This post was originally published on Think Progress.

Last year, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) proclaimed that the tea party movement is “astroturf [and] not really a grassroots movement. It’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.” Pelosi has been repeatedly attacked since then by many on the right who object to the notion that the tea party movement is being hijacked by Republican operatives.

Today, during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” with host Elizabeth Vargas, Pelosi reiterated her belief that much of the tea party movement is “orchestrated from the Republican headquarters.” But, she also explained that progressives “share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington” and welcomed tea partiers to join progressives in battling special interests:

PELOSI: the Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does, but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots. But, you know, we share some of the views of the Tea Partiers in terms of the role of special interest in Washington, D.C., as — it just has to stop.

Watch it:

Indeed, as ThinkProgress has documented, many of the principal organizers of the local tea party events are the well-funded right-wing astroturf organizations Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works. Both provided logistical support and public relations assistance, including “sign ideas, sample press releases, and a map of events around the country.”

Yet, as Pelosi states in the interview, opposition to entrenched special interests cut across party and ideological lines. She rightly notes that for example, Americans overwhelmingly oppose the recent Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case that eliminated decades of campaign laws that restrict corporate spending in election campaigns. A recent poll found that 80 percent of Americans oppose the decision with 85 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Republicans, and 81 percent of independents opposed.

By Duchess Harris Ph.D., author of “Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton,” Race-Talk contributor

“Black America stands at the precipice. African American unemployment is at its highest in 25 years. Thirty-five percent of our children live in poor families. Inadequate healthcare, rampant incarceration, home foreclosures, and a general sense of helplessness overwhelm many of our fellows,” said Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude, Jr., Ph.D. in his recent The Huffington Post article, “The Black Church is Dead.”

Glaude laments the absence of press conferences and impassioned efforts around black children living in poverty, and organizing for jobs and health care reform, in lieu of anti-abortion and anti same sex-marriage protests.

For those of you who are not familiar with Humanism, they would prioritize prison reform, and value that as a “right to life. “So I’d like to ask Black Christians, “Can you afford to dismiss the Humanists, the way some dismissed Malcolm X because he wasn’t a Christian?”

Two days after Glaude’s blog posting, representatives of the Obama Administration met with about 60 people with the Secular Coalition for America although the President did not attend.

Leaders of the Coalition’s 10 member groups billed their visit as an important meeting between a presidential administration and the nontheist community. They discussed three policy areas: child medical neglect, military proselytizing and faith-based initiatives.

Says coalition executive director Sean Faircloth: “Despite what we hear from Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin, we’re in a stage in history where millions upon millions of Americans share a secular perspective on American public policy. We think the real ’silent majority,’ if you will, is the Americans who say, ‘Enough of this religious and even theocratic nature to American policy.”

The coalition doesn’t embrace all of the Obama administration’s stances, but members feel that they have more of a kindred spirit in this president than in his predecessor. Obama’s late mother was spiritual but agnostic. His inaugural address was the first by a U.S. president to include explicit recognition of nonbelievers as part of the fabric of the nation.

Bishop Council Nedd, Chairman of the Christian advocacy group In God We Trust, , slammed the administration, saying, “It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation.”

I think I’ll save my commentary on the appropriation of Civil Rights language by the historically racist conservative Right for another time.

Let’s just say I wasn’t surprised that the same evening the meeting occurred, Sean Hannity went even further, accusing the Obama administration of a pattern of hostility towards religion. On his Friday evening show, his guest, the former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, said that evangelicals were disappointed because many had supported Obama.

Evidently Obama is supposed to chose: Humanism or Hannity?

It’s a flawed choice, one I’ve been struggling with for ten years. When I was going through the tenure process at Macalester College, I learned that my chair was a humanist. In 2000, I wasn’t quite sure what that meant. I spent a lot of time in his office and he would point out that, since the time of slavery, American Blacks have been critiquing the questionable, traditional Christian narrative that suffering is redemptive and should therefore be accepted and rather than resisted.

