Free Republic

Sar-ron Beverly knew about nooses from family stories and historical photos. But he never understood their power until he walked into his boss' Fairfield office one day and saw one hanging from the ceiling, in front of a bookshelf and a family portrait. "It was just too much," said Beverly, 30. "I'm from Mississippi. My grandparents moved to California to get away from this stuff. "A hangman's noose shows the ultimate hatred for African Americans." Since a noose hanging in a schoolyard triggered a civil rights firestorm this summer in Jena, La., there's been a resurgence of nooses across the...

Stratford (AP) _ A Halloween display on Main Street in Stratford that featured a man hanging from a noose kicked off protests and complaints and has led the homeowners to change it. Black leaders and neighbors say the "hanging man" resembled a black man hanging from a noose and a protest march was being planned. The homeowners initially said they would not succumb to pressure by the community and police to take it down. But after a meeting Monday with the mayor, police chief and community leaders, the homeowners have agreed to remove the figure from the noose and incorporate...

Teacher declares doll hanging from noose in Watchung is racist: WATCHUNG — The owner of a Halloween costume store here said a window display depicting a man hanging from a noose will be removed after a Scotch Plains woman complained, saying it was appalling and racist. Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, said the display she saw Sunday in the window at the Halloween Scene store in the Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22 West depicted a stuffed doll resembling a black man, wearing a labor suit and hanging from a...