In light of the events in Jena, LA, this picture obviously speaks a thousand words. Lippmann says that "pictures are the surest way of conveying an idea," and I think that the nooses that hung from the now famous tree where a black student dared to sit conveyed exactly what those who placed them there wanted them to: pure hate. This image doesn't say "hey, I don't agree with what you think," or "let's just agree to disagree," this image says "I hate you now, I have always hated you, and I always will."

Lippmann also says that we don't fully make an idea our own until we identify with the image. This could not be more true in this case. A noose (especially one hanging from a tree) is something that I can only assume most African Americans in the South identify with. It would be different, I think, if the image was a gun, knife, or really any other way of killing someone.

Whoever put the nooses in the tree that day knew two things: (1) this is a symbol of racism, hate, and murder, and (2) this symbol will strike the very core of those it is intended for.