The Humanist alternative in African American spiritual life traces its roots at least as far back as the criticism of reactionary tendencies within religion by thinkers Frederick Douglas and W.E.B. Du Bois, the agnosticism of former Pentecostal child preacher James Baldwin, the socialist-influenced irreligious stances of Langston Hughes and Huey P. Newton, the full-fledged modern Humanism of Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker, recipient of the prestigious American Humanist of the Year award in 1997.

And if there was anyone who decried the redemptive value of suffering by Black people, it was Malcolm. Some of it though, may have been hard for African American Christians to hear: “Brothers and sisters, the white man has brainwashed us black people to fasten our gaze upon a blond haired, blue-eyed Jesus! We’re worshiping a Jesus that doesn’t even look like us! …..The white man has taught us to shout and sing and pray until we die, to wait until death, for some dreamy heaven-in-the-hereafter, when we’re dead, while this white man his milk and honey in the streets paved with golden dollars here on this earth!”

Even Malcolm eventually saw the limitations that strict adherence to dogma can create, and took a more humanistic view. Towards the end of his life, he wrote a friend, “Here I am, back in Mecca. I am still traveling, trying to broaden my mind, for I’ve seen too much of the damage narrow-mindedness can make of things, and when I return home to America, I will devote what energies I have to repairing the damage.”

My chair’s first book was called, “Why Lord?: Suffering and Evil in Black Theology.”

In the preface he states, “I could not accept the idea that the suffering of those I saw on a daily basis had any value at all. …I believe that human liberation is more important than the maintenance of any religious symbol, sign, cannon, or icon. It must be accomplished—both psychologically and physically –despite the damage done to cherished religious principles and traditions. Holding this belief, I will stand or fall.” (p. 11)

The events of the last week have made me wonder, will Black Christians unite with non-theists because human liberation is more important than divisiveness? Can we learn to put our theological differences aside for the good of humanity? Or will we turn our backs to the real suffering at hand, and ask, “Why Lord?”

Crossposted from Race-Talk

Duchess Harris is an Associate Professor of American Studies at Macalester College, author of the forthcoming Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton, and co-editor with Bruce D. Baum of the forthcoming Racially Writing the Republic: Racists, Race Rebels, and Transformations of American Identity. She is also a J.D. candidate at the William Mitchell College of Law.

UPDATED: Feb, 28, 2010/3:45PM (local Chile time)

MSNBC reports President Michelle Bachelet continues her hands-on leadership of disaster assessment and management.  The President confirmed the new death toll at 708, after her six hour meeting today with Chilean government agencies to address the devastation and determine Chile’s way forward.

The President has currently put off requests for international help until proper needs assessments are completed.  The President has ordered supermarkets to be opened with government supervised give-aways of free food and supplies to Chileans who queue up to receive them in an orderly fashion.

The airport in Santiago will be opened for selective flights, however the damaged passenger terminal is still not in use.

UPDATED: Feb, 28, 2010/5:40AM (local Chile time)

CNN International is now reporting 101 aftershocks have been recorded in Chile since yesterday’s 8.8 earthquake with 7 at 6.0 or higher. Over 300 fatalities have been reported with 60 reported missing.

Japan is seeing tsunami flooding on its northern island of Hokkaido. The tsunami projection from NOAA reports a wave of 4 feet has just arrived. 320,000 coastal residents have been evacuated. The tsunami warning for Russia has been lifted.

UPDATED: Feb, 28, 2010/3:40AM (local Chile time)

The death toll in Chile is now confirmed at 300. Chile has not yet asked for help from other countries.  More than one million buildings have been damaged. More than a half million houses have been completely destroyed and two million people affected. President Bachelet has been coordinating services steadily for nearly 24 hours since 5AM yesterday. The Santiago Airport is still closed down due to the damaged terminal.

UPDATED: Feb, 28, 2010/12:00AM (local Chile time)

CNN reports there have been 67 aftershocks in Chile, many over 6.0 and thus far over 240 people have died in the quake.

Japan is preparing for possible tsunamis, employing extreme precaution having suffered massive damage in 1960 after Chile’s magnitude 9.5 earthquake and resultant tsunamis. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese coast residents are reported evacuating inland from the Pacific coast.

