Racialism nor Racialist Behavior are never Irrelevant

I don't think racialist actions are ever irrelevant. From the Detroit News:

The FBI is investigating the hanging of nooses at Central Michigan University, authorities said Friday.

The FBI's Bay City office is now working with local authorities as the lead agency in the investigation.

"If charges are brought, they will be federal charges," Special Agent Dawn Clenney said . "The FBI has also been in contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office (in Detroit)."

Four nooses were found in a second-floor classroom of the Engineering and Technology Building at CMU this week. A male student found the nooses, made of compressed flexible gas line material, hanging Monday afternoon from cabinets in Room 228, CMU officials said.

Earlier on Friday, state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, requested federal authorities get involved with the case because the penalties are stiffer and because of the rash of similar incidents throughout the country.

"I want a strong message sent, not only in Michigan, but throughout the country, no more noose hanging," Clarke said.

"It's not a joke. It's a threat. We must stop it."

The discovery of the nooses, historically painful reminders of lynching of African-Americans in the United States, follows an anti-Muslim incident at CMU. Pamphlets that made inferences that "all Muslims are terrorists" were placed under the office doors of some faculty members two or three weeks ago. No one has been arrested.

The university, which has publicly denounced the noose incident is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest, officials said.

Monday's noose discovery is the first known incident at a Michigan college or university, but it follows a series of high-profile cases nationally. Last month, a similar incident occurred at Columbia University in New York.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has offered its crisis response team to CMU to coordinate a discussion of the incident between students and faculty. The department is not investigating the incident.

The department can only get involved by a request or if there is enough evidence to support an investigation, director Linda Parker said. There is not enough evidence for them to get involved at this point, she added.