TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

In Punta Gorda, Noose Back

ADVERTISEMENT

By KATE SPINNER and PATRICK WHITTLE / Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

PUNTA GORDA - An act of peace turned sour Thursday when a Scott Street man rehung a noose beneath the faded Confederate flag in his yard.

The flag and noose had been a fixture in Michael Whiteaker's yard for about three years, until a black neighbor persuaded him to take the noose down last week.

A passer-by had noticed it and complained. Many people view the noose as a symbol of hatred toward blacks, especially when it droops beneath the rebel flag.

To quell the bad feelings, Punta Gorda's leaders appealed to Whiteaker's neighbor, Johnny Lloyd, who has a reputation for being able to bridge racial differences.

Lloyd recently dropped by the bar where Whiteaker works. Lloyd said he waded through racist language from bar patrons and had an hourlong debate with Whiteaker before Whiteaker agreed to take down the noose.

It did not stay down long. Whiteaker said he was angered by how Lloyd retold the story to the media and put the noose back up.

"My bossman was going to fire me about the racial slurs," Whiteaker said during a telephone interview at the bar Thursday.

Lloyd said he simply recounted the truth for the media. Whiteaker may not have used racial slurs, Lloyd said, "but the people in the bar said those things.

"Why lie about it?"

Community leaders called the noose's return sad.

Carl Brooks, pastor of First Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, said it is terrible that the community still has to "focus on something that is so ill-conceived" when there are many other problems that deserve attention.

Punta Gorda Mayor Larry Friedman said the city is back to square one now. Whiteaker's home is outside the city limits but the city has received complaints.

"I thought this was an unfortunate episode that we all had placed behind us," he said. "Everyone in the community is going to be certainly disappointed if not surprised."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT