The recent ugly act of hanging a paper noose in a school restroom was compounded by being recorded on a video that circulated on social media, with racist commentary added. The first was bad enough. The second only made matters worse.
Fortunately, school officials took prompt disciplinary action against a student involved in the action, the Journal’s Fran Daniel reported last week.
The paper noose appeared in a bathroom at Davie County High School last week. It was one of three that were placed on the campus.
“In the video, a male voice uses the ‘N word’ several times and indirectly makes threats to people who believe the noose is a racist symbol,” the Journal reported.
The claim that there could be another meaning behind a noose, made while using one of the ugliest, most bigoted words in the English language, strains credibility.
“The display of a hate symbol was completely unacceptable and such behavior will not be tolerated. Appropriate disciplinary action was taken as a result of this incident,” school officials told the Journal.
If the purpose of the nooses and video was to be disruptive, it was successful. The video raised concerns among parents about student safety, the superintendent of Davie County Schools, Darrin Hartness, told the Journal. Some wondered if it was some kind of Halloween joke. Others recognized the implicit racism of the image of the noose, used too often in the past for unjust lynchings of blacks that were often cheered on by crowds of whites.
Kids will be kids, and we like to think that episodes like this spring more from ignorance than from racial animosity. But they shouldn’t arise at all. It’s unacceptable.
Of course, this won’t be the end of it. There’s been a surge in bigoted expressions and actions in recent times. School officials as well as other public officials need to study it, confront it and stamp it out. We all need to speak out against it. People of color and other minority groups that are being targeted today have every right to be here and to exist without fear of threats or violence. This land belongs to all of us.
