McCain Supporter Hangs Obama Effigy From a Tree

Hat Tip to The Villager

McCain supporter Mike Lunsford recently hung an Obama Effigy from a Tree at his home in Fairfield Ohio. The image was apparently hung right above the McCain/Palin signs in his yard. And he seems to be very proud of his work. See post and image from the Blog Electronic Village.

Is this what we should look forward to for the next 4 years? What are we in for? Racial incidents and hate crimes every few weeks, aimed at the President- and by extension- aimed at all Black Americans? I hope not. But this is the kind of fire that John Lewis warned the McCain campaign not to play with. Why? Because the hate rallies encourage people like Lunsford (who McCain/Palin are aware exists within their constituency). McCain has asked Obama to repudiate comments of others who happened to be raising legitimate issues, therefore requiring no repudiation. But here you have a case.…really a hate crime, where a Presidential candidate and U.S. Senator is hung in effigy from a tree for motives that the suspect has admitted are based on race. Will John McCain repudiate the actions of one of his supporters? I won’t hold my breath waiting…and neither should anyone else.

The hate, sickness and prejudice are already in the minds of some of these diehard McCain/Palin supporters (hardcore Republicans). So it doesn’t take much encouragement to stir up the flames of their hatred. This is why McCain and Palin have been so irresponsible. If they don’t understand basic things about their own Country, about its history, and about their own people, then what else don’t they understand? It just seems so fundamental to me, so how could a Presidential candidate not understand the facts and nuances of American culture…

But I think they do have an understanding of this….if they didn’t, they wouldn’t be involved in efforts to exploit the racial divide with their hateful Republican Party Convention, hateful rallies, and with their whisper campaigns and robo calls. They understand it.… They understand it when it benefits them; their entire campaign over the last 2 months has been all about dividing the Country based on race, class, and culture. But when they are held to account for their behavior they suddenly get amnesia and forget American history. Suddenly their actions are innocent and they go right into this plausible deniability routine that I have seen so often.

A Brief Note On Lynching (as I know it)

The history of Lynching in the U.S. is one of the indelible stains on this Country. For much of the 19th and 20th Centuries, up until the 1960's, lynching was a fairly common practice in this Country. It was responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children, of various races - white, native American, and Black. Often this practice took the place of judge and jury. But it was especially brutal when it was used against Blacks, many of whom weren't guilty of anything other than being Black in America.

The Lynchings of Blacks in this Country became a normal part of the American Culture....so much so that they were often seen as social gathering events, such as picnics and Barbecues. These social events were often part of lynching parties. Some of these events involved the burning or mutilation of bodies....and one really disturbing fact is that children were often in attendance. HORRIBLE!

These events were used to control Black populations. Whites used highly publicized lynchings as a way to make an example out of the victim and to scare others into remaining obedient... They were also warnings to Blacks not to cross certain social lines.

As you might imagine, local officials (government administrators, police, etc) were often involved in these brutal killings. How else could these lynchings happen in public...often in broad daylight, in front of dozens and sometimes hundreds of people? The suspects involved in these killings seldom faced justice.

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Related Links

This Isn't The First Time An Obama Effigy Has Been Symbolically Lynched

Bill O'Reilly's Inappropriate Comments About Michelle Obama

FBI Re-examines a 1946 lynching case - also see other links on the history of Lynching

Other Useful Links On The History of Lynching

Background On Lynchings

Without Sanctuary

More Background On Lynching

AmericanLynching.com

Duluth Lynchings

Lynching in Texas

Columbia University Professor Finds Noose On Office Door

Yet another noose incident has been reported. This time at Columbia University. It seems to me that we are going backwards. At least that is the direction that a few people want to take us in. When these incidents started to increase over the past year, I attributed it to the fact that reporters are paying more attention to these problems, and are therefore reporting more incidents....incidents that have always been taking place. But it now seems as if these incidents may be a real reflection of an increase in racial hatred and intolerance. The Jena Louisiana situation has raised tensions all over the Country. But I doubt if Jena alone could be responsible for a widening racial divide. Other factors must be at work. There are a lot of things that seem to be coming together all at once, which may explain part of the upsurge.... there is the war on terror...in which hardline Republicans have spooked their constituents into being afraid of anyone who speaks with an Arabic accent. There was the recent immigration debate...where many Americans trained themselves to be leery of any hispanic person and to be skeptical about their citizenship. We have a prominent African American candidate for President...who has been receiving threats. And we have a job market that is sending good paying jobs out and bringing labor in at the same time, from places like India & Mexico. (so there is this animosity about labor...centered around who is "taking" American jobs). A perfect storm? I'm not sure...but animosity seems to be growing. However, I believe that only a very small slice of Americans are actually involved in these kinds of activities. These kinds of tensions do seem to go up and down in cycles. I recall the Matthew Hale & Benjamin Nathaniel Smith cases from several years ago.

