Grambling to review noose incident

[CatWoman]

GRAMBLING, La. — Grambling State University President Horace Judson said the school has begun a full investigation of facts surrounding a Sept. 20 incident at Grambling Lab's elementary school in which a noose was placed around a kindergartener's neck.

"Everyone wants answers, and I don't have them right now," he said Monday.

The incident was part of a mock rally at the Alma J. Brown Elementary School that took place on the same day as the mass rally in Jena, La., in support of six black high school students charged in connection with the beating of a white classmate.

The elementary school is on the Grambling campus and is run by the university.

According to an article in Grambling's student newspaper, The Gramblinite, posted on Sept. 27, students in kindergarten and first grade at Alma J. Brown circled their playground on the day of the national "Jena Six" protests "in protest of the imprisonment of Mychal Bell, and the seemingly racial bias shown toward blacks in a small Louisiana town."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2007-10-01-grambling-noose_N.htm

[againes654]

1. There is a deep story behind all of this

"In order to understand racism one must experience it to make the connection."

A quote from the grandmother of the girl with the noose around her neck.

This quote is so true. As with anything, you have to really experience it in order to understand it. There is a history behind the noose, and why it is so offensive to blacks. You have to understand that history.

I have always known racism is alive and well, but for the better part of my life, I never experienced it.

My husband is black (I point that out to show my experience with racism) and I am white. We live in a small town in Texas. One day at work my boss, another co-worker, and I (all white) were talking. My boss was thinking about buying a house. She made the comment, "I am thinking about moving to Gary (a known racist town about 20 minutes from ours) because there are no chocolates there". This lady knew of my marital situation. I felt as though I had been punched in the gut. It is one of the worst feelings of my entire life. Needless to say, I was eventually run off the job, and no longer work there.

I will not pretend to know the deep feelings behind racism, but it is a horrible, ugly monster. True understanding is the only weapon we have.