1st graders at elementary school in Louisiana get an on-campus lesson in lynching

Check out this appalling story, via the Monroe, Louisiana News Star:

A recent incident at the elementary school on the Grambling State University campus that resulted in a noose hanging around a small child’s neck has left university officials scrambling for answers.

Grambling State University President Horace Judson was driving to Dallas on Friday afternoon for the Saturday football game between GSU and Prairie View when his secretary called him, describing certain pictures that had been posted online by the student newspaper, The Gramblinite.

Among the photos immediately ordered taken down by Judson was one of a young girl in a school uniform, a noose around her neck, being hoisted by a woman who may have been a family member.

In the photo, the girl, a student at Alma J. Brown Elementary School at Grambling, appears confused and frightened. GSU oversees the school. The child apparently was taking part in a school lesson related to events surrounding the Jena Six, criminal defendants in that Louisiana town who stand accused of beating a fellow student into unconsciousness. Their arrests on adult charges have spawned organized protests by black leaders and national attention.

“At this point I’m starting a full investigation into what happened” Judson said in a phone interview from his car while en route to Dallas. “I will meet with all the people involved at 8 o’clock Monday morning.”

The Gramblinite staff leaders could not be reached for comment on the incident.

According to an article in the newspaper written by Justin LaGrande, posted on the student newspaper Web site some time this week, and sent to The News-Star by Ruston Daily Leader publisher Rick Hohlt, “kindergarten and first-grade students at Alma J. Brown Elementary will always remember the day they marched for equality. The children marched in protest of the imprisonment of Mychal Bell, and the seemingly racial bias shown toward blacks in a small Louisiana town.”

LaGrande wrote that while the students “marched” they actually only circled their playground with their teachers during the event.

“Before marching, the students were taught about racism” LeGrande wrote. “They also learned about the events surrounding the Γ’β‚¬ΛœJena Six’ and their arrest.”

According to the article, teachers “had a replica noose and explained why it is such a symbol of racism. They also allowed the children to carry chains and shackles.”

Are these people out of their freaking minds?

Sweetness and Light has some photos from the “lesson in racism.”

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