A Prank or Hate Speech

[boston bean]

Is that even a real question?

A noose hanging from a tree in the south(or anywhere else for that matter) is racist, hate, speech.

The news outlets are asking this question like it has merit.

WTF has happened to our country?

Every day we have just slid backwards and its jaw dropping really.

[radiclib]

1. Sounds like a FOX question

Who else is doing it?

[boston bean]

2. CNN, all the time. I've seen it numerous times. nt

[radiclib]

10. I knew they were headed in that direction

but it looks like CNN has really disappeared down the crapper with this one. Jesus! We need to do this :argh: with our TeeVees

[gateley]

11. Don't want offend any sensitive racist viewers. nt

[smokey nj]

3. As far as I'm concerned it was a death threat and should have been treated as such.

Just my opinion.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Why the Police Department of the Small town had their Sheriff on ..

And he said, "It's most likely a prank. We have no evidence that it goes any farther."

I kid you not, as this guy was talking I heard the theme lyrics to "The Dukes of Hazard" playing in my mind. :wow:

Just the good ole boys? :eyes:

[gateley]

13. I think the only evidence that would satisfy him would be a swinging black dead

boy.

I am just so sickened and angered by this.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

5. How stupid

You know, if someone had hung a noose in an area where race relations were very good and it really was done as a joke, I think I could entertain the idea that it was a joke in very bad taste, and that someone needed to gently correct these kids.

This is NOT the case in Jena, where black and white kids were segregated at lunch time!

I can't believe anyone would even think that it's a prank given the situation in Jena. What idiots!

[NOLALady]

14. I can't imagine anyplace in this country

where race relations are so good that people of African ancestry would see a hanging noose as a joke.

[midlife_mo_Jo]

15. I meant where the white kids would have thought it a joke

And I did say that some adult should sit down and correct them. There's no way I'm going to believe it was a joke in Jena, though.
Race relations were very good at my kids' high school with quite a bit of integration at lunch tables, groups of friends, etc. The situation in Jena looks like the school I went to in south Louisiana twenty-five years ago. It sucks.

[rusty quoin]

6. That's like when they say, "Isn't that what a lot of people are thinking."

No! Just bigots

[liberalmuse]

7. Newsreaders are notoriously dumb.

Bush has happened to this country. Some people were dying to roll back the clock, and Bush gave them cover to do it when he turned his back on New Orleans. I don't know in what context a noose hanging from a tree could ever be considered "funny" or merely "a joke".

[graywarrior]

8. A prank is putting a fart cushion on someone's seat.

Even if this was meant as a prank, there were sinister thoughts behind it. Some people think it's funny to hate. And yeah, it seems like we have slid backwards or else have been in denial for a long long time that there is such hatred amongst us.

[Totally Committed]

9. Racism, pure and simple.

I spent some time in the South in the 60's registering people to vote, and the sight of a noose was NEVER seen as a "prank" by any of the African-Americans I spent time with.

A noose is a noose is a noose, and is NEVER a prank.

TC

[Ian David]

12. The soft bigotry of low expectations?

Do we have such low expectations of southerners, that we're relieved when the nooses are empty?


http://www.cafepress.com/southdiversity

[rudeboy666]

16. Possibliy a sick joke

Emphasis on the SICK.

There is a difference between a mere joke and a sick joke. The distinctions are significant.

Of course, whether this case is a manifestation of a sick joke is open to question (although I tend to believe that this is a case of serious provocation, not a sick joke).

[me b zola]

19. CNN reported that one of the kids as a KKK tattoo on his arm

and that kid's parents are or have been active in KKK activities.

[Mz Pip]

17. It's hate

About the only time I have ever agreed with Clarence Thomas was when he wrote his opinion on the case that came before the SCOTUS regarding crossburning. Some argued it was protected under free speech. Thomas disagreed. He didn't side with the usual suspects on the case.


http://www.aces.edu/urban/metronews/vol2no3/cross.html

Mz Pip
:dem:

[PDenton]

18. it is definitely hate speech

and not just a prank. I'm not sure it is illegal (hate speech is legal in the US, threats are not- so was this just a sick joke meant to cause unease or an actual death threat?) but the school can definitely punish people who engage in activities that are meant to make certain races or groups feel demeaned or intimidated and that disrupt the learning environment of a school.

Some things like inciting a riot could be used against hate speech, though. Like the guy near jena that was arrested hauling around nooses off his truck (besides being drunk at the time). I'm not sure it would stick but it is all about what twelve people will believe.

[Solly Mack]

20. It's a threat

It's essentially saying "sit here again and die"

[BlooInBloo]

21. White folks believe very strongly in plausible deniability - or implausible even.

[Raejeanowl]

22. Burning Crosses

...on the lawns of black families are a pretty unmistakable signal, and dealt with harshly by the law.

Seems to me the noose business is just a lower-key and more cowardly way of saying the same thing. The lack of arson (or trespass) doesn't really ameliorate the "hate speech."