Awful News from Oregon

Trees like these on George Fox Campus are meant to represent life & a positive presence of nature.
Instead one of these trees was used to hang a hateful display.

I am sorry to report there was an awful incident at George Fox College. a small Quaker college outside Portland, Oregon.
A commercially produced, cardboard cutout of Sen. Barack Obama, was found hanged in effigy Tuesday morning, the Oregonian reports. The life-size reproduction was found hanging by fishing wire from a tree with a sign taped to the front that read, "Act Six reject," referring to a scholarship program that caters to low-income students from Portland.

If you are at all familiar with the Quaker community, you would know they are peaceful & nonviolent people- so whoever did this knew it would be exceptionally offensive.

Fortunately, a custodial crew at the 1,800-student university found the Obama likeness hanging by fishing wire from a tree at 7 a.m. Tuesday and tore it down before students arrived for classes. Thankfully, there are no pictures in the media for us to have to emblazoned in our minds.

But the tone of the display brought underlying political and racial conflicts to the surface in a historic election involving the first Black presidential candidate from a major party. University leaders are planning a series of forums for students to discuss the issue.

On Wednesday, school officials addressed the incident before a packed auditorium. President Robert Baker said. " What I've learned is we still have work to do."

The university and police continue to investigate who was responsible for the incident, the Secret Service & FBI have been notified, and are conducting investigations.

But the tone of the display brought underlying political and racial conflicts to the surface in a historic election involving the first Black presidential candidate from a major party. University leaders are planning a series of forums for students to discuss the issue.

"Immediately, it was disgust and outrage, but that has waned off to understanding," said a George Fox sophomore. "Now I see not much can be done about what happened, but we can get through it together. Now there's a lot more hope."

Here we are in a BLUE State, where a historic crowd of 75,000 gathered in Portland, to hear Obama speak.
Support in this State is strong for Obama, at least on the Western Side, the major population centers of Oregon.

I want to say this is one bad apple, who is demented enough to spend their time creating a display of hate.
Whoever did this has to live with themselves, & carry the karma.

In true Quaker form, best to not hold contempt for this person, but to carry on. Stay on the path of peace.
Best we see the light, shine it bright, so brightly all can see, we are better off with unity & diversity.




* A variety of news sources were used for this info The Oregonian, ABC news