Bob CollinsAnother noose incident in Minnesota.
This time it’s in Chatfield, where two students have been “disciplined” for hanging a black doll over a stage railing by a noose. The Winona Daily News quoted a parental source claiming the two were suspended for two days. Some in the school say that’s not punishment enough.
The paper carries a quote by the school’s principal that suggest that the students involved are more stupid than racist.
Principal Randy Paulson said that a poster supporting a white supremacist group was found previously on the locker of one of the students responsible for hanging the doll.
Despite these two acts, along with reports the same student had previously used racial slurs toward (Parent Tammi) Stoos’ daughter and other minority students, Chatfield School District officials said they would not necessarily call what the students did a hate crime, although the students were disciplined under their racial harassment policy.
“I think what happened here is that we had a couple of students that did this incident without a lot of thought, and not realizing that this would be a racial act,” Paulson said.
Blink. Blink. A student who has used racial slurs and had a white supremacist poster on his locker didn’t realize hanging a black doll in a noose would be a racial act?
The fallout from the incident would suggest that depending on what school you attend in Minnesota, you may risk more by having a photograph on Facebook of you holding a Dixie cup off school property than hanging a black doll by a noose in the school.
It would appear that the golf community — not exactly known for its firm stand against racism — takes things more seriously. Golfweek Magazine sacked its editor today for putting a noose on the cover.
Meanwhile, in Jena, Louisiana on Monday, a nationalist noose-carrying group is planning a protest against Martin Luther King Day. One fairly wonders what kind of behavior the participants exhibited when they were in high school.
