2 Accused of Hanging Obama Effigy on Ky. Campus
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Roger Alford, AP, Oct. 30, 2008
A University of Kentucky student and another man were arrested Thursday, accused of hanging a life-sized likeness of Barack Obama from a tree on the campus.
The incident was one of several in recent weeks involving effigies of the presidential candidates or their running mates. No charges have been filed in four other cases that have made national headlines.
UK Interim Police Chief Joe Monroe said the men “expressed remorse for a stunt that had gotten out of hand.”
Arrested were Joe Fischer, 22, a UK student, and Hunter Bush, 21, both of Lexington. Both were being held at Fayette County Detention Center on charges of disorderly conduct related to the hanging of the effigy. They were also charged with burglary and theft at a fraternity house where police said the materials came from.
Lt. Tina Strange, a deputy jailer at the detention center, did not know who the men’s attorneys were. She said they were each being held on $7,600 bond.
Monroe said the two men told detectives they decided to hang the effigy after seeing media reports about a Sarah Palin effigy in California.
Witnesses who saw the effigy Wednesday said it was life-sized with an Obama Halloween mask, a suit jacket and sweat pants. It was found hanging from a tree with a noose around its neck.
UK President Lee Todd said the effigy violates the university’s code of ethics, and Fischer faces punishment that could include expulsion.
“As outrageous and offensive an act as the effigy was, I truly believe it has mobilized our campus, the community and the state in an effort to battle racism,” Todd said Thursday.
{snip}
(Posted on October 31, 2008)
Comments
No white juror should vote to convict any white of such obviously racist political charges.
Posted by PhilipL at 6:30 PM on October 31
This isn’t a case of “racism” as this ignorant president of UK thinks. What it was, was a couple of guys doing it to point out the hypocrisy and double standards in this country when it comes to things like this. Their point proved to be correct.
Posted by RHG at 6:48 PM on October 31
Personally I have no problem with effigies at all. I enjoy the street-theater aspect of it.
Our election day corresponds with Guy Fawkes day in the UK. We could use more of that here; create & decorate a dummy, then do various things to it. It’s folk theater; it’s theraputic. We’d all be healthier with a bit of acting out.
Posted by JokingButNot at 8:19 PM on October 31
The hanging of effigies is a TIME-HONORED custom in America!
It’s time to take back this custom; POLITICAL SPEECH must be defended now and always!!!!
Posted by at 9:33 PM on October 31
When Africans do something, it’s either a matter of racial pride, democracy, or something lonnnnng due them.
When Whites do something, it’s hate, bias, or vestiges from slavery.
Posted by Annoyed In Illinois at 9:39 PM on October 31
“Lt. Tina Strange, a deputy jailer at the detention center, did not know who the men’s attorneys were. She said they were each being held on $7,600 bond”
This is utterly ridiculous, that two men were arrested and held on 7,600 dollars bond. If it had been a Sarah Palin or McCain effigy, NOTHING would have been done.
Posted by at 9:55 PM on October 31
The impression I get from reading this is these two young men (maybe not the brightest guys in the world) were testing the double standard, such as what has been discussed on AmRen over the last couple of days re ‘what if, this was Obama intead of Palin’ and ‘I wonder what would happen’?
It looks like the State of Kentucky is being mobilized against racism. And these two fellows if they are charged or expelled are going to have a black mark (no pun of course) on their records for life being painted with the racism brush not exactly fair.
It goes to show theres not much room for discussion when you mount an effigy of a Kenyan/American being lynched.
And re the campus etc being mobilized, it seems the bleeding hearts can organise a rally or candlelight vigil very quickly.
————————————————————————————————-
From….
http://news.uky.edu/news/display_article.php?artid=4108
“I also want to thank the nearly 700 participants in Wednesday night’s campus forum. This truly gave our campus and our city leaders an opportunity to share their feelings and to unify our efforts to encourage diversity and respect for each other.”
————————————————————————————————-
You’d have to be a brave soul to stand up in that room of 700 and defend the right to free speech and equality in terms of deplicting political satire. And try to present it as an unracial act, but just political. But I guess brown skin and lynching is a big no, no because of the way history has been taught.
It looks like the left is always just waiting for the opportunitity for fight. And teach whomever is stupid or brave enough to stand against them, that they will pay.
