In what could be dubbed an “intersectional conundrum,” a pair of climate change activists had the University of Wisconsin campus cops called on them, as well as the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement, and Division of Student Life, after someone reported they had nooses around their necks.
According to The Badger Herald, the protesters were emulating a European climate protest in which participants “stood on melting ice blocks with nooses around their necks.”
It is unclear if the demonstrators were students.
Since nooses, especially around college campuses, are considered “a hateful symbol, with deep impacts to […] students, faculty, staff and community” as UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a statement, the duo swiftly offered apologies, noting they were “ashamed.”
“We are really passionate about confronting global climate change and our protest was intended make everyone aware of the harm it is causing,” the protesters said according to the Wisconsin State Journal. “We should have considered that nooses have a very different history and meaning in the United States.”
Their statement continued: “We would like the people we hurt to know that while we can’t truly understand the emotions you are feeling, we realize and are ashamed of the harm we have caused. Again, we are sorry and want you to know we are learning from this.”
Increasing the intersectionality to the Nth degree, the activists indicated they would undergo “restorative justice” to help “repair the harm they caused.”
Back in the fall of 2016, UW revoked a few football fans’ season tickets after they participated in a political stunt involving a noose: A trio donned masks of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama with the latter two being led around by the former via the noose.
Weird how the First Amendment didn’t seem to be of much concern in that incident (given its overt political nature) but was when a UW student created, and then sold, hoodies with the statement “All White People Are Racist” on them. That was just “a private activity unrelated to [his] status as student.”
Read the Badger Herald and Wisconsin State Journal articles.
MORE: Witnesses say Stanford University noose likely used ‘to hang ornaments’
MORE: ‘Noose’ at U. Michigan hospital was a fishing knot
IMAGE: R DOT Badowski / Shutterstock.com
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