Noose Investigation at Coast Guard is Re-Opened

Villagers, you may recall that a 6-inch string tied as a noose was found in an African American cadet's sea bag in July while he was serving aboard the historic tall ship Eagle. And during race-relations training in August -- set up in response to the first incident -- a white female civil rights instructor found a small noose in her office at the academy in New London, Connecticut. Neither incident became public until last week. Initial investigations failed to discover who was responsible.
The Coast Guard Academy has about 980 cadets, about 14 percent of whom are minorities, compared with 16 percent in 1991. African Americans make up about 4 Minorities comprised only 7 percent of the faculty and staff, and fewer than 1 percent of captains on active duty are Black.

Last week, after the incidents became public, the Coast Guard agreed to investigate further. The head of the U.S. Coast Guard, Admiral Thad Allen, and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) spoke to cadets at the Coast Guard Academy about the discovery this summer of two small hangman's nooses on Coast Guard properties.

Click here to see video of remarks by Allen and Cummings
The noose, to African Americans, is a symbol of hatred and it takes us back to the times when Black folks were being lynched regularly. Villagers, we need to keep our eyes open about this disturbing trend that is flowing through America since the three young 'pranksters' hung those three nooses on the so-called white tree in Jena, LA. If justice on those three had been swift and severe ... we may not be in our current deteriorating race relations climate.

Villagers, what say u?