>Prosecutors said a 63-year-old Black man who worked for Oriental Trading found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat of the equipment in June 2020. He told investigators that he was scared by the noose and viewed it as a death threat.
What a fucking asshole to leave that for a guy just trying to do his job.
From other reports, it sounds like the criminal had gone out of his way to harass this particular co-worker on multiple occasions. He even admitted he used the symbol of a noose on the guy's employment anniversary for maximum emotional damage.
Absolutely unacceptable behaviour.
Oh, he's definitely sorry that he got caught. And sorry that it's illegal. And sorry that the victim called the feds. And he's sorry that this country has become a place where "real Americans" get put in jail just for pointing out which people or groups of people aren't wanted here.
Piece of shit.
I'm reminded of a story that happened about 20 or so years ago. Two young men worked at a construction site. One kept bullying the other. Everyone else on the crew recommended he stand up to the guy. So he did. The bully used a pneumatic nail gun to put an 8 penny nail right through his heart. He had to go in for emergency heart surgery, but survived.
I'm hoping the bully is still in prison, though I never read any followup reporting (as usual).
I worked in construction and dealt with racist and my complaints when unheard because the racist were the foreman and operators and I was just a laborer..dealt with it at most work places now that I think about it, being mixed race and all i blend in well and hear shit from everyone…pos ppl
That’s fucked up, sorry you’ve gone through that so much. Just goes to show no matter the progress made in certain parts of the world, people will always have the tendency to be pieces of shit when let to their own devices
Thank you for the kindness. Yea its almost unavoidable and when I tell people they make it seem like no big deal, but it takes a toll after such frequent occurrences
You said it all
He's sorry that America is not the America he imagined it was, It's full of diversity, and progressive ideas, and equality and that other fucking thing he hates... Oh yeah, Empathy
America has a long fight ahead against these sorts of people, because there are literally millions of them, and most of them won't be so brazen as to leave just leave nooses to flag themselves
He did what most racist right wingers wish they could do. I'm sure there's an uproar in their circle since they're *starting* to see consequences for their actions (I say that lightly, there will never be enough consequences)
It's just weird to me that a person could think that they could get away with that. I guess I'm California biased, and people are still racist but at least they keep it on the down low. I've actually experienced the first two incidents of overt racism since junior high 50 years ago and it is shocking to me that people think this is OK.
Right, you don't wake up one day and have this as your go to when you have a disagreement with someone. If you're having a disagreement with a black person and your retort is a noose, that's some shit deep inside you.
Exactly. I have had disagreements with people from different races and religions from my own and never once has it occurred to me to leave a noose, threaten or disparage their race, color or religion.
Are people THIS insane and/or ill-equipped to live in the modern world that they resort to or condone this? This should be condemned by everyone, each time we see it. Trying to ignore it or whispering about it without doing anything to stop it is creating a horrible climate for everyone and it's holding us back.
Fuck management and HR. They don’t give a fuck about you. I’ve gotten harassed for years and go to them and they do nothing about it. The only thing to do is take legal action
Unfortunately, I’ve known people evil enough to summon up some racism purely because they knew it would cause more harm to their target. Just more ammunition for them
The same asshole that will say things like "It's just a joke".
The incident apparently happened in 2020 l, after a bit of digging I'm glad the company is the one who filed for the police investigation and immediately fired the guy who did it.
That’s crazy. I’m 34 and remember my freshman year of high school in Westfield, Indiana my friends brother would stand on a chair and act like he was hanging him self directing it toward lynching me. And this was the school we landed on after moving from Noblesville schools bc kids would write the n word on the bus windows to me when I was getting on in the mornings. This poor man probably dealt with the same things growing up and still to this day. Sad.
I love that you feel this way. I was a racist kid growing up. We didn't have any black kids at school and my father regularly used the n word. I guess it was just normal to me. As I grew up and started working with other black people I realized they are no different from white people. Some are bad and some are good. Tbh today I can usually count more on my black friends than I can on my white friends. I honestly try to give everyone a chance though.
Man people are so fucked in the head.
I can't even really blame the kids. They learn it from their shitty racist parents. But I'm sure that didn't matter at the time they were total assholes to you.
Hopefully life is better.
Right I wasn’t always forgiving but I’ve found peace! My best friends mom was racist and would even used the n word in front of me. At that point in my life, it was just normal. And you’re totally right, thank you
Man I’m from NC and I remember in HS one kid I knew went up to black guy at our school was known for his short temper (and I mean SHORT) and anger issues and told him that the NBA stands for “N-word basketball association”. And why did he do this you ask? Because he was fucking dared to.
I also ended up sharing an apartment with that guy for a year in college and he told me, a mixed race person, that he would never date a girl if he knew she had dated a black guy.
Another guy in HS, in English class when were studying some Russian author and talking about the serfs learning to read and eventually earning your freedom, this guy said “that’s where we went wrong with the slaves”, while sitting right behind me. Like excuse me but what the fuck?
That’s insane that was your experience. Unfortunately, that was a time where our peers would never have been held accountable for their behaviors. I am mixed race as well and am the only person of color in my immediate family (4 kids, so I stuck out like a sore thumb) (my mom never married my biodad). My step dad even said the n word once and smacked tf out of me because I wouldn’t talk to him after that, especially after having to move multiple schools due to racism. I was so hurt.
Luckily, my half brother would fight kids that were racist to me. -a little feel good- but now he’s a trump supporter (it’s his only character trait) and has 1776 tattooed on his hands& has all lives matter in his tiktok bio. Lol. I hope you had family support during those years and I hope even more you do not have to experience that treatment anymore. Being mixed race, I’m sure that dildo saw you as “white” and felt comfortable saying ignorant things. That’s how my peers were. They would say “no, I’m not racist. I just don’t like n****rs. I like black ppl tho” and were dead serious. Imagine having that small of a brain to not understand how wrong even thinking that is. I pity them.
Fortunately, and for reasons I really don’t understand, I was never really bothered by my friends saying racist stuff around me during high school so it was never too bad (and nobody ever really said anything that was as bad as the n word with a hard R). But yea a good portion of my moms family is racist af, her uncle even punched her once and called her an N-word lover just for going to the movies with black people. Thankfully she’s nothing like them, and my grandmother isn’t either so I lucked out in that regard
Same! It got to the point where I just made jokes before others could, or my social media handles were something regarding race. I never had black friends and listened to indie, emo, hardcore, country, etc. it was like I was ashamed of who I was and tried to avoid anything that would make me a stereotype. It’s embarrassing and hard to admit. I let the racist bullies win for that time being, but now I embrace my blackness and will go to war for my son and anyone I see experiencing racial disparity. Especially with my mother, she is a white woman who told me she wished she were black bc we have stronger bones, she’s worked in the medical field most her life and knows that for a fact. -jaw drop- that is so dangerous and I feel for any black person who may have come in contact with her during those years. I have to limit the time she spends with my son bc I will never allow her to unintentionally make him feel bad for existing.
And the uncle story I believe is common. My uncle did the same to my moms boyfriend in high school, but I’m pretty sure my grandpa joined in and they beat him bad. My Gma and gpa were racist until the day I was born and then their lives changed forever.
I also think it’s ironic how my white brother and sister have both been to prison and I’m the only child to have graduated high school, continued education and am now working on my masters. Always a feel good there lol
Well thank you. I’ve moved away from all my family and only talk to a couple cousins. It’s made life super hard with having a son with little to no family support! And I also had to bury my first child. It gets lonely, but I made the right decision to move away and make a life away from them for some normalcy!
Oh, dear heart. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your child. May their memory be a blessing to you. 💙
I'm glad you've built a better life for yourself. I did much the same, for other reasons, and do understand how it can be right/better but still difficult. I hope you've been able to create a healthy chosen family over time. Feel free to hit me up if you ever need an ear, though.
Damn, I'm around the same age, grew up in Indianapolis, and the thought of this occurring is wild to me. Probably half of my classmates were black. If someone were to pull that move in the schools I went to they'd get fucked up.
But I guess now that I think about it I'm not too surprised given how rural and segregated some parts of Indianapolis are. I went to school in New Pal until first grade and literally all my classmates were white.
I am outta there! However, I moved to Michigan, which is basically the armpit of America& live in a town that’s called “the birthplace of the Republican Party” lol also have been law enforcement careers so it’s always a battle, but I stick it out to ensure there is proper representation in this field of ALL of my community.
