I found this story interesting. A black employee discovered a noose hanging in an area of his office accessible only to his white managers. I'll grant that what he saw is pretty bad. However, the story on CNN.com describes his discovery this way: "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." I'm stuck; is a noose unequivocally a "vicious, racist symbol"? A symbol of violence and death, yes, as Saddam Hussein could tell you if he hadn't recently been killed with one by his fellow Arabs. But is something that is essentially a tool of death automatically racist simply because it is in the possession of whites who supervise people, "the majority of whom are black"?
Blacks certainly suffered many acts of violence at the hands of whites in our country's history. Many were indeed hanged by lynch mobs, while others were beaten to death, shot, blown up with explosives, or blown back by fire hoses. Even with those shameful facts in mind, we enter into dangerous territory when we assign the connotation of a symbol based solely on the race of those possessing it.
Are these white managers racists? Perhaps, and as you read the story, you get the sinking feeling that they just might be. Still, the only thing I see prima facie is a group of managers who placed an inappropriate, violent object in the workplace. But CNN is guilty of begging the question here, branding these men as racists in its initial report of the incident.
Considering the recent media attention to one of the most hyped hangings in modern times, is there really no context available to us other than looking at the skin color of those involved, finding a difference, and drawing our conclusion blind to everything else?
It is a sad fact that racism still exists to the degree that CNN's gun-jumping conclusion may be correct. But until all the facts are in, only one thing is certain: CNN deserves opprobrium for this example of slanted reporting.
Blacks certainly suffered many acts of violence at the hands of whites in our country's history. Many were indeed hanged by lynch mobs, while others were beaten to death, shot, blown up with explosives, or blown back by fire hoses. Even with those shameful facts in mind, we enter into dangerous territory when we assign the connotation of a symbol based solely on the race of those possessing it.
Are these white managers racists? Perhaps, and as you read the story, you get the sinking feeling that they just might be. Still, the only thing I see prima facie is a group of managers who placed an inappropriate, violent object in the workplace. But CNN is guilty of begging the question here, branding these men as racists in its initial report of the incident.
Considering the recent media attention to one of the most hyped hangings in modern times, is there really no context available to us other than looking at the skin color of those involved, finding a difference, and drawing our conclusion blind to everything else?
It is a sad fact that racism still exists to the degree that CNN's gun-jumping conclusion may be correct. But until all the facts are in, only one thing is certain: CNN deserves opprobrium for this example of slanted reporting.
