Posted on 01/05/2007 9:10:26 PM PST by mfnorman
NEW YORK (CNN) -- James Jackson, a 26-year-old black employee of 180 Connect, was preparing for another day of installing cable, telephone and Internet service to residential customers of Cablevision in Nassau County, New York on December 7.
When he walked to the fenced-off area to pick up equipment for the day's jobs he looked up and was shocked to see a vicious, racist symbol in his workplace. A noose was hanging in the fenced-off equipment area, visible to the dozens of installers, the majority of whom are black, but accessible only to his boss and an equipment manager, both of whom are white.
Jackson, a former messenger who had worked at 180 Connect for a year and a half, immediately confronted the equipment manager, Dave Willie.
"I asked Dave," Jackson told CNN, " 'What is that hanging up there?' and he said, 'That is a noose' and I said, 'I know it's a noose, but why is it up there?' And he walked away."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I know I hate all them, white...asian, african...um? What race is muslims? It must be hard to be racist against a religion, and not a race of people. I can see why you are confused.
Theoretical associations of imagery? How about the image of me getting my ass beat by a black kid because I was forced to "attend" his school by the school board. How about the image of race riots because the black kids where forced to attend our schools. How about the imagery of my friend being stabbed to death by a black man. How about that? I have had my fill of imagery about racism. This was a classic case of over sensitive blacks, and stupid whites, but a noose is not a symbol of racism.
I mean, you know, given how the marriage "ended".
Are you saying that OJ killed Nicole because he is a racist? When did race ever become an issue in the OJ murders?
Try and stay on topic.
And American Indians should be able to sue the pants off of any one carrying a gun, no matter what the context is.
Sue movie makers and TV shows for showing a gun being used. I mean wouldn't this be a major trauma event for them to SEE the item that brought their race to near extinction?
(/sarcasm)
In the context it was used, I would agree that the managers should be fired. Making a noose a forbidden image, item that can never be shown in any context is another matter.
The N word has pretty much been banished from our language, except when used by black rappers. Our present day imagery would picture it being used in the past in a hate dripping slam at the race. It was common descriptive word. Everybody used it or Negro.
Negro = black in Portuguese and Spanish derived from Niger =black in Latin.
Now both N words have become off limits and we are all to use black because of negative connotations to a variants of the same word. Those who would scream racism when words are used by whites, are free to use the word(s) in jest with each other and it is also acceptable in their gansta rap booming from their cars and Ipods.
What do we do when they find black and colored offensive and declare them off limits? How will we categorize them on traffic stops (required) and employment applications (required)?
At some point we are pushed into extreme levels of stupidity trying to NOT offend someone. Especially when there exists a professional class of people seeking to be offended so they can hit the jackpot.(I don't see that is the case in this noose incident. Also I don't think we have many true racists here on FR.)
It's kind of like the leftists being shocked when a prosecutor charges blacks with hate crimes when a white victim was involved. They say to themselves "You can't do that! That law was enacted specifically for white racists and white male homophobes. Not FAIR!"
I'm still waiting for a prosecutor to use the hate crime law on black on black, white on white and gay on gay violent crimes. Most all violent crime is a hate crime.
I said that I thought an EEOC complaint and a potential lawsuit are inappropriate.
As a manager or owner of this business, do you really want your agent (the supervisor of these employees) embarrassing and disturbing your employees for no good reason? The supervisor and equipment person took this action which clearly does not benefit the business in anyway and has been disruptive to the business (I gotta think all of this activity, lawsuits and investigations aside has made their business less efficient).
Also, do you feel any expressions taken in the workplace should be inappropriate? Actions and expressions in the workplace are different than those in the media and other public forums. You are on your company's time and property and your actions should advance the profitability of the business not detract from that profitability.
You cannot get around the historical significance of a noose to black people. Just like you can't get away from the Holocaust being significant to Jewish people or 9/11 being significant to all Americans.
A noose is an ugly and serious thing that should never be used as a joke (irrespective of the race of the individuals involved).
You can't get around the historical significance of guns to Native American tribes.
It is not even in the same league of how many were Native Americans were killed by rifles and guns vs how many blacks faced the noose.
During the trial.
L
Yes and whites outnumbered blacks 8 to 10 to one at that point in history. Historically lynching was used as terrorism by whites to keep blacks in line (you can't get away from that fact). A single lynching when the authority has no interest in punishing the lynchers can be very effective.
I am a Libertarian who thinks that drugs should be legalized to eliminate the profit motive and take some of the power away from these criminal gangs. Also, I am for very strong laws against violent behavior up to and including the death penalty. I think that our conspiracy laws should be used against these gangs to further keep them out of the general population.
I think that the marketplace should be used to hammer media who glorifies the criminal behavior of these gangs. Let Sony, the retailers and the rest know that your purchasing decisions will be influenced by what crap you want to put into the marketplace.
No, I don't agree with reparations and all that crap. I feel no guilt about what white people did in the past, but I am sensitive to that fact. Finally, I don't want my place of business disrupted by garbage like this. Do you? It is not helping getting the job done.
