Noose
poster incites reaction
By Joyce Kelly
On-line Forty-Niner
The
image of a white-15-inch noose on a black
background was posted around the campus
and caused the campus community of Cal State
Long Beach to take a second look.
Tanya Cummings’ graphic design class created
the poster for the Graphic Design Junior
Show, which started Sunday.
The attention the posters received were
that of shock and disbelief. Leilani Ford,
vice president of the African Student Union,
formerly the Black Student Union, was shocked
by the ethnicity of the person who approved
the noose poster.
“What really is shocking is that a black
person approved this,” Ford said. “We as
the African Student Union believe it is
our responsibility to raise consciousness
not only within our people, but also with
other races. We don’t see just a noose.
It is very offensive.”
Information about the noose reached outside
the campus of CSULB. Sidney Cosby, former
vice president of the Black Student Union
at CSULB, was also offended by the image
of the noose.
“Although it doesn’t actually depict a person,
it is offensive to the human race, and someone
should pay for that, whoever is in charge
of that class that made the poster. As an
alumni, that is a slap in the face,” he
said.
Cummings, assistant professor in the art
department, said people misunderstood the
meaning of the image on the poster. She
said the class did not intend to hurt people’s
feelings.
“The goal was never to be hurtful with the
design,” said Cummings. “We regret the way
the poster was perceived, but I don’t apologize
for the image.”
One poster that was posted in Engineering
Building 2 had a disclaimer stuck to it
that read, “No humans were harmed during
the making of this poster. However, we can’t
say the same for their feelings. We only
hope that you view this ad in the creative
attention grabbing spirit in which it was
created. Thanks and enjoy the show.”
Cummings said that after the students began
to receive negative comments from their
peers, they decided to add the disclaimer.
The graphic design department members voted
on four images and the noose was chosen.
She explained that the students were hanging
their first art pieces for their first art
show after being accepted into the bachelor’s
program.
Since the noose dominated the poster, it
drew negative reactions from members of
other ethnic communities. Bianca Larson,
whose ethnicity is Choctaw and Cherokee,
African-American, Scottish, Swedish, English
and French said her reaction was one of
disbelief.
“My reaction to seeing the noose was just
complete disbelief. So many people were
affected by lynching. My great grandfather
struggled everyday to live in such a hateful
society,” she said. “This is not just a
rope. It is a symbol of hate and of senseless
persecution to killings of human dignity.”
Cummings had no problem with her decision
to allow her class to use the image of the
noose on its posters. She said that her
responsibility as an artist was to be open-minded
to all different perspectives within the
art world.
“The noose has a variety of meanings,” she
said.
Cummings, in a meeting with Jamaal Brown,
president of the African Student Union,
came to an agreement to take the posters
down on Wednesday.
“We came to an understanding that this image
is a hateful image that has hurt people
on this campus,” Brown said. “We concluded
that the best course of action would be
to remove the posters and replace them with
ones that are, by no means, cultural insensitive.”
“I encourage individuals to go and view
some of the images that will be on display
at the art show on [Oct.] 13th. Individuals
from that particular class, potentially,
will assist our organization on designs
for our 23rd Black Consciousness Conference,”
Brown said.
The artwork of the students will be featured
through Thursday in the Max L. Gatov Galleries
West and East.
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