And the double standards stand, no arguement!
So this event will equate to more votes and sympathy for Obama who has had nothing but a golden ride in life and this election campaign, and ironically two young white guys will get lynched(figuratively).
And when you depict lynching Palin in Cali you get a naughty, naughty take it down please.
Because it is political not racial(sigh).
No wonder no one wants to talk about race, the ‘deck is stacked’.
Posted by Gen X in Oz at 10:37 PM on October 31
This says it all:
>>>The incident was one of several in recent weeks involving effigies of the presidential candidates or their running mates. No charges have been filed in four other cases that have made national headlines.
Posted by Sarge at 10:56 PM on October 31
“If it had been a Sarah Palin or McCain effigy, NOTHING would have been done.”
I wouldn’t call a celebration on campus ‘nothing’.
Posted by at 12:20 AM on November 1
The kids weren’t too bright. Here’s their mistake. They should have hung all four candidates in effigy, or at least three. Leave Palin out.
Posted by at 12:26 AM on November 1
These guys definitely should face whatever disciplinary punishment the school dishes out. They certainly didn’t have the right to place this effigy on school property. As far as the legal charges go, they’re being charged with disorderly conduct, burglary, and theft. I’m no so sure the D.C. charge should stand, since the lynching may have been done in a very orderly fashion, but if they stole anything they should be punished accordingly. I agree that this case kind of eludes to a double standard, but there are still stark differences between this case and the Palin Effigy in California. The people in the Palin incident were on private property, and as far as I know nothing was stolen. That is clearly an example of free speech. If we’re looking for a real example of a double standard, we only have to look back a year or two. There was an incident where a family had a lynched man as part of their Halloween decorations. The dummy was black (no pun intended), but he wasn’t a depiction of any real person, and the home owners denied that it was in any way racially motivated. They said it was just part of the scene. Al Sharpton and his legions descended on this families front lawn. I remember watching them protest on the news. They protested this families home in a quiet neighborhood. That is a double standard. There was no sign of Al Sharpton for this Palin Effigy. The problem lies with us. As white people, we can’t expect Blacks to get outraged on our behalf, even if some of our races’ dumber members do that for them. Why were there no White People protesting the Palin Effigy?
Posted by Winston Smith at 12:26 AM on November 1
Sounds just like Communist China doesn’t it?
Posted by Jack Meaugh at 1:32 AM on November 1
UK was ripe for this. There was already a lot of conniptions going on over a cartoon publish in the student newspaper (The Kernel) in early October. The Prez. talked like he was going to march the editorial staff off to diversity sensitivity boot camp.
Posted by Flaxen-headed Strumpet at 4:17 AM on November 1
“disorderly conduct”
The charge used by the police when no law was broken but they still want to arrest someone.
Posted by at 6:28 AM on November 1
Once again… America’s Double Standard at its best!
So it’s okay, just a piece of “art” and not a hate crime to hang an effigy of Sarah Palin; but it’s an “outrageous and offensive act of racism” to hang an effigy of Barak Obama… Yes. We all know that blacks were hung from trees in our past, but whites were also hung from trees; so that it NO excuse!
Hanging an effigy of a white woman is just as bad as hanging an effigy of a black man, and I for one am sick and tired of the one-way street in this country!
I hope that many will come out to support these two guys! After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander!
Posted by Jackers at 9:19 AM on November 1
Any attorneys on here know why so called Hate Crime Laws aren’t challenged on equal protection grounds? It seems to me that Hate Crime Laws make some people more equal than others.
Posted by at 12:18 PM on November 1
The tradition of someone being “hung in effigy” predates America, and was always considered a harmless way of showing a strong disapproval of a person. Now it’s a crime, but only if the effigy is of a black person.
I don’t even know where to start in pointing out the absurdity of the situation.
Posted by Cliff Yablonski at 1:39 PM on November 1
Two words for our readers in Kentucky:
“Jury nullification.”
Posted by Wild Eyed Charlie at 3:11 PM on November 1
Exactly. I too am sick and tired of the racist double standard in which one cannot criticize a prominant black without being accuse of racism, while Whites, especially White men, are being bashed and torn to pieces by a libbie/commie/racist press daily. Why don’t they also address the rapes/sexual violence against White women by black/mulatto men. The hanging of Sara Palin’s effigy is the tip of the iceberg.
