Playing With Nooses Ain't No Game

We learned today that Mychal Bell must remain behind bars while some white folks continue to think that playing around with nooses is funny.

First, the three kids in Jena, LA hung three nooses in the Jena High School 'whites-only' tree last year. Second, someone at the University of Maryland hung a noose in a tree near Black Student Union building. Next we see 4-5 nooses hung from tree at high school in High Point, NC. Now we have two white youngsters rolling through Alexandria, LA with nooses hanging off both sides of their truck.

Alexandria is about an hour from Jena, LA. It served as the staging area for thousands of protesters who went to Jena to demonstrate against the unequal prosecution of the Jena 6.

Authorities in Alexandria, Louisiana, arrested two people after nooses were seen hanging from the back of a red pickup Thursday night. The 18-year old driver was charged with DUI and inciting a riot. The 16-year old passenger is in custody pending charges. The younger kid told police he and his family are in the Ku Klux Klan.

How arrogant do white kids have to be to try to incite a riot with nooses in front of all the brothers and sisters who spent the day at the Jena protest march? These youngsters are fortunate that the brothers and sisters that saw the noose decided to do the right thing by calling the police rather than do what they may have wanted to do ... reach in the truck and slap each of the kids across the face.

Villagers, why do some white folks think that playing with nooses is funny?

Noose Hung in Tree at University of Maryland

Hat tip to Danielle of Modern Musings for beating the drums about a noose found hanging in a tree near a building that houses several African American campus organizations at the University of Maryland.

University of Maryland administrators moved quickly over the weekend to assure students and other members of the community that they were taking the possibility of a campus hate crime with the utmost seriousness.

University President C. D. Mote Jr. wrote in an open letter.

Police said they have opened a criminal investigation and are treating the case as a hate crime.

"The University of Maryland will not tolerate discrimination, harassment or acts of hate. The possibility that this act appears intended to bring to mind the horrific crime of lynching, which is such a terrible and tragic part of our nation's past, is particularly abhorrent."

The University of Maryland graduates more African American students than any other public research university among the nation's top 25. In 2006, African American students made up 12.9 percent of the university's 25,154 undergraduate students.

Yet, with all those Black folks on campus ... and with humongous wealth of the Black community in that geographic area ... some fool feels comfortable enough to hang a noose. We are not talking about silly white kids in Jena, LA ... this time we're talking about some grown college-age adults.

Villagers, the September 20 rally in Jena is more and more important. Not just to change the legal system in Jena, but also to remind America that racist acts against our community will no longer be tolerated.

Sit around the baobob tree and share your thoughts on the noose incident at the University of Maryland. What say u?