I kinda think one's view might depend on whether gangs of guys dressed in sheets used to hang your great-grandparents from trees

Soft-headed fellow that I am, I think everybody's right.

The dummy hanging from a tree at a tavern near Crystal River is just a time-honored Halloween decoration. Nothing racist about it intended, unless it was meant as a slur against the Association of Creepy-Looking Bald-Headed Corpses. [Times photo | Ron Thompson]

But I can see how other folks see it differently. It takes a colossal ignorance of history not to grasp the menacing significance of bodies swaying from trees, especially in the South. The culture of lynching was evil and vicious and widespread and real. And it continued into the lifetimes of generations that are still alive today.

Here's a link, just for example, to a Yale University resource for teachers on lynching. Or you could just do a Google search on "lynching" and find all kinds of interesting and scary (scary real-life, not scary Halloween) information. In short, it is NOT a tenuous, made-up complaint that something looking to whine about something just cooked up out of the blue.

Me, in the interest of getting along, I would err on the side of bodies poppin' out of coffins, witches, goblins & your basic dismembered corpses, without hangin' any of them from a tree. Of course, the tavern owners are free to decorate any way they want, and if they want to keep Uncle Fester hanging, I defend their right to do it -- as well as the right of other people to criticize 'em for it.

Comments

[Teri]

Come one Troxler, take a stand quit trying to please everyone! I personally think the complainers should get over themselves, let the people who actually know how to have fun on Halloween alone, they should just sink back into their caves.

[cd348]

A lot of people are offended each year at Halloween, some because of the nature of the holiday and its proximity with a major Catholic holy day of obligation and some because they don't like kids destroying their property during the observance of Halloween.

As it is, though, if the hanging dummy looked like a black person I would be deeply offended. To me it looks like a painted dummy hanging from a tree. Nothing more.

[Lee]

The nice thing about freedom of speech is all points of view have the same freedom. I may not like what is said, but I defend their right to say it.

[John Gibson]

I am going to have to go with Teri on this one.

It takes just as much ignorance of history to not know that hanging as an execution method has been around much longer than the scourge of lynching.

I can't help but feel that sometimes people's "sensitivities" are nothing more than a front for politically acceptable bullying.

All that is needed anymore is to draw some tenous connection to "racism" and all the usual headline grabbers conjur up great offense and indignities and use them to force their way.

The participation of the mainstream press in furthering this is the primary reason our politicians pander to extremist groups and not to the needs of the nation.

[Howard Troxler]

That is an interesting point by cd348. If, for instance, I have a witch or goblin in my front yard, and a neighbor is deeply religious and is offended (I think there's a Biblical injunction against such stuff) then should I, even out of courtesy, remove it? Do we have to jump at EVERY claim of someone being offended?

[Eric Deggans]

Interesting debate.

I'm always bothered by the way people want to reduce these issues to hurt feelings and offense. I know it makes it much easier to shrugoff people'
s concerns. But this is about a lot more.

Lynchings in america- - and Florida, particularly -- were about intimidation. They were a sign to black people that it didn't matter how much you had achieved, or who you were. If certain white people decided it was time for you life to end, it was over. And you'd be left hanging from the tree as a symbol to the rest of the black folks around of what could happen to them if they got too uppity.

Fast forward 40 years or so, to a time where lynchings are outlawed, and the symbolism remains. If you're a black person walking past a bar and you see a figure which looks like a person of indeterminate race hanging from a noose in the front yard, what would you think? Is it a message? r a harmless decoration? Do you want to stake your own personal safety on the answer and walk into the bar or past it?

For those who want to reduce this to hurt feelings I would just ask; what business person wants to put up a display that might make some people wonder if they are racist? Wouldn't you want to err on the side of caution and take it down?

I'm with Troxler on this, by the way. I 'm willing to accept the bar owner's explanation that no offense was intended. But if I walked past that display with no prior knowledge, i would be awfully worried about what message they were actually sending.

[Mark]

Ain't nobody worried about that poor white boy hanging upside down with no legs biside the dude hanging by his neck? You could call that racist too, just in the other direction????

[Kay]

I did have an greatXgrandparent that was hung. Lynched. Whatever you want to call it. It is documented in history. And, I'm a white girl.

If anyone else reading this has the same thing in their family history, speak up. Are you offended? I'm not in the least.

It is clearly a Halloween decoration, only displayed during this holiday's season and along with many other items of the same scary nature. If you read something else into it, that's on you. Perhaps you need to do some soul searching to come to grips with what is real fear and what you need to get over.

Kay

[Stephie]

Anyone NOT offended by that hanging replica of a lynching should seriously question their morals, ethics and inner racist. Those redneck bikers and owners of the bar see nothing wrong because they were raised that way. It is offensive, period. Use your heads, people! It is a blatant statement by people who knew exactly what they were doing when they put it up!