UPDATED: Feb, 27, 2010/8:20 (EST)

CNN and NOAA report dangerous tsunami warnings still exist for coastal Russia and Japan.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/9PM (Chile local time)

President Michelle Bachelet delivers a calming speech to the people of Chile, reassuring them that they are a strong and tested population that has withstood adversity before. The President stated she had visited six main regions that were severely affected by the quake. She said schools would be suspended until March 8th, and public gatherings temporarily halted as damage assessments were made.

President Bachelet, a pediatrician, promised to continue providing health care as needed and to restore essential services as quickly as possible. The President assured Chile’s citizens that services to hard-hit difficult to reach areas would be routed by sea.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/7:45PM (EST)

CNN reports Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifts tsunami warning for Hawaii, saying Hawaii “dodged a bullet.”

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/7:30PM (local Chile time)

Santiago, Chile: The death toll in Chile has risen to 214. Powerful tsunamis have been reported. President Bachelet to make major address her nation.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/12:00PM (local Hawaii time)

As reported by CNN, via Hawaii affiliate KHOU, first tsunamis reported in Hawaii by Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. First wave reported at one meter in Hilo. Second small surge also reported. PTWC says they’re in a “wait and see” posture – making no absolute predictions.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/11:30AM (local Hawaii time)

As a precaution, all boats have been removed from Hilo harbor. CNN via its Hawaii affiliate KITV, reports signs of swelling and change in color in Hilo’s Wailoa River, but no waves visible at this time.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/10:50AM (local Hawaii time)

Hawaii awaits first tsunami which could hit in 10 minutes at 11:05 (local Hawaii time) in Hilo Bay, then moving to Honolulu and onward along the coast. Wave sizes are speculative at this time with expected intervals of 20 minutes between each wave. Hilo, which is virtually flat land, has had experience with vast destruction from previous tsunamis – including the devastating tsunamis in 1960 after Chile’s massive 9.5 earthquake that generated killer 34 foot waves.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/1:50PM (EST)

President Barack Obama, issued a statement before reporters at the White House, in which he  sent his and the First Lady’s deepest condolences to the Chilean people and offered to provide services to Chile, a close American ally, as needed. He also cautioned Americans living near possibly affected coastlines in Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States to follow all tsunami related instructions to ensure their personal safety. The President’s statement was short. He took no questions from reporters – though one reporter fired off an unrelated question on embattled NY veteran Congressman Charlie Rangel. The President did not respond.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/3:40PM (local Chile time)

President Bachelet (on CNN International) says the quake damage in the capital of Santiago is widepread. The President has received calls from leaders of other countries and sees this as a world involved crisis. The President reports death tolls in the 80s, but CNN now reports the death toll at 147 (death tolls are approximate).

The tsunami reporter for NOAA says this is a dramatic situation and people in tsunami warning areas should move away from coastal areas. Tsunamis come in series of waves. Hawaii may expect waves today at 11:00 AM (Hawaii local time) at heights ranging from one and a half feet to a possible height of seven and a half feet depending on variations in coastline. At this time these projections are speculative considering the extent of this uncommonly large and fluid disaster.

The structural damage in Chile has been enormous with roads, buildings and bridges crumbling. Some coastal areas are believed to be under water. President Bachelet, whose Presidency ends in two weeks (March 10, 2010) has been working non-stop to keep Chile’s citizens as informed as possible despite the level of the catastrophe and inability to do a full damage assessment. A Chilean government damage assessment and planning meeting is planned for 5 PM (EST).

President Obama is expected to issue a statement on behalf of the United States shortly at 2 PM (EST). Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Reporter, says Navy officials report that at least four Navy war ships will move out to see to get out of the way of possible tsunamis.

UPDATED: Feb. 27, 2010/9:50AM (local Chile time)

The death toll has been raised to 78. All flights into Santiago are currently diverted for the next 24 hours due to airport terminal damage. Tsunami warnings have been extended to dozens of countries as far away as Russia. There are also warnings for Hawaii and American Samoa and advisories along the coastline of the U.S. Northern Pacific. According to CNN via Justin Fujioka, Meteorologist at KITV, Hawaii, evacuation sirens will be sounded at 6AM local Hawaii time to advise residents to move inland from the coast.