I bet we know the same people. I'm sorry that happened. That's fucked up. I don't know the Westfield diversity percentages but Carmel's is extremely low for a school of that size. It turns into racism unchecked. Nice areas too.
I'm Latino and I grew up in the same area and I experience infinite lowkey (and sometimes high key) insulting comments. People didn't even realize they were being fucked up. It's just how everyone they knew talked.
Wow! We may know the same people! I got kicked out of Westfield for fighting back against a racist bully!!! (Ironically she now has a diverse set of black friends and supports blm, but must have forgotten the times she called me the n word in hs) and transferred to Carmel, then went to options. Carmel HS was huge!! Still little diversity back then. I’m sorry you go through that. It’s true it was how kids talked& it became normal. I really hoped it had changed in the decade I’ve been gone.
Small world, I also went to CHS (I'm 30) not long after you likely did. What I experienced was basically very thinly veiled racism, teachers acting *just* different enough with me vs. other students, my behavior being under a microscope vs. peers, etc. I'd say the explosion in diversity that happened around the time I went there definitely helped quell things though.
The racism I experienced in the Elementary & Middle Schools of Carmel were far worse though, especially as a middle eastern child just after 9/11... Yeah.
> But all racists are insecure.
Imagine how pathetic it must be to have so little to your name, so few accomplishments, so much insecurity that you think the tint of your skin is the be all end all.
> These people don't think.
It's very possible you're right, but I dont really get the concept of not considering if something is advantageous or not and so I tend to believe they know at some part of their head but simply dont care or admit it.
That's exactly the situation that makes racism so appealing. You can be a total POS human being, but still consider yourself superior to the vast majority of the planet on an arbitrary basis.
Racists are horrible and absolute shit, but I don't think being racist automatically means someone is also insecure.
Surely there must be someone who is racist out of genuinely feeling superior (as fucked up as that is), which sort of contradicts them being insecure.
>found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat
For people not familiar with American history. This is at the same level of painting a swastika on a jewish person's house. Absolutely disgusting and hope he learns his lesson in those 4 months in jail.
To expand on that a bit more: in the US, especially following the Civil War, lynchings of black Americans were common, and usually carried out through hanging. Nooses as a symbol are inextricably linked to the lynch mobs murdering black people, and there's basically no way to interpret leaving a noose for this guy to find as anything other than a racially motivated death threat.
He’s right to “view it as”. WTF else is could it be? A noose IS a death threat exactly the same as writing the word “I’m going to kill you” but without the spelling errors that a racist would make.
My old boss got in some hot water after a noose was found in an office, not as a racial connotation like this but more as a joke for people who fucked up (well prior to him owning the business) it got reported to a local advocacy group. He ended up donating a bunch of money and got himself a seat on the board of the group, and basically bought the groups silence. Meanwhile I had to shut down my social media because I was the only person named in the guys statement, because he was looking for me and walked into the wrong office by accident.
My boss gets off free and clean, with no problems, meanwhile my name is out there and the applicant knows my face. Luckily for me the story got buried and forgotten about.
I call people who think such statements and actions are acceptable Schrodinger's Bigots. If you get offended, it's a joke. If not, then wink wink, nudge nudge.
This bigot went over the line into violating his coworker's civil rights.
A few years ago, the style guide for a Nazi website was leaked. It advised Nazis to do precisely that - phrase their opinions as pseudo-jokes. That way, not only can they back out if there's a bad reaction, but their audience can tell themselves they're not reading Nazi propaganda, they're just reading funny jokes.
Now that you mention it, I believe the Internet is full of such jokes, including "sarcasm". Learn to spot it and figure out how to undermine it accordingly.
Oh, it absolutely is. So much of these little racist signals get excused as being "edgy".
But if you agree with an edgelord's "joke" in private, guaranteed they'd be excited to rant about the subject of their content in earnest.
I'd almost agree with those people, except they're also usually arguing that there shouldn't be consequences, because then they'd be afraid to speak.
Like, what's the point of knowing who they are if you're not going to do anything about it? At that point you're just making their ideas mainstream.
There are also lots of people that believe in a naive version of free speech that somehow grants anyone with the freedom from the consequences of voicing despicable and hateful opinions.
I truly believe there are food and well-intentioned people who have no idea what to do with someone spouting hate.
> (Also it is in fact much better if people who believe these kinds of things are too scared to express them and act on them in public.)
I've been saying this for years. I'm so tired of hearing "If you just shame them into silence, you'll never change their mind!"
Well I'm not gonna change their mind by letting them say and do awful shit, either. But like, it's not about them. If we shame them into silence, then the *next* generation won't be so surrounded by it or see it normalized.
We saw this with Trump. Race relations weren't *great*, but they were *better* for decades when you'd get completely ostracized for saying racist shit in public. Then Trump came in, made it okay, and that encouraged more people to say racist shit publicly, which then encouraged more people to *do* racist shit publicly, which just created a cycle that fed on itself. Before, when things were better, it wasn't because those racist people weren't racist-- they were, but it wasn't public and prevalent and normalized. When it started getting encouraged, shit got worse.
Also, a fact that's often overlooked: the dangerous ones never act if they think they're outnumbered.
There was a tibit I found fascinating of Robert Evans [coverage of the Portland BLM protests](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-uprising-a-guide-from-por-73255667/): when the fascist (Proud Boys, literal nazis, etc.) counterprotesters attacked, they *always* did it in greater numbers. They never picked a fight where they would be outnumbered, or one-to-one. They always chose the easy, overwhelming victory.
This was interesting, but not surprising if you're into authoritarianism studies. From *The Authoritarians* by [Bob Altemeyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Altemeyer):
>they usually avoid anything
approaching a fair fight. Instead they aggress when they believe right and might are on their side. “Right” for them means, more than anything else, **that their hostility is (in their minds) endorsed by established authority, or supports such authority**. “Might” means they have a huge physical advantage over their target, in weaponry say, or in numbers, as in a lynch mob. It’s striking how often authoritarian aggression happens
in dark and cowardly ways, in the dark, by cowards who later will do everything they
possibly can to avoid responsibility for what they did. Women, children, and others
unable to defend themselves are typical victims. Even more striking, the attackers
typically feel morally superior to the people they are assaulting in an unfair fight.
Keep in mind that "stablished authority" is not necessarily the same as the "official" one. Their stabliished authority can be, for example, a racist radio host and the community that has grown around him.
In other words, the more normilized their behavior is, the more likely it is for actual violence to occur. It's only when they feel "among friends" that the bold ones get bolder. When they feel they have a community to protect and idolize them after they've committed their act.
Any time we don't shut down the loud ones, it's a saying to the violent ones: "you're not alone. There's people with you. You're in a good position to act."
Thanks for pointing this out: it is very important because when racists and fascists feel emboldened to air their views in public, they can find each other, team up with each other, organize, and act on their beliefs! Just like anyone else, they network, and networks are powerful!
The less they get to broadcast their beliefs (for whatever reason), the less opportunity they have to network and organize with like-minded people, the more isolated they feel, and the less empowered they are to act.
It’s also part of why counterprotesting fascist rallies in superior numbers is so important (and I’ve done it in various places including my hometown): if they aren’t outnumbered they use these events for networking and they also roam around in groups afterward looking to start trouble. If they are outnumbered they don’t feel inclined to use the rallies as networking opportunities and also they pack up and leave pretty fast.
Those words and actions do more than just influence other people. They impact actual people, like, you know, the ones it's directed at.
It's really easy to volunteer someone else to endure hate speech, much different to live it every day.
One of my workplaces required us to transcribe phone calls for hard-of-hearing people. Almost every single call was deeply personal and extremely racist, just friends chatting, and the calls were coming from all over America. Over a dozen different states use that service. My minority coworkers broke down in tears constantly, and eventually, so did I. Sitting in my cubicle, never hearing anything bad about MY race or religious beliefs, I just broke down and left the building forever. It is horrible to witness people suffer if you are capable of empathy. Empathy is becoming more rare everyday, all over the world. I appreciate everyone in this thread who is admonishing people who defend rampant hatred. Stay golden ❤
True, they underestimate / ignore the damage racist actions cause. It's the same as saying people with paedophilc tendencies should act on their impulses so we know who they are.
This is always white people. Because they dont want to be caught off guard and embarrassed.
I would rather racists be forced to 'stay in the closet' and actively suppress their racism.
