by wolf on Dec 10, 2007 at 5:54 PM Evidently “wolf” failed to read the article closely or else chooses to maintain the ‘crazy few’ theory despite the abundant evidence that racial hatred is growing by leaps and bounds in American society.
This ‘growth industry’ isn’t confined to only racist Whites (of which there are plenty) but is also evident in the ‘race wars’ in Los Angeles where Latinos are conducting ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Blacks from Latino neighborhoods… evidently on orders of ‘la eme’.
Recent Supreme Court rulings, and those of lower courts, have reversed the Government’s stand against overt racism as long as it’s called something conveniently vague or Orwellian, and serve to increase the amount of segregation in our society and the degree of discrimination in access to goods & services.
These same kinds of trends were evident in Germany in the 1930’s as were so-called ‘pranks’ (against Germany’s Jews back then) that are that bygone era’s equivalent of nooses found in workplaces and elsewhere. And, as history showed us then, Malik Shabazz’s comments on DemocracyNow, are exactly right.
Without a strong, concerted, resistance to the mainstreaming of hate, the next step - once conditions are ripe - will be bodies hanging from poles exactly as forecast in William Pierce’s racist apocalyptic “The Turner Diaries”.
And, just as we heard from ‘surprised’ Germans in 1945, people like “wolf” will be heard to say “I never thought it would go that far”...
Posted by Marshalldoc on Dec 11, 2007 at 2:11 AM “Lynching has been America’s own form of domestic terrorism, columnist George Curry wrote recently in the Philadelphia Inquirer: ‘Far from being merely a prank, the hanging of nooses harks back to a shameful period in American history. It was not until 1952 that the United States went a whole year without a single lynching.’”
Actually this is a good point. To not recognize the emotional body-blow that is intended by using nooses as a “prank” (as though it’s all in good humor or something… how idiotic, Mr. Walters, you should be humiliated to have uttered such a thing!)...
...using them to threaten Af-Ams is to maintain the racially divisive blind spot that disables the most basic level of identification, and identification is the one single factor that erodes racist stupidity fastest and most directly.
I wonder how many white Americans would regard a fake explosive vest as a “prank”, if they were used in similar fashion by, say, someone who took exception to the war. Maybe he could wear it into the local Starbuck’s and have a grand old time scaring the customers.
The intent would be identical, to cause the marks to have that sick, horrible feeling of being targeted, to know that some nut-job wants to fuck with their heads in that deep, primal sort of way that terrorists specialize in.
But of course none of the “pranksters” would really put a noose around a human neck, or strap themselves with explosives for-real. It’s just a prank. All in good fun, right Mr. Walters?
Crazier, stupider, uglier, meaner. It’s like we’re in a contest to see just how low we can go.
Posted by Kuya on Dec 11, 2007 at 3:10 AM Marshalldoc is exactly correct. When the US turns fascist and begins the systematic extermination of Jews, blacks, whites or whatever group it targets as ok to hate and kill, i would say “I never thought it would go that far”. But since this is not going to happen (obviously, duh), it simply means i was correct. :)
Posted by wolf on Dec 11, 2007 at 4:41 PM Um, I think some truth needs to be brought to light. Most of those noose incidents were faked. Perpetrated by the ‘victims’ themselves. Just research each story and you will see that after everything was said and done, the ‘victim’ was the one who hung the noose.
There isn’t as much racism in America as you think. Consider that there are over 250 million Americans:
How many reported incidents?
How many actually perpetrated by a racist?Most of the racist I’ve met, were the people looking for racism. Case in point:
A co-worker asked a second co-worker, upon seeing him in the shop welding, “I did not know you knew how to weld.” Response of second co-worker, “You think because I’m black I don’t know how to weld?”
Who was the racist?My 2¢.
Posted by mdren68 on Dec 14, 2007 at 5:54 PM Gosh mdren68! How completely foolish of me…
Of course every thing’s wonderful here in the bestest most justest and equitablest country on the planet. Naturally there’s no racism… it’s just hypersensitivity of a few people who, no matter how great things really are, just can’t be happy without complaining.
Naturally, the climate’s just fine and it’s going to stay that way forever because the white god in his white heaven has decreed it will be so.
Of course America treats all its detainees just like we’d like our family to be treated if they were detained and all that nasty news from Iraq is just more naysayers who look to denigrate anything America does.
