Is it a noose or necktie?

[flashl]

Noose Controversy at CPS Energy

Some say it is an historic symbol of hate. A hangman's noose found on the desk of a CPS Energy supervisor. Monday, workers and community leaders spoke out, saying something needs to be done.

Another employee took a photo of the noose.

Investigators at CPS Energy told me the manager believed the noose was a necktie.

During a protest Monday morning, activists chanted "CPS! Down with the noose!"

Dr. Howard Anderson of the NAACP said, "One would have to have been born early this morning to not recognize that a hangman's noose is racially offensive in America."

To many, a noose is a haunting historic symbol.

"The hangman's noose has got 12 knots on it," said union representative Ralph Merriweather. "12 knots by the Ku Klux Klan indicated it took 12 knots to hang a black man, to break his neck to kill him."

Read More ...

[Bluerthanblue]

1. pretty lame try- if

this was part of a collection of "neckties"- why was it the only part there????

He might as well have claimed it was part of his "knot tying" collection.

:shrug:

[flashl]

2. Its more of an indictment on the workplace environment if there is a question.n/t

[EFerrari]

14. When people were threatened with hanging, the word "necktie"

was sometimes used. This man knew exactly what he was doing:


neck'tie par"ty

Older Slang.
a lynching or other execution by hanging.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipd/A0550456.html

[Beerboy]

3. That's a common misconception,

that an executioner needs x amount of coils to string anyone up...a simple slip-knot will do. For the really flashy executions, look @ the German Nazi war-criminals hanged @ Nuremburg, not one of them needed over 8 coils of rope, and only Julius Streicher took over 8 minutes to fucking die. Typically, they had the ministrations of a scientist regarding execution by rope, something Nazis/Americans/Turks never afford their own victims of genocide.
I'd say the Kraut bastards got off lucky, they knew the time and manner of their death under military supervision with complete dignity, after an exhaustive legal procedure.

[flashl]

4. Do ya think 1 coil or 12 coils matters in the most violent society? n/t

[Didereaux]

5. The 'noose' was around long before the KKK... and none own it n/t

[flashl]

6. In U.S. it is

a racist symbol same as the swastika, no one asks what the swastika REALLY means.

[aikoaiko]

7. I think its symbology is more complicated than that and depends very much on context.

Of course, I can't argue against that the hangman's noose symbolizes one thing to some people.

[flashl]

9. For those with historial amnesia. Lets be clear about the hangman's noose in the U.S.

the factual history of the noose and its use is depicted at Without Sanctuary. There are STILL collectors shows with "trading cards" and other artifacts from the hangings.

Without Sanctuary:

Searching through America's past for the last 25 years, collector James Allen uncovered an extraordinary visual legacy: photographs and postcards taken as souvenirs at lynchings throughout America. With essays by Hilton Als, Leon Litwack, Congressman John Lewis and James Allen, these photographs have been published as a book "Without Sanctuary"

And, after years of silence in America the Senate acknowledges the barbarity in 2005.

Senate Apology

Last June 13, the United States Senate unanimously passed Senate Resolution 39 (see Resolution text at end of interview), apologizing for that body’s past failure to enact federal anti-lynching legislation—legislation the House had passed three times (1922, 1937, 1940). Each time the House-passed bill came to the Senate, Southern members used “states’ rights” arguments and the filibuster and other parliamentary maneuvers to prevent a floor vote—which most likely would have approved the bill.

Senate Resolution 39 was an extraordinary action, reported widely in the media. The effort was the result of several years of organizing/lobbying by The Committee For A Formal Apology—initiated by publication of Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, by James Allen (Twin Palms Twelve Trees Press, 2000), the mind-blowing and sickening collection of photos, not only of the victims but of the festive crowds that regularly attended these horrific acts.

[Quantess]

11. Yes, and also, "gay" used to mean happy.

Meanings evolve over time.

[flashl]

12. The history of the linguistic use of nooses

in recents stories connotes the same intent found in the pictures at Without Sanctuary.

[aikoaiko]

16. I'm sure you're not trying to make the case that illegal hangings of blacks ....

...was the only use of the noose in the US, are you?


eta: to be less flammable

[Bluerthanblue]

8. that is correct and the swastika existed long befor the Nazi's and that

doesn't keep it from being a symbol of great suffering and evil.

[Rhythm and Blue]

10. Which is too bad, really.

The swastika is aesthetically extremely pleasing, and has a beautiful history in multiple cultures. Forever contaminating the swastika is one of the Nazi regime's lesser crimes worth remembering.

[Igel]

13. In most contexts.

But certainly not all.

Words are symbols. Most people understand that a word can have more than one meaning. The same is true of symbols. Sometimes people aren't aware of some meanings and want to deny the possibility, sometimes they refuse to believe that a person could intend a word to have a different meaning. But that's up to the listener, and listeners shouldn't impose their views as the only correct interpretation on a speaker.

(Haven't looked at this case, but I've seen where it applies. In particular, to swastikas.)

[Bluerthanblue]

15. that is true- but if i can't say the word fuck on tv- without injuring

someones "sensitivity"-
which makes absolutely NO sense to me- if we use the word literally, most of the time we're using it it makes non-sense.

How can we simply blow off the use/display of a symbol which has been clearly equated with a fascist regime, or as a tool to murder, terrorize and threaten African Americans in this country?-.

What other realistic use does a noose have other than to kill?

And I do understand what you are saying about swastikas- our capitol city has a building which has swastikas on its facade- they were put there long before Hitler- and did not mean anything sinister or hurtful. Intent does matter- but that noose didn't pre-date lynchings.

peace~