Noose found in UMHS OR stock area.
Apparently it happened last night sometime.
We had a meeting at work about it. Also this email:
Colleagues,
Yesterday, in one of our hospitals, a noose — a symbol of hate and discrimination — was found at the work station of two of our employees.
We have taken immediate action to have this investigated as both an act of discrimination and a criminal act of ethnic intimidation.
This act of hate violates all of the values that we hold dear and will not be tolerated.
Hospital leadership are working with Security and the local Police Department on the investigation. If anyone has any information, we are asking that they contact either Security (734-936-7890, [email protected]) or Compliance (866-990-0111, [email protected]).
Human Resources, the Office of Counseling and Workplace Resilience, and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion are all working with leadership to provide support to the employees involved and to anyone needing assistance. Any staff member may also contact Counseling and Workplace Resilience at 734–763-5409.
This incident impacts our entire community, and we stand strong as we make it clear to all that this organization — its leaders, faculty, staff and learners — fiercely value and defend equality, inclusiveness, respect and dignity for all, and the elimination of discrimination.
Marschall S. Runge, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean, University of Michigan Medical School
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs
CEO, Michigan Medicine
Racism is another form of tribalism. Tribalism is old as civilization itself.
Everyone reading this blog has ancestry of both slave holders and slaves. Thank your lucky stars we live in the freest country ever, through out humanity, for all constituents.
"The findings show there were more than 400,000 people living in the U.S. who are subjected to slavery, which the organization defines as coerced labor, sexual servitude and forced marriage. Globally, that number grows to 40.3 million, with around 25 million people forced into labor."
Disgusting. Depressing. No place for it.
Hopefully there’s security video and they deal with whoever did this as harshly as possible. No room for this at Michigan or anywhere else.
Fuck racism. Find the prick(s) responsible and jail them.
Review the footage, make it public and shame the asshole(s). Assuming the hospital has cameras, which they should.
Has Jussie Smollett been to UMHS lately?
Right... so many instances of this crap. Either way it’s a pathetic act of human filth.
Here's an idea: why don't we wait to find out exactly what happened before we jump to conclusions? If we've learned anything in the last ten years it's that the initial story is seldom the true one.
People might want to read Wilfred Reilly's Hate Crime Hoax before they claim they know everything there is to know and perhaps end up falsely accusing someone or perpetuating an erroneous narrative.
The "conclusions" being drawn in this thread are that racism is clearly still alive and well, and that it's bad. No one here is trying to play detective and "falsely accuse" someone, no one has even tried to bring up a name. We're just saying that in the likely event that this was a racist act, it shouldn't be accepted and it should be dealt with accordingly.
If there was someone being accused as the noose-maker then your point has some validity. But right now it's just a lazy take. Also the notice in the OP frames it as an act of hatred. The people who put that notice together have more facts than you or me. So telling everyone to wait for the facts, when right now you have none and the people who do have facts think this is an act of hatred, is really backwards.
I'm the one who said we should wait for the facts to come out before we jump to conclusions about what happened and what motives were at work. You're assuming it's "likely" it's a racist act. Perhaps. But you don't know that, and the definition of a lazy take is to engage in moral posturing in the absence of knowledge.
I don't doubt the administrators in question felt as if they had to deal with it immediately as if it were a racist act. I also know that administrators are frequently mistaken in their initial take, and then after the fact make no serious retraction. You're assuming they know more than the fact they found a noose. I don't assume that.
Like you, I'd like more facts before assuming this version of the worst (which if that is the case, is horrible).
It also could be someone struggling with mental illness and nearly did the worst to themselves. If this is the case, I hope they find the person and help them.
For all of you and your loved ones, please take depression seriously, and openly. Talking is a critical avenue to healing.
Been a reader for a long time, but I had to create an account just because of how dense and biased your response it.
First, who is jumping to conclusions? A noose was found at a desk in a hospital. Whether it was a "hoax" or a racist gesture, it is wrong. No one is removing a presumption of innocence from any individual yet, the statement simply said they are being investigated. Seems like a very logical sequence of events.
And citing "Hate Crime Hoax"? A book that cherry picks a small number of hoaxes to undermine hate crimes that DO occur daily in the country and world? Yes, hoaxes do occur. Yes, they are extremely damaging. But much larger studies (at the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism) found that hoaxes and false claims to be less than 1% of all hate crimes.
Your response is the damage hoaxes cause: opening the door for people to immediately undermine a logical and reasonable response to a possible hate crime by yelling HOAX on the internet.
Tell me jpo... how would you have responded differently than the administration?