I hope he washed out of AIT. I would never want to be in a combat situation with anybody who would wet their pants over a noose. I saw a big Airman break down and cry when he was ordered to wade across the shallow end of a swimming pool. He was terrified of the water.
A dead rat was hanging by a noose over the door of a flight leader of the barracks where I was living. The rat had a red string over its shoulder, it matched the red rope that the leader had to wear. He got mad, turned red in the face, and then started laughing.
Both were white men.
Loud rapid knocking on the door
DOTH: Open the door Mr. Green, Division of Thought Hygiene
Mr. Green: What the hell? Just a second
(Opens door leaving chain in place)
Mr. Green: What is this about?
DOTH: Please open the door, we need to talk to you Mr. Green (flashes badge)
(Mr. Green fumbles with chain and slowly opens the door to face two men with guns and serious looking gear strapped on their belts)
DOTH: Please have a seat Mr. Green
Mr. Green: What are you doing here? What is the Division of thought what? What have I done?
DOTH: That is the Division of Thought Hygiene. Please have a seat NOW! Mr. Green
(Mr. Green settles slowly down in his chair looking uneasily to each masked officer searching for some clue and finds none.)
DOTH: We are here Mr. Green as the humble servant to all citizens of the Democratic States of America. We have received a red-line flag for you that DOTH monitors believe could pose a danger to yourself and possibly the citizens of the Democratic States of America.
Mr. Green: Me? Pose a danger? On what grounds! How dare you make this accusation! Get OUT OF MY HOUSE! NOW!
(Mr. Green rises out of his chair red faced and furious and is roughly shoved back down.)
DOTH: We can put you in restraints if we need. Do we need to do that Mr. Green?
(Mr. Green sputters and opens and closes his mouth and swallows the words he meant to say)
Mr. Green: No,... no I don't need any restraints
DOTH: Mr. Green you are charged with having thoughts that are unhealthful and unhygienic and if acted on could pose a risk of harm to your fellow citizens.
Mr. Green: Huh?
DOTH: Each of us has an occasional thought that is unhygienic, but our monitors see to it that those that have an abnormal amount of unhygienic thoughts are brought in for adjustment. Think of it as a tune up for your car that keeps everything running smoothly. Like changing your oil, it keeps friction down for all Democratic States of America citizens.
Mr. Green: So you're going to change my oil?
DOTH: So to say. We erase or reroute the neural pathways that have been created that lead to the storage areas where the unhygienic thoughts reside.
Mr. Green: Umm... Isn't that kind of dangerous? Wouldn't there be side effects?
DOTH: No, no it's not dangerous at all. As to side effects, the most common is a sense of euphoria and a feeling of being totally at peace. There are no more disturbing thoughts to ripple the sea of tranquility.
Mr. Green: So they become a potted plant basically?
(Quiet beeping comes from the belt of the DOTH officer. He removes the device. His face is illuminated by the bluish glow.)
DOTH: Mr. Green that wasn't a nice though at all.
Mr. Green: Well under the circumstances, wouldn't it be understandable? After two people burst into your house and start talking about erasing and rewiring your neural paths? What HARM have I caused? Whom have I hurt? What business is it of anyone what I think?
DOTH: You haven't been listening Mr. Green. Unhygienic thoughts create friction and have the potential of being acted upon. The Democratic States of America citizens overwhelmingly support our providing them with security and peace of mind. They gain security knowing that we are cleansing troubling thoughts from their fellow citizens.
Mr. Green: Don't you need a judge or a jury to decide if indeed my thoughts are unhygienic before "changing my oil"?
DOTH: Well we used to do that, but we had trouble with the thoughts jurists were exposed to. Sometimes they took root in some of the jurists and they had to have neural paths erased and rewired.
DOTH: It became apparent that the monitors, officers and executive members of the Division of Thought Hygiene alone should determine what unhygienic thought was and what levels of unhygienic thought crossed the threshold. That way the public wouldn't need to go though unnecessary neural erasing and rewiring.
Mr. Green: How does it work?
DOTH: Well each thought creates a pathway and those pathways with unhygienic thoughts are flagged in our database. With our new Cray DOTH System 1984, we can target the offending pathways and create the optimum new connections. That data is keyed to your retinal imprint to provide 100% chance of getting the new sequence to the right person.
Mr. Green: Would this mean you have in the past rewired a person with the wrong schematic?
DOTH: Enough talk Mr. Green. We have three more appointments and it is getting late. Please stand up against the wall and hold your head still so we can get the retinal match.
(Listenhillary 1/7/2007)
The company is aware that a noose could have racial connotations and could be a very negative symbol to African-American people.
yikes...too many cuddas""
Yes- and NEVER enough wuddas and shuddas.....
"When did race ever become an issue in the OJ murders?"
yikes...too many cuddas""
Yes, like Mr. Jackson "cudda" just said "Excellent, let me get my list out. I can start using that thing right now!"
Instead, it has to be turned into a racial fuster*()__)*.
Turnabout, done correctly, is ALWAYS fair play.
I ask, again when did race ever become an issue in the OJ murders?
I'll answer it for you. When it went before the cameras and a jury. Prior to that it was a double murder.
Racism had nothing to do with the murders, but had everything to to with the verdict.
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