Certainly our laws and business practices don’t discriminate against anyone except those who are too stupid to do the right things every right-thinking American knows they should do and the poor are only poor because white jesus feels that’s the way things should be.
NOT!
mdren68, someday you’ll undergo an awakening, voluntary or otherwise, and it won’t be pretty. And I’m sorry, truly.
Posted by Marshalldoc on Dec 14, 2007 at 8:59 PM Ahh, and the true racism comes out. Thanks for THAT awakening marshalldoc. Unfortunately for you and your liberal thinking mentality, mdren68 is absolutly correct in stating that several of these incidents were perpetuated by the victims. Unfortunately also is that your liberal racist mentality prevents you from being able to comprehend the FACTS. I have taken the liberty to link you to a couple of articles explaining these situations to an extent. I doubt you will read them, and am sure even if you do will find some way to disregard the truths explained in them.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2007/12/12/racial_hoaxes_a and_the_naacp
http://xpress.sfsu.edu/archives/news/000424.html
Posted by Cwell on Dec 14, 2007 at 10:57 PM Marshalldoc does bring up some interesting points, albeit accidentally. One really might wonder: which countries are “justest”? Which are the most corrupt? Which countries suffer from racism the most, which the least?
While the US is not perfect (after all, it is a very diverse nation of imperfect people), it certainly *claims* to be a just country. Perhaps a fellow like Marshalldoc can identify a country in say Africa that might be “equitablest” compared to the US? Or in the middle east? Or even in Asia. . .
The US seems to be firmly in the rarefied few countries that embraces the concepts that Marshalldoc seems to value. Given that s/he lives in the US, i hope that s/he appreciates what good fortune they have, being born here. I know i do.
Posted by wolf on Dec 17, 2007 at 4:18 PM The whole premise of this article, on which motivations for noose-hanging are based, is apparently largely false.*
This, along with the general history of related deception referenced by Cwell above, leads one to be suspicious that a large percentage of the noose incidents may be more a tactic by the supposed victims themselves, rather than being an indication of some kind of measurable change in racial attitudes toward blacks by whites.
How disappointing.
* “As with the Duke Lacrosse case, the truth about Jena will eventually be known. But the town of Jena isn’t expecting any apologies from the media.* They will probably never admit their error and have already moved on to the next “big” story. Meanwhile in Jena, residents are getting back to their regular routines, where friends are friends regardless of race. Just as it has been all along.”
* You’re building upon, and thereby helping to crystalize and perpetuate myths in the minds of the unknowing, David.
Posted by Natalie on Dec 22, 2007 at 6:21 AM If a known white racist kills a black person, and a white person kills another white person, what was the difference in the crimes? This is important, because “hate crime” laws are based on the difference. If all other details of the crimes are identical (method, weapon, pre-meditaion), the racist could still be charged with a “hate crime” and serve a tougher sentence. The only difference is the two murderers are: THEIR THOUGHTS. An advocate of hate crime legislation is an advocate of the policing of thoughts. I don’t know about you, but I feel that what goes on in someones head, no matter how disturbing, should be protected from the government. Violent actions have always been, and should always be, appropriately prosecuted. But the moment the government started regulating thought was the beginning of a very slippery slope.
Kuya: There is a huge difference in threatening violence with an archaic “weapon” such as a noose and a bomb vest! That’s like comparing a gun to a nuclear bomb. Of course the punishments for the threats should be different. Assuming “noose incidents” are actually on the rise, I doubt any blacks seriously fear for thier lives. Actual hangings are few and far between. It is thousands (if not more) of times more likely for a black person to be shot by another black person than to be hanged by a white. Yes, display of a noose is a disgusting practice, and I do feel for those people who are reminded “there are people in this world who want me dead”. But you can’t outlaw speech because you don’t agree with it! Noose hangers should be ostracized and ashamed of themselves. But not thrown in jail. There is NO constitutional guarantee against having your feelings hurt, or “an emotional body blow”. It would be impossible to enforce such a law.
The real problem is the (accurate) perception among white people that blacks are held to lower standards than whites. The civil rights movement should’ve stopped at equality. Instead they insist on institutionalizing lower standards for minorities so they can “get ahead” and “make up for past discrepancies”. This is creating great resentment among whites who are turned down for anything from a promotion to a seat at a university.
Posted by LeeJ on Dec 26, 2007 at 4:55 PM Page 1 of 1 pages -
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