Bush: Use Of Noose No "Harmless Prank"

President Says Noose Displays, Jokes About Lynching Are "Deeply Offensive"

(AP)  President Bush said Tuesday that recent displays of nooses are disturbing and indicate that some Americans may be losing sight of the suffering that blacks have endured across the nation.

"The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in American history," Bush said in an event marking African-American history month at the White house.

"The noose is not a symbol of prairie justice, but of gross injustice," the president said. "Displaying one is not a harmless prank, and lynching is not a word to be mentioned in jest."

As a civil society, Americans should agree that noose displays and lynching jokes are "deeply offensive," Bush said.

"They are wrong. And they have no place in America today."

For decades, the noose was a symbolic part of a campaign of violence, fear and intimidation against blacks, the president said. Sometimes, he added, it was orchestrated by the law enforcement officers charged with protecting them. Bush also said the noose was a tool for intimidation and killing that conveyed a sense of powerlessness to millions of blacks throughout the country.

"Fathers were dragged from their homes in the dark of night before the eyes of their terrified children," he said. "Summary executions were held by torchlight in front of hateful crowds. In many cases, law enforcement officers responsible for protecting the victims were complicit in their deaths."

At the event, Bush is honoring Rep. John Lewis, a leader of the civil rights movement who organized freedom rides, sit-ins and voter registration drives; and William Coleman, the first black American to be a clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court and who served as President Ford's transportation secretary. Coleman thus was the first African American to hold a Cabinet post in a Republican administration.

Bush also recognized Ernest Green, one of the nine black students in Little Rock, Ark., who were escorted into the city's all-white Central High School following the historic Brown vs. Board of Education of the mid 1950s, and Otis Williams, a leader of the vocal group "The Temptations."

[jerkeedoodle]

Truth told,Bush being uncomfortable about it has nothing to do with blacks.It''s the 70% of the country that would like to hang him!LOL.......Gawd,I crack me up!

[zootallures2]

"The era of rampant lynching is a shameful chapter in American history," Bush said

They don''t realise we''ve moved on to building bombing and false flag terror. Get with the program, people.

[bleem3]

"Those dsplaying noses will be waterboarded," the President continued. "And the new symbol of prairie justice will be the cow patty, which is also wrong when used to intimidate blacks, so it, too, will be waterboarded. We are left without a symbol of prairie justice, which is in itself a injustice, but unfortunately, there is nothing to waterboard in this case. And now I will continue with more remarks meant to calm and please black Americans, so that they will stop voting for Obama just because he''s black, and consider voting for our guy, even though he is white. Those who vote due to color should be waterboarded."

[cantshutup]

..."But WATERBOARDING is OK..." Mr. Bush said...

[klingon69]

a world without telephones or electric lights, no such thing as laser eye surgery, or not enjoying a peanut butter & jelly sandwich?
Posted by gypsyartist1 at 12:23 PM : Feb 13, 2008
hmmm, always learned that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and Thomas Edison invented the electric light. Am I wrong?

[klingon69]

This sets the precedant for a community attitude and will be considered exempt from acceptable freedom of expression.
Posted by Pensacola88 at 05:27 PM : Feb 12, 2008
Does that mean that the black artist who hung a confederate flag from a noose in a gallows would now be considered offensive by all?

[tsr13]

Bad things have happened to all races and gender for hundreds of years. Why do people just pick one and run with it. Lynching has happened to whites, black''s, Indians, just about every creed and color. It was a common corporal punishment back in the day, especially in western times. Racism will never change no matter what all you bleeding hearts do. You know why, because no one want''s it to. Obama''s using it to get into the presidency. African American''s benefit from racism with the whole poor me attitude. Want to prove it, if your white, apply for government assistance or try and get a free ride to college.

[gypsyartist1]

Let''s stop and reflect on the hardships of all the black people in the US...
Posted by DSR57 at 08:09 AM : Feb 13, 2008

Let''s keep things in perspective here...

African Americans did not choose to come to this country. The majority of black people were forced to come to the U.S. and subjugated to serve as slaves, without the hope of ever returning home, going back to the lives they led before, or having civil rights for over a century. Blacks in this country were violently and systematically descrated of their culture while also barred from assimilating into society.

While under these abhorrent conditions, many African Americans made vital contributions to the American way of life... can you imagine life without cortisone for arthritis, no electromagnetic braking systems on cars & trains, a world without telephones or electric lights, no such thing as laser eye surgery, or not enjoying a peanut butter & jelly sandwich?

[ioweign]

The Irish were totally welcomed once they reached New York.

Posted by DSR57 at 08:09 AM : Feb 13, 2008



There is always a blind eye...

[dsr57]

Let''s stop and reflect on the hardships of all the black people in the US. Cause I mean NO ONE else has ever had to go through hardships. The Irish were totally welcomed once they reached New York. The Asians during World War 2 were rounded up and sent to Club Meds ( concentration camps). The Indians took their slaughter in stride. And the white people that went to war with the British didn''t have to sacrifice nothing to establish the greatest country on the planet. When will America realize that we have it better that ANYONE else on the planet? And everyone has had to go through things that suck its part of life. And since when does a race get to pick what''s offensive to them? I could have sworn that back in the day everyone that was sentenced to death was hung? A Noose is a freakin noose. This *** reminds me of a story I read today where a black cop dumped a white guy out of his wheelchair, no big deal huh? That%u2019s because it wasn%u2019t a white guy doing it to a black person. Cause I%u2019m pretty sure if that had happened the headline would have read %u201CRacism still alive in sheriff Dept%u201D. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on their way with million man march. I%u2019m sick of all of you

[keithle1]

Prez is doing his bit to help McCain get some black votes.

