What if it had been tarring and feathering?

The incidents at Jena present a lot of learning opportunities. The noose “lesson” taught at Grambling not one of them. It wasn’t appropriate for the age group or for any age group. It is never appropriate for anyone to put another’s head in a noose to teach a lesson, unless it is for a legal execution.

My wife, when shown the photo of the little girl being held up in the noose, said, “What would they have done if Jena had been about tarring and feathering.”

To those that say putting a noose in a tree was a harmless prank, it wasn’t. It was purposely inflammatory in the same way that putting a Swastika on synagogue or burning an American flag at ground zero in New York City would be.

The first lesson is for adults to act be the adults and set an example of how to use wisdom and common sense rather than childishly inflaming the situation with inappropriate words and actions.