Friday, November 16, 2007

Editor fired for posting noose

A student editor at a Minneapolis college newspaper who used a hanging noose as a threat to motivate writers to meet their deadlines has been fired and the multiracial campus is embroiled in a debate about racial sensitivity.

In October, Gabriel Keith, an assistant editor at the City College News at Minneapolis Community & Technical College, made a drawstring from a hooded sweatshirt into a noose and hung it from the newsroom ceiling with a note about making deadlines, according to reports by Uwire, the City College News, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Keith told the Minneapolis Star Tribune he didn't understand the racial implications of the noose, which was commonly used in the lynchings of African Americans in the South.

School investigators concluded that the incident was not racially motivated, but it angered many on the racially diverse campus, where about 30 percent of the nearly 12,000 students are African American. On Thursday more than 150 students and faculty members gathered for a discussion about race, according to an Associated Press report.

I have not been able to find any kind of letter from the editor or editorial about the incident on the City College News Web site explaining the story and the decision to fire Keith. It seems like one would be in order.

If you know more about the incident and want to share information please post a comment.

1 comment:

Alex Parker said...

It's almost unbelievable that a 26-year-old journalism student would claim ignorance about what a noose represents. Not only is that a staple of American history classes, but it's been all over the news lately. However, he should have been reprimanded, not fired. It was a pretty dumb thing to do.