KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar BluffWhat Does the Noose Represent to You?

What Does the Noose Represent to You?

What Does the Noose Represent to You?
By: CJ Cassidy

CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY, Mo. - Cruel hoax or hate crime?

Authorities say that's what they must figure out after employees at Procter and Gamble claim they've found several nooses hanging on their lockers and desks.

U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway says hate crimes are generally based on ethnicity, religion, race, or gender.

FBI investigators have not yet ruled if the hanging of the nooses at P&G were racially motivated, but a local history professor tells Heartland News he can't imagine any other reason.

"They look like nooses to me," Steven Hoffman said.

As a professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University, he studies the past.

He says our report on some black employees claiming they found these nooses at the Procter and Gamble plant left him stunned.

He says pictures like the one to the right, brought parts of our nation's ugly past rushing back to him.

"Here we are at a time when we have an African American running for President and we have people essentially putting up symbols saying your life means nothing.  The community as a whole can snuff it out, and remember the past we've done it before," Hoffman said. 

Think that's too extreme?  Professor Hoffman suggests you take a good hard look at photographs that show lynch mob scenes.

Then, he says, think about what a noose could symbolize.

"Whether they intend it or not, that's the message I see when I look at it.  I think that's the message African Americans see when they look at that," he said.

Still, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, tells Heartland News it's up to investigators to figure out if these symbols add up to a hate crime.

"We don't yet have proof these were racially motivated, although it certainly is the kind of activity that merits a full scale investigation and the prosecution of hate crimes is an extraordinarily high priority for the office," Hanaway said.

Professor Hoffman says whatever the ruling, education might be the only way to protect ourselves in the future.

"It is painful to me.  It really shows a lack of awareness, a lack of education, a lack of sensitivity, that people don't understand that the symbol of the noose really means," he said.

Catherine Hanaway says if you ever come across any symbol you believe is hateful, please call police immediately.

She says they are best trained to handle situations like that.