Oregon school says 4 confessed to Obama effigy

[rebel with a cause]

Christian university says students punished; FBI still investigating

The Associated Press

updated 8:05 p.m. CT, Tues., Sept. 30, 2008

NEWBERG, Ore. - A Christian university in Oregon said Tuesday it has punished four students who confessed to hanging a likeness of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama from a tree on campus.

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A statement from the school said the penalties against the four students were "immediate long-term suspension and public service." The school cited federal privacy rules in not disclosing more about the students or their punishment.

<snip>

The commercially produced cardboard cutout of Obama was hung from a tree last week with fishing line around the neck.

A message taped to the cutout read, "Act Six reject." That refers to a scholarship and leadership program for minority and low-income student leaders at Christian colleges primarily located in the Northwest.

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This says a lot about our country, the Chrisian attitude of some especially in the christain academic world, and racism in general. This makes me sick, but sadly does not surprise me.

[bluestateguy]

1. I don't want these people voting in November.

I want them disenfranchised.

I want them to lose their civil rights.

I want what they did to be stapled to every job application with their name on it.

[rebel with a cause]

3. Yeah, I agree, but their punishment is just long term suspension.

Why were they not expelled!!!

The Feds are looking into it, but I am not holding my breathe on what will happen there.

I am sorry but I hate people like this. I really do hate them the same way they hate people that are different from them.

[elshiva]

2. Fuck them! This is racist bullshit.

LYNCHING! :cry: :cry:

[rebel with a cause]

5. That is what it represents.

But it goes further than even Obama. He is just the symbol they used. They were sending a message to all Blacks that they need to stop thinking they are equal and should not expect equal consideration. This is the mindset of some in this country, and it makes me sad that this still exist.

[elshiva]

7. You are right.

:( "Blacks should know their places." :puke:

[Xipe Totec]

4. What do you expect?

We're dealing with people who think black skin is the mark of Cain, and that the Bible condones racism.

[rebel with a cause]

6. This may be true of these people, but I do know Christians that

do not feel this way. I just do not like Christian colleges and have never heard too much good about them except from ministers that had degrees from them.

[eugeneliberal]

8. Damn

Aside from the obvious and despicable moral failures of these students...how the hell did kids that stupid get into college? As for the school and its long-term suspension...I'm thinking if the school simply expelled them, they would no longer have authority/leverage to insist on the public service aspect of the punishment.

Hopefully the Feds will find something in the law that can augment the consequences.

[rebel with a cause]

9. I am torn on the suspension/expelling question.

I think the expulsion on their record would be a more fitting punishment, and I just don't know how much good public service does for some people. I guess it depends on what kind of public service they are forced to do. But there again anyone who is that racist may need more than public service to make them see the light.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. So when will they be released to authorities?

These aren't minors.

[rebel with a cause]

11. The Feds are supposedly looking into it.

But I don't know what they can be charged with unless they can say this is a threat on Barack's life. I just think there should be something done to anyone that does something like this, burn crosses or other acts of threatening racism.

I lived in a town where every year they had a KKK rally out on this one man's property. They burned a cross at the end of it. I never saw any of it because it was out in the country on a farm. The law said they could not do anything about it because it was on private property. I had moved to this town because my job was there and also because the population was more diverse than where I had lived. Sadly, the racism was just as bad.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Well, you've got vandalism for one.

Hate crime on another.

Hanging people in effigy is protected speech, but this goes beyond simply hanging people in effigy.

[rebel with a cause]

13. Thanks.

I thought of hate crime but was unsure if this would get that much support for it. I would definately say it was one. Vandalism just gets a slap on the wrist usually and that is not enough to satisfy me.

For years we lived in fear of having a cross burning on our lawn. Of course, we had a lot more serious fears also, but if someone has not lived with that type of fear, they do not understand how this type of behavior affects others. It is a message sent and that message is one of hate and fear.

[Subdivisions]

14. Prosecute them for hate crimes. n/t