2008 Woodie Awards
Racing to the hanging
Actions should be condemned, but hold off judging CMU and its students ... for now
Issue date: 11/26/07 Section: Editorial
- Page 1 of 1
When someone leaves nooses hanging in an open lab with no apparent target, they may not be aiming at a single individual or race.
It may be a bad joke or a very poor way to deal with stress.
It also may be one of those little things driving minorities at CMU absolutely mad. Or worse, it could be aimed at a single individual or race.
But assuming motives leads to problems and before judging these actions, the "hangman" should have his say and should be listened to as seriously as the ministers who came to campus to condemn his actions were.
Certainly a noose on the door of a minority faculty's office or in a professor's classroom would be inexcusable.
What makes this particular noose any different?
There is no clear intention behind it and to assume it was a racial incident might be premature.
Wait to call this person a racist, or CMU a racist campus, until the facts are all out. The FBI is among those that are looking into the case.
It's highly improbable anyone at CMU has ever seen "strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees," as Billie Holiday eloquently sings in Abel Meeropol's moving poem about turn-of-the-century hangings.
Unfortunately, the passage of time does not lessen the impact of nooses which, despite also being used to hang non-blacks, remain a volatile symbol of America's original sin of slavery.
Just because lynchings have, thankfully, become mostly the stuff of history classes does not mean they are any less scary. Nooses remain a frightening and current reminder of obstacles we still need to overcome.
But what this incident could show is the importance of diversity classes. Frequently mocked by students in their current form, many diversity courses should be able, and be forced, to get the message across better. If required diversity classes did their job correctly, the anonymous confessor would have no grounds for claiming ignorance.
It should be easy to condemn the actions, and nooses as a tactic should be condemned, but CMU's diversity education leaves this person with a (highly) improbable explanation.
The real problem is that some at CMU felt threatened, whether or not that was the intention.
While racially-offensive actions always should be condemned, the university community is responsible for figuring out just what these particular nooses meant.
Let's take a deep breath before we, as a community, judge someone inaccurately.
It would be judgment based on actions and not skin color, but judging people without all the facts is still prejudice. And we can all agree that is not acceptable, whether or not you agree with the action of hanging a noose.
It may be a bad joke or a very poor way to deal with stress.
It also may be one of those little things driving minorities at CMU absolutely mad. Or worse, it could be aimed at a single individual or race.
But assuming motives leads to problems and before judging these actions, the "hangman" should have his say and should be listened to as seriously as the ministers who came to campus to condemn his actions were.
Certainly a noose on the door of a minority faculty's office or in a professor's classroom would be inexcusable.
What makes this particular noose any different?
There is no clear intention behind it and to assume it was a racial incident might be premature.
Wait to call this person a racist, or CMU a racist campus, until the facts are all out. The FBI is among those that are looking into the case.
It's highly improbable anyone at CMU has ever seen "strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees," as Billie Holiday eloquently sings in Abel Meeropol's moving poem about turn-of-the-century hangings.
Unfortunately, the passage of time does not lessen the impact of nooses which, despite also being used to hang non-blacks, remain a volatile symbol of America's original sin of slavery.
Just because lynchings have, thankfully, become mostly the stuff of history classes does not mean they are any less scary. Nooses remain a frightening and current reminder of obstacles we still need to overcome.
But what this incident could show is the importance of diversity classes. Frequently mocked by students in their current form, many diversity courses should be able, and be forced, to get the message across better. If required diversity classes did their job correctly, the anonymous confessor would have no grounds for claiming ignorance.
It should be easy to condemn the actions, and nooses as a tactic should be condemned, but CMU's diversity education leaves this person with a (highly) improbable explanation.
The real problem is that some at CMU felt threatened, whether or not that was the intention.
While racially-offensive actions always should be condemned, the university community is responsible for figuring out just what these particular nooses meant.
Let's take a deep breath before we, as a community, judge someone inaccurately.
It would be judgment based on actions and not skin color, but judging people without all the facts is still prejudice. And we can all agree that is not acceptable, whether or not you agree with the action of hanging a noose.
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