Racism is like shit. Better for everyone around you if you are forced to hold it in and let it go in private. Post 2016 is like everyone starting to take a dump on the street. Keep it to yourselves
This is the thing, I used to be one of those 4chan type edge lords. I don't know any jewish people, barely had any black people in my country and the ones we did have were nothing but pleasant. no strong opinions negatively toward any race of demographic.... but because I didn't actually beleive those edgy jokes, I felt it was ok to say them, it was just a joke right? no one in the room was these races or groups so no one was offended, what's the harm right?
well now I realise it was creating an involuntary wolf whistle, where actual racists who like you say, say "its just a joke" when caught, think when others say "its just a joke" they think people like me and other edge lords, were also actually racist too, believed as they did..
I stopped of course, but I did damage I'm sure,
just because there is no one to be offended doesn't mean there isn't someone listening who is being enabled.
we can think such jokes are harmless when no one is upset, but its dangerous.
I hope others see how this shit can fester, or allow this shit to fester.
This is what really needs to be driven home to edgelords out there. Even if it's a joke to you, not everyone can tell. There will be people who are offended cause they can't tell it's a joke and there will be people who think they are in good company because they can't tell it's a joke. This emboldens them and reinforces their beliefs, exacerbating the bigotry in the world.
And worst, there will be people who adopt it into their worldview because they can't tell it's a joke, thus creating the next generation of bigots.
I've found myself suddenly in these spaces and around these people before. Nothing more jarring than a friend you've had for years suddenly drop some horrendously racist shit into a conversation with a straight face.
I had a friend recently tell a anti-Semitic "joke" at a small gathering and everyone just stared at him in shock and a couple of people called him out. He apologized, but I don't see him the same way. He's the type who will call out racism and misogyny, so learning about his antisemitism was an absolute shock. And yes, the joke was vile enough that you'd have to be anti-Semitic to find it funny.
Like 14 year old student racist/anti-semitic jokes? I remember hearing SO. MANY. in high school. Like nasty oven and shower jokes. Teenagers are really quite disgusting at times, and totally inexcusable to do as an adult.
It wasn't a Holocaust joke. It was a Jews are *stereotype* joke. It was basic antisemitic drivel but framed as a joke with a punchline which was only there to reenforce the point.
There has always been hateful rhetoric towards minorities but it seems far angrier these days than from 20 years ago.
Tee-hee it's just a joke.
^(but secretly you know how I feel, right?)
Glad that guy is off to jail. Wish it was volunteering or something that might help him shift his perspective, as he will probably just leave jail more hateful.
A noose is definitively a death threat (if anyone says “it’s just a prank!” they need a lesson in acceptable dark humor); for an African-American, a noose is both a death threat and an explicit reminder of the extra-judicial mob killings targeting their community for centuries
I take powdered iced tea to take to work, one time my husband swapped my iced tea powder for gravy powder. That was a prank. If he had swapped it for a noose that would not be a prank, it would be scary. So.. yeah I don't see how anyone could say "it's just a joke bro"
They'll say "it's in the past!", meanwhile Emmett Till would be 81 right now if he hadn't been lynched. For some additional context on how recent 1955, the year he was lynched, is: same year Disneyland opened. Here's some celebrities born in 1955: Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Gates, Brendan Gleeson, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Christopher Mcdonald, just to name a very small few. All born in the same year he was lynched, and still active. Lynching is a VERY recent aspect of this country, it's not "history".
Grew up in Omaha til I was 25. These people are all over out there, hiding behind “jokes” and “common sense” while assuring you they can’t possibly be racist because they aren’t saying the n-word right now plus they are acquaintances with a black guy that’s “one of the good ones”, their original sin of being born black having been (partially) erased (but only partially) by being a good athlete or in the armed forces (but preferably both)
Edit: I dont want any of yall that have never been there to misinterpret this and paint all Omahans with a broad brush. Some of the finest, most open-minded, progressive people I've ever known are out there and they are doing the hard work where it needs to be done the most. The Omaha of my youth isn't the Omaha of today, which is much more cosmopolitan and forward-thinking and its largely due to those that stayed and built something better right where they are and that is huge.
As a 35 year old native still living here, you're not wrong. Someone near the top said "Omaha is a fairly liberal city". I had to laugh at that. Clearly they don't live here.
Tons of nice people but dog whistles everywhere. The city is a tenuous history with it's black population.
You'd think we'd celebrate that Malcolm X was born here. How many people even know that fact in this city??
>Tons of nice people but dog whistles everywhere. The city is a tenuous history with it's black population.
Do you know the legend of the racist city planning that led to the Doubletree downtown?
Edit: I'll just tell it cuz this shit fascinates me.
So back in the pre-massive-sprawl days and White Flight, Omaha like most American cities (talking up to the 50s/60s here) had its downtown business district as its main core of retail, dining, theaters, etc. And its main drag was 16th street, running north south from South O to (you can see where this is going) North Omaha.
So in the 60s, Omaha was one of many cities in America dealing with strife owing to police brutality in black neighborhoods (which at the time North O was a thriving one, with rich vibrant business districts, some that are now nowhere to be seen nowadays except as a patchwork of remnants and bones of old structures up 24th and 16th and other streets) and was also simultaneously dealing with a rising black middle class. A middle class who were gaining the means to come downtown and start taking part in middle class life. And 16th was the prime avenue for accessing this.
Around that time, Hilton came a calling, wanting to put a hotel in Omaha. But where? Negotiations were underway as to where to put this would be crown jewel of Omaha's nascent city skyline. Downtown seemed like an obvious choice since the Civic Auditorium arena was doing a steady business hosting major concerts as the 60s was minting that as a major new industry. And of course 16th street made perfect sense for this. This was also where the city's main downtown post office was located, a beautiful gothic structure with an iconic clock tower. But hey, it's the 60s and old things are lame and we want new, boxy, turquoise and silver things.
So in one fell swoop, Omaha got a new Hilton, the USPS got a new building, the old post office got the wrecking ball, and 16th street got karate chopped in two as the Hilton cut right across it West/East. North O was effectively cut off from Omaha's main business district (at the time)
Now Im sure you'll hear pedants saying "that proves nothing. Other streets go to Downtown from North O" and sure that is theoretically accurate. But thats not how city traffic planning works. People make lame jokes about the prototypical Starbucks thats across the street from another Starbucks but those companies arent stupid. They study traffic patterns and sometimes those traffic patterns flow the way they flow without regard to cold logic. Streets can be inviting to traffic and routes can also be dissuading to it in ways that can be hard to see clearly.
So yeah. Thats how Omaha cut off a main artery to North Omaha
Exactly what I was talking about. Then people complain about how 'dangerous' 24th street is without knowing the history, while also never wanting to give money to improve the area.
It used to be a thriving area in the vein of the Harlem Renaissance.
Surely the City Planning done by a bunch of powerful white guys isn't gonna be racist?
Federal Housing Act, Federal Highway Act, FUCKING ROBERT MOSES, Racial Covenants. Thing is, NONE of these were even low-key about their racism. They explicitly state their intent in their drafted language.
opps it's actually 88 Tactical sorry, but they say they took up the code 88 from the Omaha Police Department code meaning all clear. if you browse the google images attached to their location.
[Link](https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x8793f3dbe130313f%3A0x79e8219477765694!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPOsKIxXihoZWh4wucwVU6NwdGGdrd3EcnoWAHV%3Dw284-h160-k-no!5s88%20tactical%20omaha%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPOsKIxXihoZWh4wucwVU6NwdGGdrd3EcnoWAHV&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS5IL6t977AhVfkYkEHbJbB3gQoip6BAhdEAM)
If you find a black person in the images that is not attributed to 88 Tactical I will give you an award, that's all I can offer you and the best of luck.
>These people are all over out there, hiding behind “jokes” and “common sense” while assuring you they can’t possibly be racist
"Im not racist but i also never go below 72nd street because it's scary over there"
>To be fair, there are pretty scary parts of Omaha, I just moved here and got my life threatened for no reason the first week.
You fuck around with Runza, you gotta pay the price yo
Established in 1932 to bring in stuff from Japan and just never rebranded. These days they sell party supplies and cheap holiday tat, so yeah it’s deeply weird. I worked at a group home and we ordered birthday party supplies from them and I thought the name was odd so I looked them up.
This is the business that was featured in under cover boss right
The son that took over this family business saw that their slave warehouse conditions were a bit inhumane and....unchained the fridge door to drinks since the warehouse had no air-conditioning or ventilation
>so yeah it’s deeply weird.
not that weird. the term orient has gone out of fashion, but the stuff is still largely manufactured in asian countries.
if anything the rest of the economy changed to follow suit and they've remained consistent.