[Mitchel Booth]

I think you are f-in crazy. That is totaly rascist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dick Norris]

hello world

[That dead guy on the tree]

happy hallowen

[Jeremy]

I think the Times has the least class of anyone today...the picture of the dead man who tried to cross route 19 in New Port Richey is more out of line than anything any of you have talked about today. Nice shock photo with the broken window and dead body laying right by the road. And way not to have an opinion Mr. Journalist...everybody's right?!?, that's why everybody complains...pick a side or drop your "marbles" off at the editor's desk.

[m]

Come on, take a stand. Do your homework. I would wager that a heck of a lot more white men, and women, for that matter, were "lynced" as the west was being won.
This is not racial.

[Jeremy]

A-Men Kay by the way..people need to learn how to seperate what is a real slap in the face, and what is you smacking yourself in the face because you can't let go of something. I'm not a racist, and I didn't immediately think of "southern lynchings" and klansmen..my common sense took over and said, scary halloween decoration..if it's there at Thanksgiving, you can do and say anything you want about it, but this is ridiculous...makes you wonder how crazy people really are.

[J]

Racist? Halloween deco? How about just plain stupid.

If this thing had been put up in the middle of July, or, as Jeremy says, is still swinging after T'giving, then yeah, there's probably some sort of malicious intent involved. But it went up right before Halloween,along with a whole bunch of other gory gross stuff. I bet it'll be gone next weekend.
It's just an ugly halloween decoration people!

According to Wikipedia Lynching is "the practice of inflicting summary punishment upon an offender, by a self-constituted court armed with no legal authority; it is now generally limited to the summary execution of one charged with some flagrant or perceived offence."

How do we know this is the case?

Perhaps the decoration was sentenced by a legitimate court - making it an execution. Perhaps it hung itself - making it a suicide. Or more likely given the season - it was occupied by demons and forced to do something it would otherwise not have done, making it a clear case of demonic possesion.

In short, let's not jump to conclusions regarding the "lynching" of the decoration.

[Kshu]

I have dead grandparents, and I am offended by the gravestone decorations with insensitive epitaphs.
I'm vegetarian and I cannot believe we are still carving helpless pumpkins just for our own entertainment.
I'm diabetic and I find it completely uncaring that we promote this candy-feast of a holiday when people like me have to sit by and suffer.
I'm arachnophobic and all of these cobwebs are making me crazy.
I'm Christian and offended by all of these pagan rituals.
Get a perspective, people!
It's a Halloween decoration!!!!

ps Stephie - do you actually know any of the patrons of that bar or the owners? Those bar owners have already stated that they have a very mixed group of patrons, including regualr inter-racial couples. Shame on you for passing judgement on a group of people based on ignorance. Hello pot, my name is kettle...

[Kshu]

Oh - and my apologies for the very last comment in my previous post. I suppose that will be construed as racist too.

Eric,
Your point is absolutely valid--except that you missed the part about this figure being *part* of a display of many gruesome items. If it was *just* this hanging man, that might be different. But it's not. It's part of a wider display the day before Halloween. As said above, if it's still around the end of next month, let's have this conversation again.

Kshu, LOL!

[Jennifer W]

Just to chime in with Kay, I am a white woman with a white relative hanged a few generations back for a crime he committed. It was the sentence he received by the law at the time. I grew up in Southern Maryland, tobacco farm country, good old boy ville, and usually describe myself as half redneck when asked my heritage. If you met me on the street you would never guess that, but I don't deny it ever. Does seeing hanged people make me think of that story? Yes. Do I dwell on it? Heck no. I wasn't there, I didn't have anything to do with it, it is what it is and that's the end of it.

Does it bother me when this comes up every stinkin year at Halloween? Yes yes yes. Let it go people.

[Lou]

In 1998, the NBC switchboard lit up with howls of protest when the cultural "color" coverage of the host city, Nagano, Japan, showed a swastika clearly carved over the portal to an ancient buddhist temple. What many of the callers apparently didn't appreciate is that the symbol precedes Nazi Germany by thousands of years and has represented well-being in eastern cultures to current times. Howard has it right about Crystal River...it's a matter of your personal experience and perspective. If hate crimes in general hadn't been on the rise, and if nooses - in particular & used clearly as racist symbols - hadn't been in the news in the past couple of months (see list included with today's article) maybe sensitivity over the Crystal River thing wouldn't be so heightened. Maybe. One last thing...an awful lot of people are writing about blacks not being the only ones ever hanged...true, but blacks were much more often strung up solely on the basis of their color and hate - not for being cattle rustlers or horse thieves. It's a bit different. The Crystal River display is not clearly a black person, the bar owners host blacks and mixed marriage couples, they deserve the benefit of a doubt that their intentions were not racist. But...we must all step back and consider why some might be offended. The world is at it's most craziest in history and a lot of us are trying to figure out how we got to this point (I say hate) and how we can back away from the cliff's edge (I say walk a mile in another's shoes). Some things just aren't being as accepted or tolerated without question as they have been in the past, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[Lou]

I was referring to NBC's TV coverage of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan...sorry.

