Nooses in the News - Parking Suns

About a week ago, I wrote a post about my reaction to seeing a picture of a noose as part of a cognitive test for a longitudinal study of how Parkinson’s develops in a person over the years. Click here to read that post. The picture of the noose was part of a series of objects I had to identify by name; all the other pictures were bland and inoffensive (bird, house, chair…) – at least to me.

It turns out I’m not the only one who finds depictions of nooses frightening and abhorrent. This week, the Burberry fashion house had a runway model wear a hoodie with an attached noose during its London Fashion Week show. One of the other models, Liz Kennedy, was appalled by this, and expressed her outrage in the following Instagram post:

Suicide is not fashion. It is not glamorous nor edgy and since this show is dedicated to the youth expressing their voice, here I go. Riccardo Tisci and everyone at Burberry it is beyond me how you could let a look resembling a noose hanging from a neck out on the runway. How could anyone overlook this and think it would be okay to do this especially in a line dedicated to young girls and youth. The impressionable youth. Not to mention the rising suicide rates world wide. Let’s not forget about the horrifying history of lynching either. There are hundreds of ways to tie a rope and they chose to tie it like a noose completely ignoring the fact that it was hanging around a neck. A massive brand like Burberry who is typically considered commercial and classy should not have overlooked such an obvious resemblance. I left my fitting extremely triggered after seeing this look (even though I did not wear it myself). Feeling as though I was right back where I was when I was going through an experience with suicide in my family. Also to add in they briefly hung one from the ceiling (trying to figure out the knot) and were laughing about it in the dressing room. I had asked to speak to someone about it but the only thing I was told to do was to write a letter. I had a brief conversation with someone but all that it entailed was “it’s fashion. Nobody cares about what’s going on in your personal life so just keep it to yourself” well I’m sorry but this is an issue bigger than myself. The issue is not about me being upset, there is a bigger picture here of what fashion turns a blind eye to or does to gain publicity. A look so ignorantly put together and a situation so poorly handled. I am ashamed to have been apart of the show. #burberry. I did not post this to disrespect the designer or the brand but to simply express an issue I feel very passionate about.

Burberry quickly responded once this information became public, and removed this clothing item from its stock.

Other nooses in the news:

And on a final note, I’d like to point out that although thousands of Black Americans were hanged with nooses during most of American history, people of other ethnic groups were lynched, too: Mexicans, Americans of Mexican descent, Asians, Native Americans, and more. For an excellent overview of the lynching of Latinos, read this article from the New York Times: When Americans Lynched Mexicans.

The article’s final sentence: “In today’s charged debate over immigration policy and the growth of the Latino population, the history of anti-Mexican violence reminds us of the costs and consequences of hate.“

Update: According to the website African Globe, “More Black People [Were] Killed By Cops In 2015 Than Were Lynched In The Worst Year Of Jim Crow.” Click on the link for further discussion of this.

Update 2: The New York Times just published another article on this topic: Lynch Mobs Killed Latinos Across the West. Descendants Want It Known.

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