Black figures lynched at UC Berkeley

This past Saturday on the campus of UC Berkeley in California, visitors and students were greeted with a shocking sight. Three cardboard cutouts of Black people were found hanging from nooses at several spots on campus. This action took place on the same day as protesters across the nation marched in Washington, D.C., New York and other cities protesting police abuse and the killings of unarmed Black males.

Amazing ShutItDown protest photos from Berkeley, Harvard, and New York City

Needless to say, many people were highly offended by the lynching of the cutouts but there is a story behind these displays. The figures were not hanged as a hate statement, but rather in support of the protesters and the new social justice movement. The act was done to symbolize what is perceived as the modern-day lynching of Blacks in America. Each cutout had a name and date of the person lynched. Mainstream media outlets however, have reported the symbolism as an attempt to antagonize protesters.

The question remains: Was the display an appropriate form of protest or was it in poor taste?