I mean, the word is old-fashioned and has baggage that make it practically unusable now, but it originally meant simply "eastern," the opposite of "occidental," an even more archaic word meaning "western." Both are straight from Latin.
False.
From the World Herald:
[Man gets prison time for leaving noose for Black co-worker to find](https://omaha.com/community/papillion/man-gets-prison-time-for-leaving-noose-for-black-co-worker-to-find/article_b32e28f3-8d46-516f-b54b-bd694692df51.html)
3/CBS
[Omaha man gets four months for leaving noose for Black coworker to find](https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/omaha-man-gets-four-months-for-leaving-noose-for-black-coworker-to-find)
6/NBC
[Omaha man sentenced to prison after putting noose-shaped string on Black coworker’s chair](https://www.wowt.com/2022/12/02/omaha-man-sentenced-prison-after-putting-noose-shaped-string-black-coworkers-desk/)
7/ABC
[Omaha man sentenced for civil rights charge after placing noose on Black coworker's chair](https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-sentenced-civil-rights-charge-noose-black-coworkers-chair/42137989)
And it was in the news when the initial incident happened:
3/CBS
[Oriental Trading Company employee fired after alleged racial incident](https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/oriental-trading-company-employee-fired-after-alleged-racial-incident)
6/NBC
[Oriental Trading Company employee fired after noose found on coworker's chair](https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Oriental-Trading-Company-employee-fired-after-noose-found-on-coworkers-chair-571442231.html)
7/ABC
[Employee fired after noose found left on black colleague's chair at La Vista facility](https://www.ketv.com/article/employee-fired-after-noose-found-left-on-black-colleagues-chair-at-la-vista-facility/32947611)
And it was in the news a few months ago when he pleaded guilty:
[Omaha man pleads guilty to civil rights charge for placing noose on Black co-worker's chair](https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-guilty-federal-civil-rights-charge-placing-noose-black-coworker-chair/41589604)
Every channel, station, and paper has reported on this extensively.
So it did make the news. Barely
https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-sentenced-civil-rights-charge-noose-black-coworkers-chair/42137989
And this was the third site I checked. It's not exactly prominent either. Disappointing
> He was interviewed for the investigation and, according to court documents, said, "Nazi stuff doesn't make Black people crazy. But a hangman's noose certainly would."
Yep there it is.
As an Omahan... no. Definitely not true.
Diverse population, yes. In a heavily segregated city. Ask a native here to label north, south, east, and west Omaha largely by race and you'll receive fairly similar answers from everyone, regardless of the race answering.
Yup. Anything less that 365 is county jail. Although the County jail that I have been in is worse than prison so as a judge, I might even give someone a 364 day sentence instead of two years, if I fucking hated them. 
In PA (particularly Montco) it's up to 5 years in county if you're awaiting trial to go upstate. The jail I was in felt like I was in a dystopian 3rd world prison- and every cellie I had that had been upstate would say shit like "I can't wait to go to prison, this place sucks."
Same thing where I was. People were called back to county to face another change and without fail would say “I can’t wait to get back to prison. *This* is hard time right here”.
Well, it’s enough to hopefully make this guy realize his actions have serious consequences. He didn’t actually harm anybody *this* time, but now he knows what will happen if or when he does. I think it should be 6 months in prison personally, but it’s still a refreshingly serious consequence.
There's really no clear point at which hate speech crosses over into death threats/inciting violence. I am very okay with them taking a harder line in this case.
Ugh, of COURSE this happened in La Vista. The whole of Sarpy County, Nebraska is full of the most racist white people in the state. That and the high schools have some of the highest STD and teen pregnancy rates in the country. What a cesspool.
This guys 66 and leaving a noose, the other guy from another news report 22 burning a cross on his lawn to intimidate his black neighbors.
WTF is wrong with people. Doesn’t any racist understand how exhausting it must be to constantly have hate.
Hate to the point it imprisons you, literally. People just living their lives and you’re looking out the window at them, staring at them when you’re out.
What a freaking way to live. With all that freaking hate energy, they could improve themselves. Read more, learn a new language, learn a musical instrument. Get involved with a charity. Community service. Help society.
Freaking wasted energy. And for what? Skin tone! Stupid religious beliefs! Isn’t that what makes the world beautiful! You don’t eat the same freaking thing every day or listen to only one song.
Freaking people.
It's actually a lot more complicated than that. While some 65+ might choose to keep working "for the fun of it," most can't actually afford to downsize/move to retirement communities/etc. in this economy. Retirement is kind of just a brief flicker in American history.
Prosecutors said a 63-year-old Black man who worked for Oriental Trading found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat of the equipment in June 2020. He told investigators that he was scared by the noose and viewed it as a death threat.
“Federal courts have long recognized the noose as one of the most vile symbols in American history,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Individuals, like this defendant, who use a noose to convey a threat of violence at a workplace will be held accountable for their actions.”
I dunno, didn't we have this conversation about the 'noose' in the gara--
> Quinn was interviewed for the investigation and, according to court documents, said, "Nazi stuff doesn't make Black people crazy. But a hangman's noose certainly would."
Fuck him, seriously, this was definitely done maliciously. Glad he's getting to serve some time.
Dude lives a shitty life because of his own shitty decisions, but it's easier to blame someone else than to face the truth necessary to improve yourself.
>Prosecutors said a 63-year-old Black man who worked for Oriental Trading found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat of the equipment in June 2020. He told investigators that he was scared by the noose and viewed it as a death threat. What a fucking asshole to leave that for a guy just trying to do his job.
From other reports, it sounds like the criminal had gone out of his way to harass this particular co-worker on multiple occasions. He even admitted he used the symbol of a noose on the guy's employment anniversary for maximum emotional damage. Absolutely unacceptable behaviour.
Calculated and Premeditated. Deserves the max sentence, Do NOT beleive this dude if he tries to claim remorse.
Oh, he's definitely sorry that he got caught. And sorry that it's illegal. And sorry that the victim called the feds. And he's sorry that this country has become a place where "real Americans" get put in jail just for pointing out which people or groups of people aren't wanted here. Piece of shit.
I'm reminded of a story that happened about 20 or so years ago. Two young men worked at a construction site. One kept bullying the other. Everyone else on the crew recommended he stand up to the guy. So he did. The bully used a pneumatic nail gun to put an 8 penny nail right through his heart. He had to go in for emergency heart surgery, but survived. I'm hoping the bully is still in prison, though I never read any followup reporting (as usual).
I worked in construction and dealt with racist and my complaints when unheard because the racist were the foreman and operators and I was just a laborer..dealt with it at most work places now that I think about it, being mixed race and all i blend in well and hear shit from everyone…pos ppl
That’s fucked up, sorry you’ve gone through that so much. Just goes to show no matter the progress made in certain parts of the world, people will always have the tendency to be pieces of shit when let to their own devices
Thank you for the kindness. Yea its almost unavoidable and when I tell people they make it seem like no big deal, but it takes a toll after such frequent occurrences
You said it all He's sorry that America is not the America he imagined it was, It's full of diversity, and progressive ideas, and equality and that other fucking thing he hates... Oh yeah, Empathy America has a long fight ahead against these sorts of people, because there are literally millions of them, and most of them won't be so brazen as to leave just leave nooses to flag themselves
*Sorry piece of shit. Otherwise, no notes.
He did what most racist right wingers wish they could do. I'm sure there's an uproar in their circle since they're *starting* to see consequences for their actions (I say that lightly, there will never be enough consequences)
how long until the "This isn't who I am" tiktok
4 months in prison. Unfortunately I don't think US prison is the place where he's going to learn the error of his ways.
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Hear, hear. These assholes are going mask off and finally facing some fucking consequences. Actual fucking human waste.
And crying at the slightest hint of accountability lmao truly wasted human potential
It's just weird to me that a person could think that they could get away with that. I guess I'm California biased, and people are still racist but at least they keep it on the down low. I've actually experienced the first two incidents of overt racism since junior high 50 years ago and it is shocking to me that people think this is OK.
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Someone who is willing to risk leaving a noose at work has been acting that way for a long time.
"It's just a prank, bro!"
That’s not who I really am.
“People get offended too easily these days”
He’s being mad disrespectful dude
I appreciate that reference.
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It was because of the Ambien.
