Call it “Jejune Journalism,” reporting which, when you first hear it,
is very alarming — indeed, scary — but, upon close examination, is
actually meager, scanty, barren, unsatisfying to the mind. A case in
point: a recent story on the “CBS Evening News” about blacks, nooses,
the work place and lynching.
In a teaser prior to this report, we see a black man holding a rope
in the shape of a big noose. A disembodied voice tells us, ominously:
“And, coming up next, a symbol of racial hatred making a come-back in
the American work place.”
A “come-back?” Yikes! You mean, we once had this problem, it died
down and now it’s coming back? Well, yes, that’s what I think most
folks would think this means. But, this is not true, as we shall see.
In any event, this piece opens with anchorman Bob Schieffer telling
us that a construction contractor at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport is
investigating “a disturbing discovery” by two African-American
inspectors: a noose hanging from a pipe. Says Schieffer, “It is just
the latest example of a growing form of harassment in the work place.”
Cut to a black man, a welder, construction worker Tyrone Neal, who
says, “This is the noose.” Reporter Jim Axelrod says, “Tyrone Neal
thought those days were history.”
Neal, brandishing the noose, says, “It works just fine. You hold it,
you pull it.” He says that when he got to his welding station, “above
my name was a noose and it shook me up so bad, I got very angry. I was
trembling. I actually had tears come to my eyes, because I could not
believe what was happening.”
Cut to Ida Castro, head of the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment
Commission, who says, “We have cases from border to border, coast to
coast at this point.” Reporter Axelrod adds, “It’s a familiar story for
Ida Castro. … Her lawyers have nine other harassment cases pending
right now involving nooses in work places from Miami to San Francisco.”
Castro says, “We’ve seen this come up in white collar, blue collar, in
all kinds of settings.”
OK. Now, for those who are not already sufficiently alarmed, we see
James Allen, a “photo collector,” who tells us, “So, it’s very difficult
to imagine that there’s anyone in America that isn’t aware of the
horrific message that a noose sends.” To drive home his point, Allen —
who we are told has collected “dozens of pictures and postcards of
lynchings” — shows us some of these hideous photos. He says 5,000
lynchings of blacks have been documented between 1880 and 1930.
Reporter Axelrod, pouring verbal gasoline on this particular fire,
tells us that during this 50-year period, “Many more blacks were
arrested, tried and hanged within a week for crimes they never
committed. To this day, just seeing a noose snaps many
African-Americans back to a time of terror.”
James Allen tells us, preposterously, “The noose, really, is almost
an American emblem. It’s … the American swastika.”
Reporter Axelrod tells us that James Neal “turned to God, and a
lawyer.” His boss called the noose “a practical joke.” Neal sued and
settled for $93,000.
Neal: “There’s no practical joke in this. No practical joke. This
is a sign of death.”
Axelrod concludes, “And a powerful reminder: Just because it’s
history, doesn’t mean it’s all in the past.”
Not mentioned in this “CBS Evening News” report, EEOC head Ida Castro
covered these “noose incidents” in a speech before the 91st Annual
Convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People. She said, “Since the late 1990s, EEOC has witnessed a
disturbing national trend of increased racial harassment cases involving
hangman’s nooses in the work place. Such instances of egregious
discrimination have resulted in the Commission conducting more
investigations and filing more lawsuits. These cases … are occurring
from coast to coast and border to border.”
OK. So, what are the facts here? Is this
blacks-and-nooses-in-the-workplace problem really “making a come-back?”
Is this “a growing form of harassment?” Is there “a disturbing national
trend” here? Has the noose become, “almost,” an American emblem, “the
American swastika?”
The answer is: No.
A spokesman for the EEOC tells me the Commission has had a total of
20 such allegations to date and the first one was not until three years
ago. Thus, prior to three years ago, the EEOC received no such
allegations. This is a “come-back,” harassment that is “growing,” a
“disturbing national trend?” No way. The “American swastika” charges I
ignore because it is ludicrous on its face and deserves no serious
reply.
Furthermore, there are 541,918 employers in America, according to the
U.S. Census Bureau. This is for 1997, the most recent year for which
such data is available. Thus, 20 cases — assuming all of them are
valid, which all of them probably are not — is .0000369 percent of all
the work places in America!
CBS News should be ashamed for running such inflammatory nonsense.
