Nooses: When Retro Goes too Far at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture

Nooses: When Retro Goes too Far

by guest contributor Jack Turner, originally published at Jack and Jill Politics

When bellbottoms came back, I was ok with it. When 1980s style jeans and hair made a comeback, I was annoyed, but I let it go. However, it seems we’ve got the return of a much more powerful and painful symbol of the past to contend with nowadays: the noose.

Of course, there’s Jena, LA over a year ago, and the idiots who brought nooses back during the recent protest, but there are a frightening number of noose sightings all over the nation. I was watching CNN a few minutes ago and found this story

October 4th at the Coast Guard Academy: Coast Guard tries to deal with noose incidents

The head of the U.S. Coast Guard and a congressman planned to travel to the Coast Guard Academy on Thursday to speak to cadets about the discovery this summer of two small hangman’s nooses on Coast Guard properties.

October 4th, outside of Pittsburgh: Nooses Left At O’Hara Township Work Site

A third possible incident of racial workplace intimidation in the Pittsburgh area this week was reported on Thursday morning. Errol Madyun told WTAE Channel 4 Action News reporter Ari Hait that he found a noose on Wednesday at the construction site where he’s working in O’Hara Township.

October 4th, outside of Pittsburgh: Local Verizon Worker Says She’s Target Of Racial Threat

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, claimed someone left a noose around a doll’s neck with a note saying she didn’t deserve a promotion. The doll was left on her desk in an inner-office envelope at the Verizon Wireless complex in Cranberry.

October 3rd, near Ft. Wayne, IN: Noose found on utility pole at Army Depot

Authorities are trying to determine who tied a noose to a utility pole in the industrial area of the Anniston Army Depot. A passerby spotted the noose yesterday at about 10 a.m

October 3rd, near Louisville, KY: Woman quits job after twice finding doll with noose around its neck

A year ago, Carla Hinkle says she found a doll with a rope wrapped around its neck in a plant at her job.

October 2, Pittsburgh: Racist Threat Found In Port Authority Garage

Officials said a black baby doll, with a racist threat, was found hanging Monday in a hallway at PAT’s East Liberty garage. The threat was directed at an unspecified black woman.

September 30th, in Hempstead, Long Island NY: Noose Found Hanging In L.I. Police Station; Called ‘Intolerable’

A noose was found dangling in the headquarters of a suburban police department that prides itself on its diversity, the police chief said…. Corey Pegues, a New York City police captain and the president of the Long Island chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, said members believed the noose may have been directed at a high-ranking Hempstead police official who is black.

This doesn’t include all the incidents brklyngrl posted about on OpenLeft this weekend. Like the word “nigger” a noose can be used by any white person to bring down any black person. Doesn’t matter if we’re talking about high school students or Coast Guard officers, construction workers or police chiefs. I’m sure many of these incidents are copycats “inspired” by the Jena 6 story, but let’s not forget that George Allen kept one in his law office long before that famous “schoolyard fight” in Louisiana.

Hanging a noose, like burning a cross or blowing up school children (whether on a city bus or in a church) is an act of terrorism. It forces people to change their habits, quit their jobs and live in fear. It is a threat on one’s life. Black folks in America have been living with some form of terrorism since we arrived here, but somehow, I don’t expect the government will be sending the troops to Hempstead and Louisville and Pittsburgh anytime soon.

P.S.

And then there’s this incident on the campus of Grambling State: GSU president orders ‘hanging photo’ off Web. Apparently black parents wanted to dramatize the significance of the noose to their children in the wake of the Jena protest.

The Gramblinite’s Web site Friday included a comment from a woman who identified herself as Irene Booker. She said in her posted comment, “Yes, it was a rope around the little girl’s neck. It was a (safe) demonstration as to what the rope symbolized to blacks. This was my granddaughter and she along with so many of the other students did not understand the intimidation of the noose. I held her in my arms and she knows that I would not harm her or put her life in danger. In order to understand racism one must experience it to make the connection.”