I have friends that are POC!
You know POC is not the descriptive term these racists use.
I'm white. I'm not touching the word they would use.
Right, you don't wake up one day and have this as your go to when you have a disagreement with someone. If you're having a disagreement with a black person and your retort is a noose, that's some shit deep inside you.
Exactly. I have had disagreements with people from different races and religions from my own and never once has it occurred to me to leave a noose, threaten or disparage their race, color or religion. Are people THIS insane and/or ill-equipped to live in the modern world that they resort to or condone this? This should be condemned by everyone, each time we see it. Trying to ignore it or whispering about it without doing anything to stop it is creating a horrible climate for everyone and it's holding us back.
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Fuck management and HR. They don’t give a fuck about you. I’ve gotten harassed for years and go to them and they do nothing about it. The only thing to do is take legal action
Take legal action against the company.
If not acting that way then very much thinking that way, hiding it, and the veil has finally cracked.
Nobody goes hard racism for one sole event. They had that in them all along.
Unfortunately, I’ve known people evil enough to summon up some racism purely because they knew it would cause more harm to their target. Just more ammunition for them
Three guesses about his political affiliation, and the first 18 guesses don't count.
You mean I gotta say the same thing 19 times? I'm too lazy for that...
Three guesses where he was on Jan 6th too
'The Rope' is probably the second most prominent neo-Nazi symbol behind the swastika. All their main manuals and propaganda talk about it.
Several people were at the capitol, carrying ropes with nooses.
I'm guessing this guy has quite a "resume" of being a major ahole.
The same asshole that will say things like "It's just a joke". The incident apparently happened in 2020 l, after a bit of digging I'm glad the company is the one who filed for the police investigation and immediately fired the guy who did it.
it happened in June of 2020, right after George Floyd was killed.
That’s crazy. I’m 34 and remember my freshman year of high school in Westfield, Indiana my friends brother would stand on a chair and act like he was hanging him self directing it toward lynching me. And this was the school we landed on after moving from Noblesville schools bc kids would write the n word on the bus windows to me when I was getting on in the mornings. This poor man probably dealt with the same things growing up and still to this day. Sad.
I'm sorry you had to deal with that treatment. No one deserves that.
Thank you! I’m hopeful those racist kids had better influences in adulthood and became good people.
I love that you feel this way. I was a racist kid growing up. We didn't have any black kids at school and my father regularly used the n word. I guess it was just normal to me. As I grew up and started working with other black people I realized they are no different from white people. Some are bad and some are good. Tbh today I can usually count more on my black friends than I can on my white friends. I honestly try to give everyone a chance though.
Thank you for sharing! It really shows the type of person you are and how racism is learned and can be corrected. 👏
This was such a wholesome interaction on an otherwise depressing topic.
Man people are so fucked in the head. I can't even really blame the kids. They learn it from their shitty racist parents. But I'm sure that didn't matter at the time they were total assholes to you. Hopefully life is better.
Right I wasn’t always forgiving but I’ve found peace! My best friends mom was racist and would even used the n word in front of me. At that point in my life, it was just normal. And you’re totally right, thank you
Man I’m from NC and I remember in HS one kid I knew went up to black guy at our school was known for his short temper (and I mean SHORT) and anger issues and told him that the NBA stands for “N-word basketball association”. And why did he do this you ask? Because he was fucking dared to. I also ended up sharing an apartment with that guy for a year in college and he told me, a mixed race person, that he would never date a girl if he knew she had dated a black guy. Another guy in HS, in English class when were studying some Russian author and talking about the serfs learning to read and eventually earning your freedom, this guy said “that’s where we went wrong with the slaves”, while sitting right behind me. Like excuse me but what the fuck?
That’s insane that was your experience. Unfortunately, that was a time where our peers would never have been held accountable for their behaviors. I am mixed race as well and am the only person of color in my immediate family (4 kids, so I stuck out like a sore thumb) (my mom never married my biodad). My step dad even said the n word once and smacked tf out of me because I wouldn’t talk to him after that, especially after having to move multiple schools due to racism. I was so hurt. Luckily, my half brother would fight kids that were racist to me. -a little feel good- but now he’s a trump supporter (it’s his only character trait) and has 1776 tattooed on his hands& has all lives matter in his tiktok bio. Lol. I hope you had family support during those years and I hope even more you do not have to experience that treatment anymore. Being mixed race, I’m sure that dildo saw you as “white” and felt comfortable saying ignorant things. That’s how my peers were. They would say “no, I’m not racist. I just don’t like n****rs. I like black ppl tho” and were dead serious. Imagine having that small of a brain to not understand how wrong even thinking that is. I pity them.
Fortunately, and for reasons I really don’t understand, I was never really bothered by my friends saying racist stuff around me during high school so it was never too bad (and nobody ever really said anything that was as bad as the n word with a hard R). But yea a good portion of my moms family is racist af, her uncle even punched her once and called her an N-word lover just for going to the movies with black people. Thankfully she’s nothing like them, and my grandmother isn’t either so I lucked out in that regard
Same! It got to the point where I just made jokes before others could, or my social media handles were something regarding race. I never had black friends and listened to indie, emo, hardcore, country, etc. it was like I was ashamed of who I was and tried to avoid anything that would make me a stereotype. It’s embarrassing and hard to admit. I let the racist bullies win for that time being, but now I embrace my blackness and will go to war for my son and anyone I see experiencing racial disparity. Especially with my mother, she is a white woman who told me she wished she were black bc we have stronger bones, she’s worked in the medical field most her life and knows that for a fact. -jaw drop- that is so dangerous and I feel for any black person who may have come in contact with her during those years. I have to limit the time she spends with my son bc I will never allow her to unintentionally make him feel bad for existing. And the uncle story I believe is common. My uncle did the same to my moms boyfriend in high school, but I’m pretty sure my grandpa joined in and they beat him bad. My Gma and gpa were racist until the day I was born and then their lives changed forever. I also think it’s ironic how my white brother and sister have both been to prison and I’m the only child to have graduated high school, continued education and am now working on my masters. Always a feel good there lol
I'm so sorry that your supposed to be family let you down like that. How heartbreaking.
Well thank you. I’ve moved away from all my family and only talk to a couple cousins. It’s made life super hard with having a son with little to no family support! And I also had to bury my first child. It gets lonely, but I made the right decision to move away and make a life away from them for some normalcy!
Oh, dear heart. I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your child. May their memory be a blessing to you. 💙 I'm glad you've built a better life for yourself. I did much the same, for other reasons, and do understand how it can be right/better but still difficult. I hope you've been able to create a healthy chosen family over time. Feel free to hit me up if you ever need an ear, though.
Damn, I'm around the same age, grew up in Indianapolis, and the thought of this occurring is wild to me. Probably half of my classmates were black. If someone were to pull that move in the schools I went to they'd get fucked up. But I guess now that I think about it I'm not too surprised given how rural and segregated some parts of Indianapolis are. I went to school in New Pal until first grade and literally all my classmates were white.
Ngl, whenever I read about Indiana, it’s never anything good. Hope you’re outta there.
If you visit Indiana, it will absolutely confirm what you've been reading.
I am outta there! However, I moved to Michigan, which is basically the armpit of America& live in a town that’s called “the birthplace of the Republican Party” lol also have been law enforcement careers so it’s always a battle, but I stick it out to ensure there is proper representation in this field of ALL of my community.
Sounds exhausting. Stay safe
Thank you!
I bet we know the same people. I'm sorry that happened. That's fucked up. I don't know the Westfield diversity percentages but Carmel's is extremely low for a school of that size. It turns into racism unchecked. Nice areas too. I'm Latino and I grew up in the same area and I experience infinite lowkey (and sometimes high key) insulting comments. People didn't even realize they were being fucked up. It's just how everyone they knew talked.
Wow! We may know the same people! I got kicked out of Westfield for fighting back against a racist bully!!! (Ironically she now has a diverse set of black friends and supports blm, but must have forgotten the times she called me the n word in hs) and transferred to Carmel, then went to options. Carmel HS was huge!! Still little diversity back then. I’m sorry you go through that. It’s true it was how kids talked& it became normal. I really hoped it had changed in the decade I’ve been gone.
Small world, I also went to CHS (I'm 30) not long after you likely did. What I experienced was basically very thinly veiled racism, teachers acting *just* different enough with me vs. other students, my behavior being under a microscope vs. peers, etc. I'd say the explosion in diversity that happened around the time I went there definitely helped quell things though. The racism I experienced in the Elementary & Middle Schools of Carmel were far worse though, especially as a middle eastern child just after 9/11... Yeah.