*********************************************

Feb. 27, 2010/3:34AM (local Chile time)

A massive 8.8 “GREAT” earthquake, reported by live broadcast from Chile, hit approximately 60 kilometers from Concepcion, the nation’s second largest city with a metropolitan population of 670,000 at approximately 3:34AM local Chilean time. The closest town to the quake epicenter is Maule. The main bridge connecting North and South Chile has been reported completely wiped out, making travel across Chile extremely difficult.

A tsunami has been preliminarily reported by CNN. As of 4:00PM (EST) there were 6 reported deaths, confirmed by Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. However 4 more deaths (as yet unconfirmed) have since been reported by local Chilean newscasters. President Bachelet stated that additional deaths are expected. The President has mobilized three teams to the affected areas.

The earthquake was felt as far away as Buenos Aires, Argentina, where large buildings reported swaying. Tsunami “warnings” have been issued for surrounding countries Ecuador, Panama and Costa Rica. Lesser tsunami “watches” have been issued for numerous countries in the region. as well as Antarctica. The most specific tsunami warnings are for Chile and Peru. According to CNN, dangerous ocean wave heights have been reported.

An 8.8 earthquake is considered a GREAT earthquake and is approximately 700 to 800 times more powerful than the recent 7.0 earthquake in Haiti. However, since Chile is a known earthquake region, its buildings are better constructed than those that collapsed in Haiti. This region of Chile is the same region that experienced the devastating 9.5 earthquake in 1960, enduring over 1,600 deaths.

The deeper the quake, the less damage to the earth’s surface. Because the Concepcion quake is more shallow (at approximately 22 feet from the earth’s surface), this quake is expected to cause significant damage. A number of aftershocks have already been reported at 6.9, 6.1 and 6.0, as determined by U.S. Geological Services.

Concepcion is approximately 200 miles from Santiago, the capital of Chile, where damage is also reported. CNN reports that information from Concepcion may not be immediately forthcoming due to the significant magnitude of this quake.

This could turn into a very big story.  According to this Associated Press story written by Suzanne Gamboa Saturday, every person with a Puerto Rican birth certificate will need to get a new one this year.  A law passed in December invalidates all birth certificates issued by the Commonwealth as of July 1 of this year.

About a third of the 4.1 million Americans of Puerto Rican descent could be affected, AP reports.

The odd thing is, despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are born U.S. citizens, the reason for the new law relates to immigration.  Documents, especially identity documents that have Spanish-sounding names and confer automatic citizenship, are a hot property on the black market.

Puerto Ricans on average get about 20 copies of their birth certificates over their lifetimes, said Kenneth McClintock Hernandez, the commonwealth’s secretary of state.

This is because they are regularly asked to produce them for such events as enrolling children in school or joining sports leagues. Schools and other institutions have typically kept copies, a practice prohibited under the new law since January, McClintock said.

As much as 40 percent of the identity fraud in the U.S. involves birth certificates from Puerto Rico, McClintock said he was told by the State Department.

“It’s a problem that’s been growing and as the need in the black market for birth certificates with Hispanic-sounding names grew, the black market value of Puerto Rican birth certificates has gone into the $5,000 to $10,000 range,” McClintock said.

Puerto Ricans are already getting greater scrutiny because of America’s vexing and often hysterical immigration debate.  As motor vehicle departments have gotten into the business of checking people’s immigration status – especially people with Spanish surnames and/or accents – Puerto Ricans are often asked for “green cards” they, of course, don’t have.

With GOP political strategists thinking up new ways each year to erect barriers to voting – especially for people they think may vote against them – the deadline for resolving this identity issue could have electoral implications in important states with large populations of citizens born in Puerto Rico.

But so far, AP reports, the word has not spread widely:

Rep. Jose Serrano, D-N.Y., has been getting a steady stream of calls about the law at his district office. Serrano — who must replace his birth certificate, too — said he is trying to provide answers without triggering a panic.

“No one has thought about what effect this could have, if any, on those of us born in Puerto Rico who now reside in the 50 states,” Serrano said.

