This just really blows me away. Apparently, at the Germantown Performing Arts Center (Germantown being a suburb of Memphis, TN), some ropes hanging long backstage were cinched up and tied into bundles. This is nothing strange. However, a "minority employee" saw these bundles, and thought they looked noose-like. OK, well, I could see that, still, no big deal, right?

Wrong.

Being "noose-like," this employee was "offended." Why? Well, according to Memphis NAACP Executive Director Johnnie Turner, "It reminds me of the days when African-Americans were routinely hung from a tree." This resulted in the firing of the GPAC's technical Director and two other workers. 3 guys fired, for tying up some rope.

*blink* What? So, a bundle of rope, in a knot that is NOT a noose but only noose-like, is a reminder of a particular race being hung? Because, you know, no one ELSE has EVER been hung. Certainly, no other RACE has EVER been hung. No one's EVER hung a white man, or an Asian man, or a Middle Eastern man. No sirree bob, a noose is a racially charged reminder of a small period in history, characterised by a stereotypical image...even when it isn't actually a noose.

Fuck you. You know why problems continue to exist? Because we don't get over them. I'm not saying to forget what's gone before, after all, we all know that those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it. But jeezus, can we move on? Sometimes, a cigar is just a cigar, and we have to learn the difference...and the NAACP needs to seriously learn the difference. So, what next, are we going to ban the sale of cotton? Slaves picked a lot of cotton, does this person bristle at the mere thought of cotton socks? Are they going to burn down the Southern Comfort distillery? Where does this kind of craperoo end? Frankly, the NAACP should be working on people like this, letting them know that they are just NOT good for the movement. Turner should have taken this person aside and said "hey, you know, maybe you're over-reacting; this is a real stretch, and it just hurts the cause, you know?"

However, as someone in the article mentions, Memphis is a veritable hotbed of this kind of thing. I dunno what it is about Memphis, but every damn thing ends up being a racial issue, eventually. The city just cannot grow up, I swear. it's one of the things I DON'T miss about living there. Truth be told, most of the South really has grown up and moved on, at least somewhat. Memphis is like an wound where people keep picking off the scabs.

I hope those three guys sue the ever-lovin' pants off of the GPAC. If not, all they do is help ensure that this sort of thing is going to keep happening.

EDIT: As it turns out, this wasn't GPAC's doing at all. The actual City of Germantown stepped in and fired these guys. So, I'll modify my annoyance, and I hope these guys sue the pants off the city.