Fresno police chief holding noose not 'a racial reference,' city says

[Newsjock]

Source: Fresno Bee

A photograph of Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer holding a noose was not "a racial reference" but was taken in the 1980s when Dyer was a sergeant in the Internal Affairs unit and had a reputation for having "strong disciplinary recommendations," the City Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

A copy of the photograph was published Tuesday in The Bee as part of a story about black officers charging Dyer and the Fresno Police Department of race discrimination. A noose is widely recognized as a racist symbol, recalling images of racially motivated lynchings.

Before the story was published, The Bee asked Dyer about the photograph, which first was published in the Fresno Police Annual in 2001. He declined to explain it.

Read more: http://www.fresnobee.com/2010/09/07/2069576/city-attorney-explains-photo-of.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. That a noose has racist conitations is fairly recent and far from universally accepted

[ProgressiveEconomist]

2. IMO you are expressing a belief that was specifically debunked by a well-publicized

photography exhibit last year, displaying A CENTURY'S WORTH of widely-circulated photos and postcards of African-Americans being lynched by enthusiastic and festive lawless crowds of smiling Caucasians.

Why any law enforcement official would dream of having himself photograhed holding a noose escapes me, as does why anyone would venture to defend such an official.

From http://www.nurfc.org/freedom-forum/index.php/2009/10/sanctuary-lynching-photography-america-opens-january-19/

"Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America

Posted on October 19th, 2009 by Jamie Brandt

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and its Senior Exhibition Partners, including BRIDGES for a Just Community, the Ohio Chapter of the NAACP, and the Urban League of Cincinnati, announced today a collaborative partnership to present an exhibition on the history of lynching in America from the 1870s to the 1960s.

The exhibition, entitled Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America, will be on display from January 19 through May 31, 2010 in the Freedom Center's Jack H. Skirball Changing Exhibit Gallery. A Related educational materials and programs will be available online at http://www.freedomcenter.org/without-sanctuary (and at http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D_8ZGgVAGS7M ) ....

Without Sanctuary was previously shown to large crowds in New York City, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Chicago, Jackson MS and Atlanta.

The exhibition's centerpiece is a collection of photographs, postcards and memorabilia that were taken at various lynching events in the United States in the early decades of the 20 th Century. These images, many of which were made into postcards and sent through the mail, often depicted crowds of onlookers who appear to be celebrating the brutal spectacle. Although the killings were not confined to a period, place, or race, an estimated 5,000 African-Americans died by lynching between 1882 and 1968.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. As someone who has had ancestors lynched, you are only looking at the American south

[gratuitous]

5. I'd be interested in your definition of "fairly recent"

Because nooses have had a racist connotation to me for as long as I can remember, and that's back to the 1960s, 20 years before the Fresno nincompoop posed for his photo. Now, in comparison to how long a cross has been associated with Christians, I suppose 40 years would be considered fairly recent.

But I would say that any racist attachment to Mr. Dyer wouldn't have accrued simply due to the noose photo. Is there something else in his career that tends to make the photo a confirmation rather than a jumping-off point for suspicion?

[ProgressiveEconomist]

3. "Noose a symbol of terror, not a joke" By Michael Stetz, UNION-TRIBUNE

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 ...

Nooses are regularly left as icons of intimidation, said Jonathan Markovitz, a UCSD graduate and author of the book, 'Legacies of Lynching: Racial Violence and Memory.' 'They are the single most vivid symbol of racial terrorism and oppression, as they not only invoke but celebrate the power of the mob.'

Lynching was widespread, Markovitz said. Between 1880 and 1930, as many as 5,000 black men were lynched in the South. The reasons? How about for running a successful grocery store? How about for not crossing a street to make way when a white woman went by?

This isn't ancient history, mind you. Lynchings continue, on a much smaller scale. In 1998 in Jasper, Texas, James Byrd Jr. was chained to the back of a pickup truck and dragged along rural roads. He was decapitated. ..."

[ProgressiveEconomist]

4. Kick!