Here’s an idea: What if the United States had a functioning legal immigration system that allowed people to come to the U.S. with visas within reasonable limits and within reasonable time frames?  What if that were combined with a tightly regulated system to get the millions of immigrants in the U.S. illegally into the system and legal?  Maybe then we wouldn’t have such a huge black market for false documents and wouldn’t have to twist ourselves in knots with workarounds like invalidating millions of birth certificates.  That’s what immigration reform is for, but the President and Congress don’t seem to be moving forward very quickly.

Read Gamboa’s AP story, but I suspect we’ll be hearing more about this…

First sermonette in a series…

Not about politics. Those folks default to racism and conspiracy theories. They have a point about how they feel, which is how a lot of us feel. We are surrounded by a creeping dullness. A lack of traction with the outside world. How do we touch others? How do we have power?

Simple acts of living have lost the feeling of social power. We know that the corporations have kept us in a state of consumer passivity for a long time. For many millions – since Ronald Reagan. But like the climate change that Consumerism causes, it’s hard to measure the exact damage. We know what we feel. We know we can’t “breathe free.” We know we can’t “speak free.” We feel an exhausting interloper in even our most everyday experience. It is the market — whispering, screaming, selling, then fading to Muzak and white noise.

Our community becomes very spacey. You can live somewhere all your life and find yourself surrounded by products – you might quickly become an utterly un-selfed consumer like a game-show contestant or a tourist. Products are not psychologically neutral. You can turn off the TV and head for the hills, but the hills are alive with fluorescent and bug-eyed tchochkes leaping from the walls of shopping centers that came out of nowhere.

The Tea Party blames Washington. Well, American politicians believe in Consumerism as our primary economy and culture. If the retail grosses are edging upward, then all’s right with the world. The electeds can say “I feel your pain” when the teleprompter tells them to, but our current existential crisis isn’t something they grok. The politicians aren’t nearly as bright as the marketers. They’ll be taken aback by the hunger riots coming soon. I’m referring to the hunger for meaning, for community intimacy, for the satisfaction of our social souls.

The big grand concepts of democracy, America and freedom – are not usually traced down to the lost minutes of ordinary people. THEY MUST START THERE. Amen? That is also where we suffer in this bizarro “built environment” of Consumerism, which comes into our down time as pavement, invisible toxins and billboards. Down in the details of our lives, ho-humming between one errand and the next, we feel an essential disconnect. We don’t have words to describe it. And, it doesn’t get described by anyone. Ordinary experience? That’s not the news, ordinary life. It’s not “Fit To Print.” For public commentators it’s like trying to squeeze the dark matter of the universe into a Twitter feed.

Accumulations of powerlessness in our ordinary living escape like hot gasses, like the acting out of the Tea Party and survivalists and liberals dying while imitating Indians in sweat spas – we have apocalyptic zealotry of many a weird stripe. There is a lot of this splintering off into colonies of the instantly righteous. The marketing officials in corporations are studying us carefully. They know it’s not just the weirdos. This is happening to all of us. We’re a sleeping monster.

Next week’s message: “The Monster Awakes”

I seem to have a propensity for contracting bizarre and almost comically annoying (but thankfully non-contagious and not-terribly-serious) illnesses.

Last fall, it was coital cephalalgia — “sex headaches” — and for around 5 weeks, I’d feel like a large man was kicking me in the head with a steel-toed boot whenever I experienced any, ahem, intimate stimulation. That stumped the doc, as I wrote at the time:

Despite the fact that 1 in a 100 people will get the ailment, the disorder is relatively unknown. Fearing for my health, as well as my sanity, I went to a doctor. He asked me what the problem was, and when I told him that a Google search-based diagnosis suggested that I suffered from coital cephalalgia, he whipped out his iPhone and started tapping away.

“I have to look this up,” he told me, adding: “Don’t worry, I’m not texting my girlfriend.” (He was doing just that, of course, and the text no doubt began: “You’ll never believe how screwed this poor dude sitting at my desk is …”)

Boy howdy, was I happy to see that condition go (although I have a 40 percent chance of a relapse at some point during the next 2.5 years).

