Unientified Duke Student Apologizes For Hanging Noose, Was Not Even Related To Race
It’s been about a month since the Duke campus became a hotbed of outrage, with the Social Justice Warriors marching, demonstrating, telling us in one breath that they had no fear and in the next that the noose created a hostile atmosphere. Then, the student who left the noose was found. And the campus and story went quiet. The AP said there were lingering questions. At least one, the reason for the noose, has been solved
(WRAL) The Duke University student who placed a noose in a tree on campus outside the Bryan Center a month ago issued a written letter of apology to the campus community on Friday.
“Through my lack of cultural awareness and joking personality, I ended up unintentionally creating a huge mess for myself, my friends, my family and many members of the Duke community that I severely regret,” the student wrote.
The student said the noose was hung as a prank to entice friends to “hang out.”
It’s a pretty short article for the almost-resolution of an incident that required vast amounts of coverage for about three days starting April Fool’s Day. If you read the letter we find out
I have explained my story to Duke Administrators and law enforcement officials as well. I told them the sequence of events whereby something that I made out of a piece of yellow cord I found, for what I considered at the time to be innocent fun, was instead taken for something so terrible. My purpose in hanging the noose was merely to take some pictures with my friends together with the noose, and then texting it to some others inviting them to come and “hang out” with us — because it was such a nice day outside. If there was ever a pun with unintended consequences — this was certainly one. In addition, when I left I carelessly forgot the noose hanging on the tree for the rest of the afternoon and the evening rather than discarding it, as I should have. As a result, people saw it and because of the historical meaning of a noose in the South, a fact that because of my background and heritage I was completely unaware of, conclusions were made that whomever had made the noose did it for racist reasons. This led – completely justifiably — to the student demonstrations, and the school’s expression of disgust of my actions. The Duke Community should take pride in the spirit that unfolded and was demonstrated by the student body during those peaceful demonstrations.
So, a college kid doing something really stupid and insensitive by accident and without thought. Imagine that! The person, whoever they are, apologizes profusely and is reading
a book written by Sherrilyn Ifill, titled “On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-first Century.” It is a book, which looks at the relationship between decades-old lynchings and today’s racial violence. I am reading this book so that I may better understand the negative power that the noose, a symbol of lynching, has come to represent in America. I have learned a hard and valuable lesson on many fronts, including that what can be funny for one group of people may bring back very negative, unacceptable symbols of hatred to others.
But, not all are accepting
Reggie Benbow, a graduate business student who is African American, summed up his reaction in one word: “Flabbergasted.”
“To know what a noose is, you have to know the significance of it,” Benbow said. “To be in the South, this is still the American South with a history. You can feel it, you can see it. It’s just unbelievable that someone didn’t know what that meant.”
Zoelene Hill, a public policy doctoral student, agreed. The perpetrator, she said, just didn’t understand the outrage his action would generate.
“He thought his inside joke would remain an inside joke,” said Hill, who is African American. “That’s what his problem is. The whole statement was ridiculous.”
Of course, nooses appear in lots and lots of Western movies, movies that typically feature zero Black people. Hey, remember when Sarah Palin was hung in effigy for a Halloween display?
Be that as it may, we still have no idea who the person is, in it is strange that the school is still protecting not only the name, but the race and sex of the person. In the comments at WRAL, we see
According to those who have reviewed the surveillance tapes, she is an AA female who also tweeted to all members of the BSA after hanging the noose. Now we know why the R D B didn’t show up with his roadshow!
To which I responded
Can that be proven? With all due respect, what/who are your sources? Are the tapes available?
And have not received an answer.
What’s also interesting is how all the SJWs failed to appear in the comments of not just the two articles I used, but most others out there. They were hoping for a big racial incident, which failed to materialize.
On the bright side, the idiot student won’t be charged by Government Law Enforcement for his/her unintentional Thought Crime which Offended people and hurt their feelings.
Crossed at Pirate’s Cove. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach.