Few Answers About Nooses, But Much Talk Of Jim Crow

from The New York Times

By PAUL VITELLO

Published: October 21, 2007

At least seven times in the past few weeks, nooses have been anonymously tossed over pipes or hung on doorknobs in the New York metropolitan area.

BALDWIN, N.Y., Oct. 19 — All the nooses are different, the police say. Some are coiled six times, some eight. Some are simple knots. The one found here the other day, suspended from a fence in a Highway Department yard, was wrapped with duct tape. All are blunt instruments of racial intimidation because of what they represent.

“They represent terrorizing black people and keeping them in their place,” said Ruth Roberson, a parks employee who is black, pausing on Friday morning while raking leaves. “Now they don’t lynch you. It’s all about jobs.”

Willie Warren, a county worker, won a discrimination suit.
Photo credit: Kirk Condyles for The New York Times

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