Columbia Noose Incident

Columbia Professor: Noose Message 'Very Personal'
Madonna Constantine, the Columbia University professor who found a noose on her office door Tuesday morning, said she felt not only angry but embarrassed when she saw the noose.
"I know I don't really have a reason to be embarrassed about it because this was the work of someone who, you know, is not a secure person at some level, but it felt as though it was directed toward me," Constantine said in an exclusive interview today on "Good Morning America."

"It felt very personal and very degrading," she said.
New York police are treating the incident as a hate crime. They are also investigating whether the noose, first discovered by one of Constantine's colleagues, may have been placed by an angry student or another faculty member as part of an ongoing dispute with Constantine.
Constantine is involved in a lawsuit with another professor at the college, according to court records.
Message for Outspoken Professor?
Constantine, a respected professor at Columbia University Teacher's College, has been outspoken on matters of race, gender and multiculturalism.
The symbolism behind the noose could not be clearer, she said today.
"And I think it … certainly served to reinforce the issue that I'm African-American and I'm very proud of that, and that there's a history of oppression and racism against African-Americans in this country," Constantine said.
This incident is the latest in a growing number of noose incidents in the United States, since the one that punctuated the racially charged controversy in Jena, La.
Constantine, who grew up in Louisiana, said that living in a multicultural society takes work.
"We have to work to get along and understand that our perspective or ideology isn't the only way of thinking or being," she said.
Constantine had harsh words for the perpetrator of the crime at a campus rally Wednesday, saying hanging the noose "reeks of cowardice and fear," and added, "I would like the perpetrator to know I will not be silenced."

The professor praised the campus community for its quick reaction and support.
"The community has been awesome," Constantine said. "[They] have all pulled together, joined together and allowed this really very heinous incident to bring us closer in many respects. That kind of incident could have the affect of polarizing people, but it has not. We have stood together. We've stood strong. I'm really proud of our community."

"Columbia Professor: Noose Message 'Very Personal'." abc News 11 Oct 2007 13 Oct 2007 .

Madonna Constantine, a Columbia University professor, found a noose on her office door the morning of October 9. It is unknown who put it there, but the police are treating the incident as a hate crime.

In Johnson Chapter 6: “What It All Has To Do With Us,” he talks about society seeing racism as being about the individual. People get offended if you call them racist because they feel singled out as having racist thoughts or actions. Johnson discusses the fact that a few individual people with racist ideas did not create today’s society of white privilege and black oppression. It was an entire country following the path of white privilege and black oppression over a long period of time. It still exists today because we, as the majority of society, choose, knowingly and unknowingly, to follow the path of least resistance and allow these practices to continue in various ways. Although Johnson is right that we are all participants but that does not make each individual racist, there are those people out there that fit into such an extreme category such as whoever is responsible for this noose incident. This person does not unknowingly follow a path of least resistance of privilege while oppressing others silently and unthinkingly. This person found the need to make a statement about oppression and that it is a good thing, even that there is not enough oppression in today’s society. This message says that there are still people out there who think that the world was a better place when slavery existed and blacks were unfairly treated. Although, according to Johnson, people need to be made aware of what is going on as far as privilege and oppression are concerned so that society can change paths there are people out in the world that will still follow their own, narrow minded path. It is unknown why this noose appeared on this professor’s door, whether because of an angry student or a faculty member with a grudge, but regardless of why it was there the message says that the ideas of black inferiority are still alive in today’s modern society. Until these ideas are purged from people’s minds, little growth can take place in society and white privilege will remain.

There has been a recent surge in incidents involving the symbol of a noose. I find this appalling. It almost makes it seem as if our society’s progress is going backwards. At the very least, it is not moving forward. That a person could find such a symbol appropriate to use in any way is incomprehensible to me. I find the noose to be a very ugly symbol full of racial hatred and past pains that have been endured. I cannot understand why anyone would want to remind themselves or anyone else of what such times were like and what white people did to African Americans. It is past time for people to look past racial differences and stop using them as a weapon against one another.