When Is A Noose, Not A Noose?

Well it would seem that after reading this story that a noose ain't a noose when it's a lasso. Folks in Jena, Louisiana, (read Black folk) and throughout this country have had it all wrong. Here we are thinking that those students were making a racially defamatory statement when all along they were playing cowboy.

An investigation by school officials, police, and an FBI agent revealed the true motivation behind the placing of two nooses in the tree the day after the assembly. According to the expulsion committee, the crudely constructed nooses were not aimed at black students. Instead, they were understood to be a prank by three white students aimed at their fellow white friends, members of the school rodeo team. (The students apparently got the idea from watching episodes of "Lonesome Dove.")

This is crazy and so very insulting! When will this madness be called out for what it is... by everyone Black, White, Asian, etc? I'm wondering now, is this a result of some Black folk saying it's okay to use the n-word because it's seen as a term of affection? So now they can say we didn't know nooses were bad and offensive, we just thought they were used for catching cattle. And what about Isiah saying it's okay for Black men to call Black women b*tches? It's got me wondering how many of these perceptions and actions are by-products and the results of some of our own ignorance? If you gain weight from eating poorly, what the hell is gonna happen when a community thinks of themselves so poorly for so long?