The press release says a noose was found on a desk. OK - I'll stipulate that as being the case, even though there have been in the past items misidentified as nooses (for example, the incident at the University of Delaware). You say it's either a hoax or a racist act, and is wrong either way. There are other possibilities, but I'll again concede the claim, and point out that there is a world of difference between it being one or the other, and we have no idea which it is, and both are wrong. You admit that "hoaxes are extremely damaging." So why not wait to say something until we know which it is?
I didn't yell "hoax" on the internet. I merely raised the possibility that it could be, and given that (and your admission that they are damaging), that we should probably keep our opinions to ourselves until we know what happened.
Here's the thing about university administrators: they live in fear of being perceived as being weak on racism. From an administrator's point of view, you have everything to gain in response to a noose being found to pivot from this simple fact to a broad denunciation of racism. If in fact it was a racist gesture, and it may well have been, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by such a denunciation. You will be lauded for your forthright dealing with such matters, and if it turns out it was a hoax, you've lost nothing by your denunciation and no one will hold it against you if you were wrong, if the error is ever publicly acknowledged. So it makes sense for an administrator to respond this way, but it's not sound leadership.
What would I have done? I would have investigated it immediately and thoroughly. If in fact it was a noose, and if in fact it was placed on the desks of African-American workers (do we even know if that's the case?), I would vigorously work to discover who is responsible. I would find out why the person did it, and punish accordingly. I would say nothing to the public unless pressed, at which point I would say "We will keep you updated as reliable information becomes available."
Isn't this how we usually deal with criminal matters?
In the wake of the Jussie Smollett affair, did any of the elected officials such as AOC or Pelosi, or journalists such as Robin Roberts, who made their outrage and definitive judgments public, apologize or retract what they said?
We agree that racism and hoaxes are both wrong. I'm simply saying I have no idea which one this particular event is, and neither do you.
Well then, it sounds like you agree with how the situation was handled because that's exactly what the administration did. They informed employees - which, in my opinion, is necessary. You don't keep your employees in the dark about such a thing unless you want morale to crater. And when pressed by news organizations, they simply released the statement they sent to employees and declined to answer questions due to the ongoing investigation.
Symbols only have the power we give them. Make a big deal over it, you give the symbol power.
Instead of lecturing the people upset by an offensive symbol, maybe we should be focusing on the people using the offensive symbol?
.....says the person that has never been and won't ever likely be threatened by any kind of symbol.
I think the "shrug it off" approach of the last 30-50 years is exactly what got us to this point.
I think more likely when you "shrug off" a noose, you get some cracker that is going to escalate until they get the reaction they are after. Rarely does Bily Joe Jim Bob go out of his way to drop a noose and then say "oh well, that didn't work, i guess i should just stop being racist."
I wouldn't be surprised if it was planted there. 90% of the time it's an inside job.
When I was in school a Jewish kid painted swastikas is the dorms. He admitted it after three days. It made all Jews including myself look bad.
This is a Sports blog..there are other forums for this
It pertains to the UM community. This is within Brian’s guidelines.
Isn’t it also a symbol for suicide?
How shameful. It might have been a joke but that’s not funny shame on whoever did that
Fuck the sad loser that did this.
Lol Ann Arbor tries so hard to be progressive and liberal but it's all just a front
Something something autoerotic asphyxiation
Take ten minutes to educate yourself on the histories of lynchings in the US before running your mouth like a dumbass.
I hate that we have to hear about this shit all the time. It fucking sucks. I prefer to believe that shitty people are the rare exception to the majority.
Its just depressing.
The only redeeming quality of going through this thread is identifying users who clearly are racist, or indifferent to racist acts. If you can't be a decent human being in this situation, than good luck trying to convince me your sports takes are anything but a crock of shit.
There was recently a similar story on Mlive a few months back. Turns out somebody on the night shift hung up what looked to be a noose so he could hang his radio up and listen to it. In the end it wasn’t what everyone thought it was. Let’s see how it plays out before grabbing the pitch forks.
Fuck racism
Don't think there’s anything else that needs to be said.
Despicable if true. But I’m skeptical these days. Didn’t this happen someplace else recently in an auto plant somewhere? And it turned out to be just a support cable that came loose (not lose:) Is anybody dumb enough to do something so obviously offensive? I think even the most hard corp racists have found more sophisticated ways of making their point. Stuff like this seems too obvious and what is gained by turning 99% of mankind against you. I’d be hesitant to jump to conclusions too soon.
I know we didn’t all agree here. But I read this thread closely. Great consideration and respectful discourse. I’m proud of everyone. Not that my approval means anything. But well done. Go Blue.
Yes. I did too. Everyone was pretty respectful. No stupid political/religious jabs thrown which made for a nice read. Good job blog
There are cameras everywhere at the hospital. Hospital administrators should not have a difficult time getting to the bottom of this situation. Speculation is really silly until further information is released.
Well, it appears what we really learned here is a lot of people don't fish.