[Lou]

Perhaps an indication of the issue's current sensitivity (or just the media filling time)...CNN has a special on Thursday night at 8pm, "The Noose: An American Nightmare"

Description: "The noose, a symbol of hatred from America’s dark past, has resurfaced. Why is it back? CNN’s Kyra Phillips investigates the shocking history of the noose and its re-emergence across the United States."

More at website: http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/the.noose/

[mike]

It's sick how all the liberal maggots are force feeding all us with nall this PC horses..t!!! It's a Halloween decoration and that's it. Minorities and liberal Idiots are pushing this as a racist issue. Get over it, people!!!

[Clyde Rowland]

If this has any racist meaning it would be the white man hanging upside down with the bottom half of his body missing. This could mean the white man was not properly hung. As white men we have taken quite a kidding about not measuring up to some of our brothers and this could be a racist way to point that out and make us feel humble and insecure. It also could mean there was too much starch in his pants and he cut his body in two for relief. It could also mean we spend way too much time trying to make a mountain out of a molehill with very petty things. Complain about the war, the economy, the taxes, insurance rates, but give the poor dummies a break. Opps, maybe that should be give the poor dummies not in Tallahassee a break.

Did anyone notice how cold it has gotten lately? Maybe nuclear winter is the answer to global warming; we must ask Pres. Bush for his opinion.

I may be a bit weird but at least I don’t have my finger on the nuclear trigger. There is a God and I think he may be packing and clearing out of here soon.

[Kaos]

Curious:

almost 90% felt it wasn't a racist act,

10% did, ......... are the 10% black?

[Don Mott]

The dummy is white not black! How many gory, slasher type movies have shown someone opening a closet door to find their friend hanging there? If all of the people who waste so much time and energy finding racial inferences in hanging dummies and confederate flags redirected that time and energy to stopping black on black crimes maybe they could be seen as doing something positive. Otherwise your like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, stoking fires where there are none and doing absolutely nothing to protect innocent black people from the criminal element in their neighborhoods.

[Winston]

Where are the "racist" commentators condemning the latest killing of a young black man by another?

Or in Tampa, the assault of young black women, and even a black child, alledgedly by a black man?? (DNA evidence matched, so it's probably a slam dunk.)

Dylan's phrase: "How many deaths will it take 'til we know, that too many people have died?"

It's hard to see racism in this Halloween decoration, except for the fact of past lynchings of blacks.

Until the black community equates drive-by killings, and other black on black crimes with the same knee-jerk response that a noose, or depictions thereof, despite the hangee being white, I can't condemn this display.

Without research, I would venture to guess that there has been more killings black on black, to date, this year than were ever lynched in Florida during the past 100 years.

And, Mr. Deggans, if I were black, I would be more afraid to venture out around the "double duece" (22st & 22nd ave S) than I would be to attend a Klan meeting, much less a tavern with a Halloween display.

Winston

Deggans is a major racist; I pay no mind to his rants to begin with. I’m offended by it because I’m bald and don’t wear a t-shirt.

In fact, I’m offended that you’re offended by and offensive display… but I am sorry if that statement offended anyone.

[shuman]

Geez! This is worse then the time someone pissed off a bunch of witches on moon lake road

[Pablo]

Enter "Strange Fruit lyrics" on your favorite search engine, read them, then decide for yourself.

[Jim Johnson]

Lynching has an interesting history. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries it was generally used when public officials were soft on crime. It is quite amazing to see the pains public officials took to spare convicted murderers from the gallows.

Consequently whites and blacks lynched people to ensure justice. But there is a difference. Blacks could not assemble in groups openly, so they tended to assassinate people in the dark of night. Or they shot deputies and revenue agents on sight, especially if they had a still worth hiding.

Another aspect of this, one I suspect is true, is white women had consensual sexual unions with black men, and when it was discovered the black men were killed to protect the reputation of the cuckolded husband.

I recently found newspaper articles reporting white Southern women eloping with slaves before the Civil War.

The decor is tasteless and insensitive. But what do you expect from that neck of the woods, a thespian re-enactment of Shakespeare's double-double-toil-and trouble?

It is perhaps possible, as claimed on another blog, to be too stupid to be racist.

[Ellen]

I am definitely against racism and cruel expressions of prejudice, but I reserve my constitutional right to be an ignorant fool in my public expressions. Of course, nooses mean different things to different people. My immigrant ancestors were closely associated with the witchcraft trials of the 17th century in America. That was a time when some Christians persecuted, whipped and hanged other Christians in America, yet witch costumes on Halloween have no emotional value for me.

Now, we are a nation of ...300 million? I haven't kept track. There have been news stories about nooses being found in public places how many times this year.....5? 10? Relatively unimportant, in my opinion. There are many far more important issues, like our hunger for cheap imported goods that has sent so many jobs out of the country, like phonies who use God and Christianity to fool voters, like voting for incompetent and dishonest candidates solely on the basis of the candidate's position on one issue. We have been very foolish for too long, but I don't see signs of great change there.

As for racism, there are still, probably, millions of dedicated racists sophisticated enough to hide their views. That will change only when people have the will to improve their standards.