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Context Doesn't Matter Anymore
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Once again, we discovered that the very image of somebody getting hung has been determined to be racist. In this case, it's a billboard for a Halloween "ahunted hayloft" on which there's a silhouette of a man hanging from a noose. A billboard for the attraction was placed in an African-American neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and somebody decided that it was symbolic of lynching. And, yes, lynching was done by hanging, but it seems like it's only been in the last couple of years that people have been reading lynching onto every depiction of hanging. I doubt that most people of any race think of lynching when they see a Halloween hanging -- I think 99% of people understand context -- but just to be safe, it's probably a good idea to remember from here on out that you probably don't want to place a billboard like that in an African-American neighborhood. Somebody's going to take offense. (KDKA–TV/Pittsburgh)
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