Thoughts, readers and fellow bloggers? Does the popularity of the noose indicate some resurgent racism, an increased comfort among racist people, a misguided set of “pranks” triggered by the Jena 6 case or something else altogether?

Trackbacks & Pings

Racist noose incidents becoming a new trend on 10 Oct 2007 at 10:25 am

[…] Turner, writing as a guest contributor for Racialicious, broke down other noose incidents in Pittsburgh that I had not heard […]
Pardon My French « Reading While Black on 10 Oct 2007 at 7:09 pm

[…] Pardon My French But people are fucking nuts!! […]

Comments

egypt4 wrote:

And another one at Columbia, in a building accessible only by ID card:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/10/columbia.noose/index.html

Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 7:41 am ¶
S wrote:

To me, these people feel more…bold about performing these racist acts, it seems as if they have the support, the silent “go ahead” to intmidate blacks. But they are still cowards in that they do it in secret and in groups (just like when they frequently lynched black men).

Two things are aparent to me: 1. Some whites are always taking cheap, racist shots at blacks (what other race of people have been seen repeatedly hanging from nooses?)
2. Always done in secret, unless it is physical or verbal. If it’s verbal, a cheap apology is rehearsed aloud. If it’s physical, again, almost always done in groups. Cowards.

Now, what were those ignorant people saying about black people not being able to get over slavery and complaining too much about racism??? I guess calling people NIGGER, hosting BLACKFACE PARTIES, throwing bananas, and HANGING NOOSES doesn’t count as a reminder of slavery and the effects it has today.

Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 3:03 pm ¶
j wrote:

It’s important to recognize that there is much ‘copycat’ action going on with the sudden rash of nooses. That’s not to say that this shouldn’t be taken seriously. But it almost seems like ‘closet’ racists have found a way to express without exposing themselves, which to me is the most disturbing aspect of all these reports of nooses. I suspect that many of the nooses are planted by people who would not identify - and would not be identified by others - as raving racists. I suspect that they are bitter about a particular situation and have found a convenient and effective way to deal with the situation anonymously. Perhaps they are white folks on the job who have found a way to easily intimidate people of color (presumably to quit or otherwise succumb to white pressures) without the white folks having to breach any social mores, become outed in their racism or step into the realm of political incorrectness.

I don’t think these nooses necessarily represent an increase in racism. I *do* think they represent a (for the moment) convenient way for closet bigots - or other haters - to act under cover. Because the act is presumably ’safe’ for them - that is, they can act anonymously - prompts more people to act in this way than would otherwise. That is, the amount of racism out there hasn’t increased, but it’s manifestation via these acts are on the rise because this way of acting through anonymity allows that. I also think it’s important to take these acts seriously but to also not succumb to the (intended) intimidation.

That said, it is the comfort in anonymity of these so-called racist perpetrators that is really disturbing.

Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 8:36 pm ¶
Katie wrote:

I completely agree that such displays of overt racism as hanging nooses are highly unacceptable, and should be addressed by individuals, the community and the government put in charge to protect people’s right to live in a safe environment. However, I would like to propose one word of caution before whole-heartedly endorsing the claim that racism is on the rise. While there seems to have been a rise in nooses hanging around the country, I would at least like to entertain the possibility (as idealistic as it may be) that this flood of coverage is actually a result of more awareness surrounding these incidents–whether as a response to the Jena mess or a rise in moral conscious–which has caught the attention of the media. Therefore resulted in more reports, but not necessarily more incidents in comparison to past years. This does not, under any circumstance, excuse the number of noose related incidents in the United States. The number of stories in the news over the past year is appalling, however, in our dismay and outrage I would hope that we could step back for one moment before blaming the greater public for regressing back towards the more overt racism of the past centuries. I would at least hope that this may be a sign that not all is lost, and there is the possibility to move forward toward a tolerant society.

Posted 10 Oct 2007 at 10:55 pm ¶