I guess we will never be entirely safe from these threats.

Black Columbia professor finds noose at office
BY DANIEL MASSEY

A black professor at Columbia University's Teachers College found a hangman's noose on her office door yesterday, an act that university officials immediately condemned and reported to police.

"The Teachers College community and I deplore this hateful act, which violates every Teachers College and societal norm," Susan Fuhrman, president of the college, said in a statement.

Fuhrman added that she and Provost Tom James will conduct a community forum on the incident today on the Manhattan campus.

The professor who was targeted, faculty and students said, has distinguished herself as a scholar in race relations. Neither police nor the college identified the 44-year-old professor.

"She's very passionate about social justice and equality," said Shawn Maxam, 26, of Brooklyn, who is studying music education and sociology education at Teachers College. "I'm not surprised or shocked. There are issues surrounding race and class at Teachers College."

Other students said they were hurt after learning of the incident.

"I'm shocked," said Nichole Henry, 23, who is studying to become a physical education teacher. "For a hate crime to go down at Teachers College, this is such a diverse school.

"I can't believe it. It's really disappointing. It hurts."

Nursing education professor Kathleen O'Connell called the incident "extremely distressing.

"This place does a lot of work on racial and diversity issues," she said.

Speaking of her colleague, O'Connell said, "She's a very productive faculty member, so that's just nuts."

Debbie Sonu, 31, a fourth-year doctoral student in urban education, said she was disappointed about the incident but encouraged by the school's swift response.

"It's a wake-up call," Sonu said.

She made reference to the case of the six black teenagers in Jena, La., who civil rights activists have said were treated unfairly by the local criminal justice system and prosecuted overzealously when fights along racial lines broke out at their school last year.

"Maybe we can't compare the context or geography," Sonu said. "But the bottom line of how we treat each other is comparable."

Source

See a local ABC Report

West Virginia Woman Kidnapped and Tortured - Possible Hate Crime

Hat tip:Prometheus 6

FBI enters case of ghastly abuse

From staff, wire reports

Police are looking for two more people in the torture, beating and sexual assault of a Charleston woman, and the Logan County prosecutor said he believes the woman first met one of her abductors over the Internet.

The two people being sought by police are believed to have picked up 23-year-old Megan Williams from Charleston and transported her to Big Creek, where she was held captive in a home for at least a week.

Police have arrested six people already. The FBI has entered the case because it is a possible federal hate crime, authorities said.

The victim is black and the alleged assailants are white.

Prosecutor Brian Abraham said he heard from one of the arresting officers that Williams met a Logan County man on an Internet site.

Abraham could not verify whether that person was already in custody or one of the suspects still sought by police.

“I think she may have met an individual on the Internet and he agreed to pick her up in Kanawha County and take her to Logan County,” Abraham said. “That individual may have befriended her and at some point turned her over to these people.”

Abraham, who has served eight years as prosecutor, said he has never witnessed or imagined a case of this proportion.

“We’re up to our eyeballs in murder cases in Logan County, but nothing quite like this,” he said. “We have typical homicides motivated by jealously, passion and theft. This seems like outright malice. It’s something you’d see in a horror movie.”

Magistrate Leonard Codispoti told The Logan Banner, “It was the worst case of human abuse I have seen since I have been a magistrate.

“Something like this is so horrifying it makes you want to puke. They got this girl out of Charleston and took her to Big Creek, threw her in a shack, raped and stabbed her, put a rope around her neck, made her eat animal feces and did other horrifying things to her.”

It's not over. Seems as if there are two more ' alleged' suspects still wandering out there. This poor woman. Seems like it's Open Season on Black folk, doesn't it? Reminds me of that famous Vernon Johns sermon.

Now, if it walks like a hate crime, talks like a hate crime, smells like a hate crime....what is it - oatmeal? They just didn't 'happen' upon this victim, they searched her out, which, for me, is the pure definition of a hate crime.

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UPDATE IN THE MEGAN WILLIAMS CASE - See Here

(scroll through the comments section below to see my thoughts)