Columbia University is a progressive-liberal university. Word is that the noose was a plant to start discussion about the subject. Isn't it odd that this took place in New York city and not Mississippi? A similar incident also happened at a liberal-progressive college in Claremont California a few years back, and the Afro-American teacher was prosecuted. Is it wrong to take direct action for purposes of discussing racism? It is true that the racism in the South may be different than the North, but it is still present.

This is from the Chicago Tribune, October 10, 2007.
South Elgin police are investigating a possible hate crime after a racial slur was painted on a work counter and a noose was found hanging from an exit at a Home Depot store under construction, authorities said Tuesday.

The construction project's general contractor called police Monday morning to report that someone had written a racial slur in white spray paint on a countertop, South Elgin Detective Sgt. Mike Doty said. The vandalism is believed to have occurred Sunday or Monday, Doty said.

Construction firm officials also told police that about a week ago, workers discovered a noose made out of foam hanging from an exit in the building's garden center, Doty said. The incident was not reported to police at the time.

He wouldn't be connected to the invitation to Ahmedinajad at all?

If Mother Jones is interested in doing a profound service for the country on the topic of "nooses and lynching" it could look up and publish in its entirety:

Byline: "Paris, Texas, February 1st, 1893: the lynching of Henry Smith. It was a days-long affair participated in by "every member of the community".

It can show a nation, more than a 100 years later how resistant this behavior is to change.

On the evening of March 9, 2004, after attending and speaking at a Claremont campus forum concerning a recent spate of racist and racially-insensitive incidents, Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology Kerri F. Dunn reported that her car had been vandalized and painted with racist, sexist and anti-semitic slurs. In response the Claremont Colleges cancelled classes the next day (after 9/11, classes were not cancelled, critics point out), and a series of demonstrations, candle-light vigils and community meetings were called to address the threat posed by an alleged and previously unknown group of violently intolerant students. Subsequent investigaton by the City of Claremont's police department and the FBI revealed that Dunn had, in fact, slashed her own tires and applied the insulting phrases to her own vehicle. She was subsequently found guilty of filing a false police report and attempted insurance fraud. She was sentenced to one year in prison and ordered to pay a fine of approximately $19,000 in restitution. I hear that the Columbia U incident is the same.

Being white and growing up in the deep south but never sharing the racism, I'm conscious of it. In my travels around the country in a variety of jobs, I've always found it, as being white, other whites feel obliged to share. Plus, I've seen it frequently in policing. I almost moved back to Jacksonville, Florida until the 2000 election happened and they "lost" thousands of non-white votes. As the sitting Pres. didn't say squat about these events,,,? Why would one say that things have changed? If someone had been bought up on charges of discrimination and sent to jail for their actions for those events instead of "promoted", and a sitting Pres. resigning over the incident, I would think things had changed a little bit. No, now the nooses are just for "fun". They don't actually mean anything?

CNN:The apparent target, Madonna Constantine, 44, is a professor of psychology and education at Teachers College. She co-wrote the book "Addressing Racism: Facilitating Cultural Competence in Mental Health and Educational Settings."

Constantine issued a statement saying, "I am upset that the Teachers College community has been exposed to such an unbelievably vile incident, and I would like us to stay strong in the face of such a blatant act of racism.

"Hanging the noose on my office door reeks of cowardice and fear on many levels. I want the perpetrator to know that I will not be silenced."

This sounds similar to the Claremont college incident. Often times it is done by the alleged victim to provoke discussion about racism in our society. Are these teaching actions wrong?

Are you certain that the noose was placed there by white people? The public positions that black professor took would have been good information to include. Sounds as though some of the black people you've mentioned recently, the ones willing to call some other black people "race traitors," could put nooses on your door, for example, as a way of waving the bloody shirt.

Or as a way of threatening you.

I hope not.

Forrest, it was done by the teacher to provoke discussion about racism in our society. This is thought to be a valid teaching method by many. See how much talk there is, we are talking about racism in New York City.

Definitely it takes a lot of cowardice to hang a noose at the door of a black professor with the idea of threatening? him. I don't know if his life is at stake, but such action brings back the ghost of a hateful practice -slavery. However, something here is beyond me. The U.S. government is lynching whole nations (Iraq and Afghanistan) RIGHT NOW in front of everybody's eyes, and, well, life goes on as usual on Main St. I'm really sorry about my ignorance. I'm not (North) American you see.

NEW YORK -- "An anti-semitic message that included a swastika was found etched into the wall of a bathroom at Columbia University on Thursday, just two days after a noose was discovered hanging from the door of a professor at Teachers College." Is this retaliation? Was this done by a Black Muslim?