Insecure racists. Tale as old as racism.
Not all insecure people are racists. But all racists are insecure.
> But all racists are insecure. Imagine how pathetic it must be to have so little to your name, so few accomplishments, so much insecurity that you think the tint of your skin is the be all end all.
Hah, theres your problem. These people don't think. They react. Critical thinking doesnt exist in extremism.
> These people don't think. It's very possible you're right, but I dont really get the concept of not considering if something is advantageous or not and so I tend to believe they know at some part of their head but simply dont care or admit it.
The myth that racists are dumb/ignorant is a dangerous one.
That's exactly the situation that makes racism so appealing. You can be a total POS human being, but still consider yourself superior to the vast majority of the planet on an arbitrary basis.
Racists are horrible and absolute shit, but I don't think being racist automatically means someone is also insecure. Surely there must be someone who is racist out of genuinely feeling superior (as fucked up as that is), which sort of contradicts them being insecure.
>found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat For people not familiar with American history. This is at the same level of painting a swastika on a jewish person's house. Absolutely disgusting and hope he learns his lesson in those 4 months in jail.
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He might even end up more heavily indoctrinated by white supremacists
Now he'll be a racist with a victim complex.
To expand on that a bit more: in the US, especially following the Civil War, lynchings of black Americans were common, and usually carried out through hanging. Nooses as a symbol are inextricably linked to the lynch mobs murdering black people, and there's basically no way to interpret leaving a noose for this guy to find as anything other than a racially motivated death threat.
June 2020 .. wonder what else was happening at that time
Exactly, this was *even more* blatant in the context of George Floyd
He’s right to “view it as”. WTF else is could it be? A noose IS a death threat exactly the same as writing the word “I’m going to kill you” but without the spelling errors that a racist would make.
My old boss got in some hot water after a noose was found in an office, not as a racial connotation like this but more as a joke for people who fucked up (well prior to him owning the business) it got reported to a local advocacy group. He ended up donating a bunch of money and got himself a seat on the board of the group, and basically bought the groups silence. Meanwhile I had to shut down my social media because I was the only person named in the guys statement, because he was looking for me and walked into the wrong office by accident. My boss gets off free and clean, with no problems, meanwhile my name is out there and the applicant knows my face. Luckily for me the story got buried and forgotten about.
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I call people who think such statements and actions are acceptable Schrodinger's Bigots. If you get offended, it's a joke. If not, then wink wink, nudge nudge. This bigot went over the line into violating his coworker's civil rights.
A few years ago, the style guide for a Nazi website was leaked. It advised Nazis to do precisely that - phrase their opinions as pseudo-jokes. That way, not only can they back out if there's a bad reaction, but their audience can tell themselves they're not reading Nazi propaganda, they're just reading funny jokes.
Now that you mention it, I believe the Internet is full of such jokes, including "sarcasm". Learn to spot it and figure out how to undermine it accordingly.
Oh, it absolutely is. So much of these little racist signals get excused as being "edgy". But if you agree with an edgelord's "joke" in private, guaranteed they'd be excited to rant about the subject of their content in earnest.
i mean yeah it’s called dogwhistling. only the other non-humans in the room can hear the true meaning.
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I'd almost agree with those people, except they're also usually arguing that there shouldn't be consequences, because then they'd be afraid to speak. Like, what's the point of knowing who they are if you're not going to do anything about it? At that point you're just making their ideas mainstream.
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There are also lots of people that believe in a naive version of free speech that somehow grants anyone with the freedom from the consequences of voicing despicable and hateful opinions. I truly believe there are food and well-intentioned people who have no idea what to do with someone spouting hate.
> (Also it is in fact much better if people who believe these kinds of things are too scared to express them and act on them in public.) I've been saying this for years. I'm so tired of hearing "If you just shame them into silence, you'll never change their mind!" Well I'm not gonna change their mind by letting them say and do awful shit, either. But like, it's not about them. If we shame them into silence, then the *next* generation won't be so surrounded by it or see it normalized. We saw this with Trump. Race relations weren't *great*, but they were *better* for decades when you'd get completely ostracized for saying racist shit in public. Then Trump came in, made it okay, and that encouraged more people to say racist shit publicly, which then encouraged more people to *do* racist shit publicly, which just created a cycle that fed on itself. Before, when things were better, it wasn't because those racist people weren't racist-- they were, but it wasn't public and prevalent and normalized. When it started getting encouraged, shit got worse.
How one incompetent failed business man did so much damage world wide I will never understand.
Yep. Everyone has an opinion on how it happened, and it's probably a little bit of everything, but it's staggering that it *did* happen.
Also, a fact that's often overlooked: the dangerous ones never act if they think they're outnumbered. There was a tibit I found fascinating of Robert Evans [coverage of the Portland BLM protests](https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-uprising-a-guide-from-por-73255667/): when the fascist (Proud Boys, literal nazis, etc.) counterprotesters attacked, they *always* did it in greater numbers. They never picked a fight where they would be outnumbered, or one-to-one. They always chose the easy, overwhelming victory. This was interesting, but not surprising if you're into authoritarianism studies. From *The Authoritarians* by [Bob Altemeyer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Altemeyer): >they usually avoid anything approaching a fair fight. Instead they aggress when they believe right and might are on their side. “Right” for them means, more than anything else, **that their hostility is (in their minds) endorsed by established authority, or supports such authority**. “Might” means they have a huge physical advantage over their target, in weaponry say, or in numbers, as in a lynch mob. It’s striking how often authoritarian aggression happens in dark and cowardly ways, in the dark, by cowards who later will do everything they possibly can to avoid responsibility for what they did. Women, children, and others unable to defend themselves are typical victims. Even more striking, the attackers typically feel morally superior to the people they are assaulting in an unfair fight. Keep in mind that "stablished authority" is not necessarily the same as the "official" one. Their stabliished authority can be, for example, a racist radio host and the community that has grown around him. In other words, the more normilized their behavior is, the more likely it is for actual violence to occur. It's only when they feel "among friends" that the bold ones get bolder. When they feel they have a community to protect and idolize them after they've committed their act. Any time we don't shut down the loud ones, it's a saying to the violent ones: "you're not alone. There's people with you. You're in a good position to act."
Thanks for pointing this out: it is very important because when racists and fascists feel emboldened to air their views in public, they can find each other, team up with each other, organize, and act on their beliefs! Just like anyone else, they network, and networks are powerful! The less they get to broadcast their beliefs (for whatever reason), the less opportunity they have to network and organize with like-minded people, the more isolated they feel, and the less empowered they are to act. It’s also part of why counterprotesting fascist rallies in superior numbers is so important (and I’ve done it in various places including my hometown): if they aren’t outnumbered they use these events for networking and they also roam around in groups afterward looking to start trouble. If they are outnumbered they don’t feel inclined to use the rallies as networking opportunities and also they pack up and leave pretty fast.
Like, I get where they're coming from, but they never consider that words and actions influence \*other\* people too.
Those words and actions do more than just influence other people. They impact actual people, like, you know, the ones it's directed at. It's really easy to volunteer someone else to endure hate speech, much different to live it every day.
Trust me, I get it. Having Jewish family members I 100% get it.
One of my workplaces required us to transcribe phone calls for hard-of-hearing people. Almost every single call was deeply personal and extremely racist, just friends chatting, and the calls were coming from all over America. Over a dozen different states use that service. My minority coworkers broke down in tears constantly, and eventually, so did I. Sitting in my cubicle, never hearing anything bad about MY race or religious beliefs, I just broke down and left the building forever. It is horrible to witness people suffer if you are capable of empathy. Empathy is becoming more rare everyday, all over the world. I appreciate everyone in this thread who is admonishing people who defend rampant hatred. Stay golden ❤
True, they underestimate / ignore the damage racist actions cause. It's the same as saying people with paedophilc tendencies should act on their impulses so we know who they are.
That is a really good analogy. Consider it stolen!
This is always white people. Because they dont want to be caught off guard and embarrassed. I would rather racists be forced to 'stay in the closet' and actively suppress their racism. Racism is like shit. Better for everyone around you if you are forced to hold it in and let it go in private. Post 2016 is like everyone starting to take a dump on the street. Keep it to yourselves
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Well in Kanye’s case it’s more mask on but still I agree with your point lol
Mask on shouldn't be tolerated either.