When will the madness ever end?
Renee
Posted by renee at 7:32 PM on November 1
I seem to remember last week a Palin effigie was hung in California. That was determined not to be a crime. White people need to start banding together for our rights as the (expletive deleted) have done have. They have turned our cities into murder zones while they wantonly kill each other like it’s their job. We have lowered our minimum job qualifications becase of AA. We are forced to adhere to hiring quotas which results in a total fubar situation in business. Now our schools are in shambles and in such bad shape they hire armed guards to patrol the halls to keep the bags from killing each other or the teachers. The have milked the “babys for bucks” welfare scheme until it is almost dry. Enough said, the readers here know what I mean.
Posted by at 8:54 PM on November 1
I thought burning crooks in effigy was a time-honored tradition. What gives? Oh, right—the racial symbolism.
Let’s just make effigies of our pet scalawags and then behead them. No, the Dhimmis in the UK and America might get upset on the Muslims’ behalf.
Is a return to stoning in effigy acceptable? What about paper cuts or a mild bruising?
Posted by Michael Nash at 9:13 PM on November 1
““As outrageous and offensive an act as the effigy was, I truly believe it has mobilized our campus, the community and the state in an effort to battle racism,” Todd said Thursday.”
Well, if it’s done all that you all must be a bunch of naive, gullible fools who aren’t bright enough to know that 99% of the very few black lynchings that occurred years ago was in reprisal for black on white murders and rapes, with torture involved in some cases.
None of you deserve to have anything. Everything you own should be taken away and given to a black, including your place in class after you’re all expelled.
Posted by q at 9:52 PM on November 1
EQUAL APPLICATION OF THE LAW? WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL? Hope they have a lot of pictures of palin (kind of like her name) being hung. Barack said he is a unifier, well he should be speaking up about this double standard himself. Why can,t a white group get a team of lawyers together to defend all this white injustice. Its terrible but its like waking up in hell everyday and reading about some new injustice against whites. Divide and conquer is what has been done to white people and it a never ending story. BLEAHH!!!!!
Posted by at 10:49 PM on November 1
The law is NOT applied equal, this development is glaring and Whites see it for what it is, but say nothing. It’s time to begin to speak out, write the newspapers, blogs, be vocal of injustice against white people. Blacks, Gays, and other radical terror agitators get passes on obnoxious hateful inciteful behavior against good white decent Christian citizens beause they won’t stand up for themselves. These NON White NON Christian groups have easily promoted and are worthy of being hated. They can’t get along with their neighors and agitate and give the finger to agitate and get news coverage so they can whine and run for the ACLU, or ADL. Wonder why they are hated???
Posted by JP at 10:49 PM on November 1
What if you tied an Obama effigy to a cross? After all he is the new Messiah.
“I Will Follow Him”: Obama As My Personal Jesus
Posted by Southern Hoosier at 6:00 AM on November 2
Look to what has happened to Zimbabwe (former Rhodesia) and S. Aftica as the model of what is happening to America today. Through no paticular ability of their own blacks have assumed total power in these two countries. Now these countries are trashed under black leadership which was brought about by short sighted & uninformed white liberals. You have to understand the black mindset of tribalism, lawlessness & sheer brutality in leiu of intelligent foresight has not changed in thousands of years no matter where they live geographically today. A true picture of this is demonstrated in the terrible crimes they do even to each other even here in America. Very many of these crimes go unreported because blacks look at crime in a very different light that non-blacks. I feel white America will finally awaken as the economy further weakens and black crime becomes more severe and abundant.
Posted by at 9:36 AM on November 2
Sounds like Obama wants to start a version of the Tonton Macoute in the U.S.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s
Posted by Al 256 at 8:15 PM on November 2
Creedence Clearwater Revival had a political protest song called “Effigy” in the early 70s. Nobody thought the message of the song was wrong or illegal or dangerous. We are no longer a free people.
Posted by at 12:20 PM on November 3
“I seem to remember last week a Palin effigie was hung in California.”
Palin? They’ve been doing this kind of symbolic protest for years especially towards the far right. I’m not sure comedians on television would have a job left if they banned this sort of approach and attitude.
Not anymore though. I guess Obama is change. African politicians don’t bother with stunts like this one. They only play for real.
Posted by at 11:24 PM on November 3