READ FULL POST

Goldman Sachs appears to be testing the limits of its special talent for avoiding all accountability following revelations of its role in exacerbating the Greek debt crisis.

The bank has come under heavy criticism from European political officials over its role in helping Greece hide its debts, and on Wednesday, Greek labor unions staged a historic strike that shut down the country’s national infrastructure in response to economic policies urged by bankster elites. The European turmoil has forced US officials to take notice, and scrutiny of the bank is now coming from the unlikeliest of quarters, with Ben Bernanke telling Congress on Thursday that the Federal Reserve is looking into Goldman and questions surrounding the bank’s swap transactions with Greece.

Bernanke was vague about what, exactly, the Fed is investigating, and it is possible that the inquiry will go nowhere. But the fact that the Fed chair would make remarks that amplify concerns about Goldman’s role in Europe is a sign that the political winds have shifted significantly since Matt Taibbi’s “vampire squid” metaphor first captured the public imagination last summer. The populist outcry against bankster fraud and collusion finally shows signs of steering the authorities towards a more oppositional, watchdog role.

READ FULL POST

By Be Scofield, Crossposted from Tikkun Daily.

“You’re either with us or against us.” – from Matthew 12:30

“Language is the perfect instrument of empire.”- Antonia De Nebrija

I recommend checking out the latest booklet from Paul Kivel called “The Language of Dominant Christianity” (available as a downloadable PDF for only $3.50 or as a book for $4.95.) It is a short (85 page) A-Z dictionary of common vocabulary words in the English language that reveal how Christianity has influenced our thinking. In addition to defining a comprehensive list of words (64 pages) Kivel provides a section on “word groups” and points out how certain terms are found within our criminal/legal system, notions of morality, racial understandings, educational ideals and political ideology. And in the first part Kivel provides the context of why it is important to analyze and examine the Christian roots of our language. READ FULL POST

Originally posted on RaceWire

By Julianne Hing

The news we’re hearing out of UCSD have become increasingly disturbing. Last night around midnight students alerted administrators when a noose was found hanging in UCSD’s Geisel Library. The video above was taken this morning at a protest organized by students in response to last night’s developments.

It was never funny before, but so many of these students just don’t seem to understand that tension sparked by racist provocations will never be a joke. Students of color are downright terrified. The climate on campus, according to UCSD students we have spoken with, is tense. Students of color are rightfully angry, but also terrified for their safety. Throwing nooses around campus, that isn’t a joke. What I want to know is: why isn’t anyone calling the Compton Cookout, and the various racist incidents that have followed it, what we all know it is: a hate crime?

On Wednesday, students organized a walkout from a university-sponsored teach-in. Following the news of the Compton Cookout last week, staff from the the conservative faux-satire student publication, The Koala, left a note inside a campus television station office that said “Compton lynching” on it. Funding for the publication has since been cut off by the Associated Students of UCSD, the university’s student government.

Students are angry that even though university administrators like Chancellor Mary Anne Fox have been quick to respond in support of Black students on campus, they have also distanced themselves from the Compton Cookout incident. Campus administration initially mentioned that because the Compton Cookout was officially an off-campus event, no further action would be pursued against the perpetrators. They were quick to make public statements condemning the party, quick to host a teach-in to “explore why stereotypes still exist,” and quick to set up a website called Join the Battle Against Hate at UCSD. Helpful and positive, but not enough for students who want to see real policy and cultural changes.

And subsequent provocations are forcing administration to wake up to the racism in their midst. The Compton Cookout was organized by UCSD students who are affiliated with university-approved fraternities, now is not the time for university officials to try to distance themselves from the actions of its students or try to absolve themselves of any responsibility for the racial climate on campus.

What will it take for campus administration to take the incidents seriously enough to formally punish the students who’ve orchestrated these hateful crimes and begin to institute policy to change the culture on campus? Hopefully the organizing and continued pressure from students and faculty will force administrators to take this all seriously.

The student who hung the noose in Geisel has since come forward. “It’s someone who didn’t think that leaving a noose was an issue,” said Vice Chancellor Gary Mattews. A noose is never a joke.