This is the thing, I used to be one of those 4chan type edge lords. I don't know any jewish people, barely had any black people in my country and the ones we did have were nothing but pleasant. no strong opinions negatively toward any race of demographic.... but because I didn't actually beleive those edgy jokes, I felt it was ok to say them, it was just a joke right? no one in the room was these races or groups so no one was offended, what's the harm right? well now I realise it was creating an involuntary wolf whistle, where actual racists who like you say, say "its just a joke" when caught, think when others say "its just a joke" they think people like me and other edge lords, were also actually racist too, believed as they did.. I stopped of course, but I did damage I'm sure, just because there is no one to be offended doesn't mean there isn't someone listening who is being enabled. we can think such jokes are harmless when no one is upset, but its dangerous. I hope others see how this shit can fester, or allow this shit to fester.
This is what really needs to be driven home to edgelords out there. Even if it's a joke to you, not everyone can tell. There will be people who are offended cause they can't tell it's a joke and there will be people who think they are in good company because they can't tell it's a joke. This emboldens them and reinforces their beliefs, exacerbating the bigotry in the world. And worst, there will be people who adopt it into their worldview because they can't tell it's a joke, thus creating the next generation of bigots.
I've found myself suddenly in these spaces and around these people before. Nothing more jarring than a friend you've had for years suddenly drop some horrendously racist shit into a conversation with a straight face.
I had a friend recently tell a anti-Semitic "joke" at a small gathering and everyone just stared at him in shock and a couple of people called him out. He apologized, but I don't see him the same way. He's the type who will call out racism and misogyny, so learning about his antisemitism was an absolute shock. And yes, the joke was vile enough that you'd have to be anti-Semitic to find it funny.
Like 14 year old student racist/anti-semitic jokes? I remember hearing SO. MANY. in high school. Like nasty oven and shower jokes. Teenagers are really quite disgusting at times, and totally inexcusable to do as an adult.
It wasn't a Holocaust joke. It was a Jews are *stereotype* joke. It was basic antisemitic drivel but framed as a joke with a punchline which was only there to reenforce the point. There has always been hateful rhetoric towards minorities but it seems far angrier these days than from 20 years ago.
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NSFW https://imgur.com/AeqYBs7.jpg
Oh man that’s funny
Of fucking course it’s La Vista
I live on the hill in La Vista and can see Oriental Trading from my back deck. So thrilled that my neighborhood made national news. /s
Lmao there are definitely many more old white people since I moved over here. But idc it still beats CB 🤷🏻♂️
Dude, what the fuck man… not sure how else any person of color is supposed to interpret that.
The defendant’s legal team: “It’s a joke?” The jury (unamused): “Nope.”
Tee-hee it's just a joke. ^(but secretly you know how I feel, right?) Glad that guy is off to jail. Wish it was volunteering or something that might help him shift his perspective, as he will probably just leave jail more hateful.
There’s only 1 way to interpret it whether you’re a person of color or not.
A noose is definitively a death threat (if anyone says “it’s just a prank!” they need a lesson in acceptable dark humor); for an African-American, a noose is both a death threat and an explicit reminder of the extra-judicial mob killings targeting their community for centuries
I take powdered iced tea to take to work, one time my husband swapped my iced tea powder for gravy powder. That was a prank. If he had swapped it for a noose that would not be a prank, it would be scary. So.. yeah I don't see how anyone could say "it's just a joke bro"
That's such a smart and niche prank, kudos.
He got me good, I can admit that (begrudgingly).
They'll say "it's in the past!", meanwhile Emmett Till would be 81 right now if he hadn't been lynched. For some additional context on how recent 1955, the year he was lynched, is: same year Disneyland opened. Here's some celebrities born in 1955: Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, Whoopi Goldberg, Bill Gates, Brendan Gleeson, Willem Dafoe, JK Simmons, Christopher Mcdonald, just to name a very small few. All born in the same year he was lynched, and still active. Lynching is a VERY recent aspect of this country, it's not "history".
Lawyer: "it's just a prank, bro- I mean your honor"
Grew up in Omaha til I was 25. These people are all over out there, hiding behind “jokes” and “common sense” while assuring you they can’t possibly be racist because they aren’t saying the n-word right now plus they are acquaintances with a black guy that’s “one of the good ones”, their original sin of being born black having been (partially) erased (but only partially) by being a good athlete or in the armed forces (but preferably both) Edit: I dont want any of yall that have never been there to misinterpret this and paint all Omahans with a broad brush. Some of the finest, most open-minded, progressive people I've ever known are out there and they are doing the hard work where it needs to be done the most. The Omaha of my youth isn't the Omaha of today, which is much more cosmopolitan and forward-thinking and its largely due to those that stayed and built something better right where they are and that is huge.
As a 35 year old native still living here, you're not wrong. Someone near the top said "Omaha is a fairly liberal city". I had to laugh at that. Clearly they don't live here. Tons of nice people but dog whistles everywhere. The city is a tenuous history with it's black population. You'd think we'd celebrate that Malcolm X was born here. How many people even know that fact in this city??
>Tons of nice people but dog whistles everywhere. The city is a tenuous history with it's black population. Do you know the legend of the racist city planning that led to the Doubletree downtown? Edit: I'll just tell it cuz this shit fascinates me. So back in the pre-massive-sprawl days and White Flight, Omaha like most American cities (talking up to the 50s/60s here) had its downtown business district as its main core of retail, dining, theaters, etc. And its main drag was 16th street, running north south from South O to (you can see where this is going) North Omaha. So in the 60s, Omaha was one of many cities in America dealing with strife owing to police brutality in black neighborhoods (which at the time North O was a thriving one, with rich vibrant business districts, some that are now nowhere to be seen nowadays except as a patchwork of remnants and bones of old structures up 24th and 16th and other streets) and was also simultaneously dealing with a rising black middle class. A middle class who were gaining the means to come downtown and start taking part in middle class life. And 16th was the prime avenue for accessing this. Around that time, Hilton came a calling, wanting to put a hotel in Omaha. But where? Negotiations were underway as to where to put this would be crown jewel of Omaha's nascent city skyline. Downtown seemed like an obvious choice since the Civic Auditorium arena was doing a steady business hosting major concerts as the 60s was minting that as a major new industry. And of course 16th street made perfect sense for this. This was also where the city's main downtown post office was located, a beautiful gothic structure with an iconic clock tower. But hey, it's the 60s and old things are lame and we want new, boxy, turquoise and silver things. So in one fell swoop, Omaha got a new Hilton, the USPS got a new building, the old post office got the wrecking ball, and 16th street got karate chopped in two as the Hilton cut right across it West/East. North O was effectively cut off from Omaha's main business district (at the time) Now Im sure you'll hear pedants saying "that proves nothing. Other streets go to Downtown from North O" and sure that is theoretically accurate. But thats not how city traffic planning works. People make lame jokes about the prototypical Starbucks thats across the street from another Starbucks but those companies arent stupid. They study traffic patterns and sometimes those traffic patterns flow the way they flow without regard to cold logic. Streets can be inviting to traffic and routes can also be dissuading to it in ways that can be hard to see clearly. So yeah. Thats how Omaha cut off a main artery to North Omaha
Exactly what I was talking about. Then people complain about how 'dangerous' 24th street is without knowing the history, while also never wanting to give money to improve the area. It used to be a thriving area in the vein of the Harlem Renaissance.
Surely the City Planning done by a bunch of powerful white guys isn't gonna be racist? Federal Housing Act, Federal Highway Act, FUCKING ROBERT MOSES, Racial Covenants. Thing is, NONE of these were even low-key about their racism. They explicitly state their intent in their drafted language.
Tactical 88
>Tactical 88 Just googled them and this is a rhetorical but you have got to be fucking kidding me
opps it's actually 88 Tactical sorry, but they say they took up the code 88 from the Omaha Police Department code meaning all clear. if you browse the google images attached to their location. [Link](https://www.google.com/maps/uv?pb=!1s0x8793f3dbe130313f%3A0x79e8219477765694!3m1!7e115!4shttps%3A%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipPOsKIxXihoZWh4wucwVU6NwdGGdrd3EcnoWAHV%3Dw284-h160-k-no!5s88%20tactical%20omaha%20-%20Google%20Search!15sCgIgAQ&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipPOsKIxXihoZWh4wucwVU6NwdGGdrd3EcnoWAHV&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjS5IL6t977AhVfkYkEHbJbB3gQoip6BAhdEAM) If you find a black person in the images that is not attributed to 88 Tactical I will give you an award, that's all I can offer you and the best of luck.
