Five
ropes were discovered hanging from a tree in an Oakland city park recently. The
city’s mayor, Libby Schaaf, promptly assumed they were “nooses,” placed there
by a demented racist intent on fomenting terror and committing a hate crime.
Schaaf held a press conference the next day in which she made the following
remarks: “We have to start with the assumption
that these are hate crimes. We cannot take these actions lightly. These symbols
are symbols of racial violence, and it’s incumbent on all of us to have that
sensitivity, to have that knowledge. For those of us that don’t feel complete
fear and terror when we see a rope in a tree, that is a privilege that so many
of our African American residents do not enjoy.” She launched a hate crime
investigation surrounding the appearance of the ropes the same day.
Unfortunately
for the virtue signaling mayor, Victor Sengbe, a local black man, said he put the ropes up a few months ago. Sengbe told KGO-TV that the
ropes were part of the rigging for a larger swing system he and his buddies
used for exercise and fun. He noted that it was “unfortunate that a genuine gesture of
just wanting to have a good time got misinterpreted into something so heinous,”
and shared a video of the swing in use, according to the Associated Press.
This did not assuage Nicholas
Williams, Oakland’s director of parks and recreation, who argued that “the
symbolism of the rope hanging in the tree is malicious regardless of intent.
It’s evil, and it symbolizes hatred.” So, even if a black man puts ropes into a
tree for health benefits or amusement, the aspiring “wokerati” say it’s a hate
crime. Because no one is more enlightened than a progressive white person. How
dare an Uncle Tom claim otherwise!
Mayor Schaaf believes “We have to start with the assumption that
these are hate crimes?” What happened to the traditional American notion of “innocent
until proven guilty?” And not being overcome with “complete fear and terror”
when seeing a rope in a tree is a sign of white privilege? No, but making that
statement might be.
In
today’s mixed up, shook up, muddled up world, we see what’s meant to be an
“okay” sign and assume it’s a gesture supporting white supremacy. If President Trump holds a rally on the 8th
day of a month, we assume it’s a sly but loving nod to Hitler, as “H” is the
eighth letter of the alphabet.
When
you are determined to feel offended, marginalized or abused, you will always be
successful…at feeling offended, marginalized or abused.
And nothing else.
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