Virulent racism resurgent

San Francisco Chronicle:

Sar-ron Beverly knew about nooses from family stories and historical photos. But he never understood their power until he walked into his boss' Fairfield office one day and saw one hanging from the ceiling, in front of a bookshelf and a family portrait.

"It was just too much," said Beverly, 30. "I'm from Mississippi. My grandparents moved to California to get away from this stuff.

"A hangman's noose shows the ultimate hatred for African Americans."

Since a noose hanging in a schoolyard triggered a civil rights firestorm this summer in Jena, La., there's been a resurgence of nooses across the United States. They've been found in a post office, in a hospital, on a professor's door, in a Coast Guard cadet's bag, in a fire station and on a bronze sculpture of the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Historians and academics are examining why the noose is resurfacing and trying to explain its current cultural significance. Some say the symbol will always represent hate and proves that racism still exists in America. Others say the nooses are meaningless pranks.