[brianbwb-2009]

"The noose was used to HANG Sadaam ... on national TV .. and not one broadcaster cried about that being insensitive ... or compared it to lynchings"...Posted by dowjones20k

While I am not a broadcaster, except for my posts in the ''net news'' comments threads, I have always referred to Saddam''s execution as a lynching. On Bush''s instruction, the US military handed Saddam over to the supporters of Moqtada Al Sadr, knowing he would be quickly killed before any of the facts implicating the US'' involvement in the gas attacks on the Kurds could come out.

Bush caused the lynching of Saddam, now he wants to pretend that he thinks it is a bad thing.

[incog-nito]

"The noose is not a harmless prank," President Bush declared, "I played with it once and almost choked myself to death."

[michellem99-2009]

Bush,, will ye step to the plate..Ye have never made it right in my mind..Ye were were rude to a blind reporter who wears shades as he must. Ye was out of line..Ye cussed at him,,I heard it on live TV. I was so shocked..

[tbrandon72]

There is no excuse for the hatred that continues on all sides of the race(s) issues. Race hatred really means that the perpetrator of hatred is insecure within themselves...think about it.

I am of Irish and English descent and the Irish side has much to complain about, but mostley doesn''t. and the English side, which was responsible for much of that has changed.

I remember back in the 60''s, my mother crying as she watched the horrific events of the racial *** at that time. As a "white" person, I am ashamed of the behavior. As a human being, I am ashamed of that, also.

Give peace a chance for God''s sake...look within yourself and see what really going on.

[joeshields56]

I say "hoorah" for President Bush! Sad to say I haven''t been able to say that too much over the past seven years for our current leader. But today he made me proud to call him "my President", if he does it again (maybe by starting to wind down the Iraq war)... I swear I''ll haul "Old Glory" back out onto the front porch. Alas, otherwide it will remain furled in the basement until Barack Obama replaces him in ''08.

[jncc1701]

What is amazing is not this lying *** but how easily we fall for it time and time again.

Posted by jncc1701
-----------------
OK. Then nooses are OK. Thanks for clarifying that.
--------------------
Hey ilikecats1 you may want to read my entire post but since you clearly did not - here is my point again very slow so you can follow.....

I am not excusing racism.

but

Bush cares nothing about this topic, he is - like he did when he ran for President posturing as a moderate who care about civil rights. This is just a ---- photo up - what has he actually done legislatively on this topic?????
There is an election so look for the GOP more nuttier members to suddenly start sounding like moderate independents.
And we fools fall for the rhetoric even though this pathetic party''s policies continue to look after the ultra wealthy, corporation and military contractors. While the rest of us will be stuck with the bill.

SO I ask again, what did Bush EVER do legislatively on the topic of civil rights???????

[gypsyartist1]

Written by Robert L. Zangrando, from The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950 (1980):

"Statistics do not tell the entire story, however. These were recorded lynchings; others were never reported beyond the community involved. Furthermore, mobs used especially sadistic tactics when blacks were the prime targets. By the 1890s lynchers increasingly employed burning, torture, and dismemberment to prolong suffering and excite a "festive atmosphere" among the killers and onlookers. White families brought small children to watch, newspapers sometimes carried advance notices, railroad agents sold excursion tickets to announced lynching sites, and mobs cut off black victims'' fingers, toes, ears, or genitalia as souvenirs. Nor was it necessarily the handiwork of a local rabble; not infrequently, the mob was encouraged or led by people prominent in the area''s political and business circles. Lynching had become a ritual of interracial social control and recreation rather than simply a punishment for crime."

Excerpted from The Reader%u2019s Companion to American History. Ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. Copyright ) 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

[gypsyartist1]

Written by Robert L. Zangrando, from The NAACP Crusade Against Lynching, 1909-1950 (1980):

"Between 1882 (when reliable statistics were first collected) and 1968 (when the classic forms of lynching had disappeared), 4,743 persons died of lynching, 3,446 of them black men and women. Mississippi (539 black victims, 42 white) led this grim parade of death, followed by Georgia (492, 39), Texas (352, 141), Louisiana (335, 56), and Alabama (299, 48). From 1882 to 1901, the annual number nationally usually exceeded 100; 1892 had a record 230 deaths (161 black, 69 white). Although lynchings declined somewhat in the twentieth century, there were still 97 in 1908 (89 black, 8 white), 83 in the racially troubled postwar year of 1919 (76, 7, plus some 25 race riots), 30 in 1926 (23, 7), and 28 in 1933 (24, 4)."

Excerpted from The Reader%u2019s Companion to American History. Ed. Eric Foner and John A. Garraty. Copyright ) 1991 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

[excoachken]

"But jokes about WMDs that blow soldiers to pieces are really funny!" said the Cowardly Cowboy.