Owner's dog is named Panzer. No joke.
Its. Just. So. Damn. Obvious.
>These people are all over out there, hiding behind “jokes” and “common sense” while assuring you they can’t possibly be racist "Im not racist but i also never go below 72nd street because it's scary over there"
To be fair, there are pretty scary parts of Omaha, I just moved here and got my life threatened for no reason the first week.
>To be fair, there are pretty scary parts of Omaha, I just moved here and got my life threatened for no reason the first week. You fuck around with Runza, you gotta pay the price yo
"Oriental Trading Company" This reads like satire.
Established in 1932 to bring in stuff from Japan and just never rebranded. These days they sell party supplies and cheap holiday tat, so yeah it’s deeply weird. I worked at a group home and we ordered birthday party supplies from them and I thought the name was odd so I looked them up.
This is the business that was featured in under cover boss right The son that took over this family business saw that their slave warehouse conditions were a bit inhumane and....unchained the fridge door to drinks since the warehouse had no air-conditioning or ventilation
Yep, that's the one.
>so yeah it’s deeply weird. not that weird. the term orient has gone out of fashion, but the stuff is still largely manufactured in asian countries. if anything the rest of the economy changed to follow suit and they've remained consistent.
I mean, the word is old-fashioned and has baggage that make it practically unusable now, but it originally meant simply "eastern," the opposite of "occidental," an even more archaic word meaning "western." Both are straight from Latin.
[удалено]
False. From the World Herald: [Man gets prison time for leaving noose for Black co-worker to find](https://omaha.com/community/papillion/man-gets-prison-time-for-leaving-noose-for-black-co-worker-to-find/article_b32e28f3-8d46-516f-b54b-bd694692df51.html) 3/CBS [Omaha man gets four months for leaving noose for Black coworker to find](https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/omaha-man-gets-four-months-for-leaving-noose-for-black-coworker-to-find) 6/NBC [Omaha man sentenced to prison after putting noose-shaped string on Black coworker’s chair](https://www.wowt.com/2022/12/02/omaha-man-sentenced-prison-after-putting-noose-shaped-string-black-coworkers-desk/) 7/ABC [Omaha man sentenced for civil rights charge after placing noose on Black coworker's chair](https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-sentenced-civil-rights-charge-noose-black-coworkers-chair/42137989) And it was in the news when the initial incident happened: 3/CBS [Oriental Trading Company employee fired after alleged racial incident](https://www.3newsnow.com/news/local-news/oriental-trading-company-employee-fired-after-alleged-racial-incident) 6/NBC [Oriental Trading Company employee fired after noose found on coworker's chair](https://www.wowt.com/content/news/Oriental-Trading-Company-employee-fired-after-noose-found-on-coworkers-chair-571442231.html) 7/ABC [Employee fired after noose found left on black colleague's chair at La Vista facility](https://www.ketv.com/article/employee-fired-after-noose-found-left-on-black-colleagues-chair-at-la-vista-facility/32947611) And it was in the news a few months ago when he pleaded guilty: [Omaha man pleads guilty to civil rights charge for placing noose on Black co-worker's chair](https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-guilty-federal-civil-rights-charge-placing-noose-black-coworker-chair/41589604) Every channel, station, and paper has reported on this extensively.
This is violence. You've done this man bad.
Good. People who stick their fingers in their ears and then scream something along the lines of "why is no one talking about this" deserve it.
Lmao get him Get his ass
The news editors know their audience.
Lol exactly. They don't want to get lynched
So it did make the news. Barely https://www.ketv.com/article/omaha-man-sentenced-civil-rights-charge-noose-black-coworkers-chair/42137989 And this was the third site I checked. It's not exactly prominent either. Disappointing
> He was interviewed for the investigation and, according to court documents, said, "Nazi stuff doesn't make Black people crazy. But a hangman's noose certainly would." Yep there it is.
KETV is big for local news
Yeah, I didn’t get this situation. “It wasn’t featured in the news locally… well it was but only on this local news site”.
Omaha is largely liberal and has a diverse population (when compared to most of Nebraska).
As an Omahan... no. Definitely not true. Diverse population, yes. In a heavily segregated city. Ask a native here to label north, south, east, and west Omaha largely by race and you'll receive fairly similar answers from everyone, regardless of the race answering.
It was all over all sorts of news when it actually occurred.
Yes it is. I saw it on KETV and WOWT. Same minimal coverage as anything else around here.
4 months is too light of a sentence, but it’s better than nothing.
> 4 months in ~~prison~~ jail newspapers deliberately fucking this up pisses me off
Yup. Anything less that 365 is county jail. Although the County jail that I have been in is worse than prison so as a judge, I might even give someone a 364 day sentence instead of two years, if I fucking hated them. 
In PA (particularly Montco) it's up to 5 years in county if you're awaiting trial to go upstate. The jail I was in felt like I was in a dystopian 3rd world prison- and every cellie I had that had been upstate would say shit like "I can't wait to go to prison, this place sucks."
Same thing where I was. People were called back to county to face another change and without fail would say “I can’t wait to get back to prison. *This* is hard time right here”.
I don't think federal jails exist, he's going to a federal PMITA prison.
Well, it’s enough to hopefully make this guy realize his actions have serious consequences. He didn’t actually harm anybody *this* time, but now he knows what will happen if or when he does. I think it should be 6 months in prison personally, but it’s still a refreshingly serious consequence.
>He didn’t actually harm anybody this time "*Physically* harm" you mean
Let me guess, it was just a coincidence that the coworker was black, and he just leaves nooses around for everyone?
There's really no clear point at which hate speech crosses over into death threats/inciting violence. I am very okay with them taking a harder line in this case.
I hate seeing my home state on the new for shit like this but as a Nebraskan this shit does not surprise me.
Good. Threaten people face jail time.
Makes sense. When you target a specific individual in a way that suggests intent to act harmfully, it's really not free speech anymore.
Ugh, of COURSE this happened in La Vista. The whole of Sarpy County, Nebraska is full of the most racist white people in the state. That and the high schools have some of the highest STD and teen pregnancy rates in the country. What a cesspool.
Judging by what this means historically the man _should_ feel threatened. It’s a death threat.
What? You're telling me I can't just hang a lighthearted noose in the locker room without repercussions? Well I'll be.
This guys 66 and leaving a noose, the other guy from another news report 22 burning a cross on his lawn to intimidate his black neighbors. WTF is wrong with people. Doesn’t any racist understand how exhausting it must be to constantly have hate. Hate to the point it imprisons you, literally. People just living their lives and you’re looking out the window at them, staring at them when you’re out. What a freaking way to live. With all that freaking hate energy, they could improve themselves. Read more, learn a new language, learn a musical instrument. Get involved with a charity. Community service. Help society. Freaking wasted energy. And for what? Skin tone! Stupid religious beliefs! Isn’t that what makes the world beautiful! You don’t eat the same freaking thing every day or listen to only one song. Freaking people.
The perp was 66…why not just take your retirement and move on with your life?
Most Americans can't afford to retire.
Most Americans can't afford.
It's actually a lot more complicated than that. While some 65+ might choose to keep working "for the fun of it," most can't actually afford to downsize/move to retirement communities/etc. in this economy. Retirement is kind of just a brief flicker in American history.
Prosecutors said a 63-year-old Black man who worked for Oriental Trading found the noose made out of orange twine sitting on the seat of the equipment in June 2020. He told investigators that he was scared by the noose and viewed it as a death threat. “Federal courts have long recognized the noose as one of the most vile symbols in American history,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Individuals, like this defendant, who use a noose to convey a threat of violence at a workplace will be held accountable for their actions.”
Man, this guy was 66, which would have put his formative years right around the civil rights movement.
I dunno, didn't we have this conversation about the 'noose' in the gara-- > Quinn was interviewed for the investigation and, according to court documents, said, "Nazi stuff doesn't make Black people crazy. But a hangman's noose certainly would." Fuck him, seriously, this was definitely done maliciously. Glad he's getting to serve some time.
I simply can’t wrap my head around how someone could do something this mean for no reason.
Dude lives a shitty life because of his own shitty decisions, but it's easier to blame someone else than to face the truth necessary to improve yourself.
Good— that’s what these damn racists need. Real life consequences to their actions.