Eff these Effigies

Beware the disturbing photograph attached to this post. I normally shy from displaying such images but people need to be confronted with this kind of garbage.

This morning, Andrew Sullivan passed along a disturbing email forwarded from a University of Kentucky staffer:

Dear Colleagues,

It is with profound sadness that I must report to you that an effigy of Obama was found hanging from a tree on campus this morning. It was taken down immediately, but the damage and hurt will linger for a long time. I literally feel sick to my stomach. There will be a statement from the President shortly, and we are also considering other expressions of outrage. In the meantime, please alert your staff and be prepared to counsel students, staff, and faculty of color, in particular, as needed.

But don't think that this disgusting behavior is limited to the whatever stereotypical conception of Kentucky race relations you might hold. A friend of an old travel buddy of mine from my days wandering Mediterranean Turkey went walking his dog this morning in Redondo Beach, California and encountered this stomach-turning scene, posting it to Flickr:

(I removed the picture from here because I couldn't stand to see it anymore, but you can click the flickr link to see it if you want.)

VOTE ON TUESDAY!

Update:

There have also been a lot of press for a Palin-doll hanging in the LA area, which prompted a Secret Service visit to that person's home. While the Palin effigy hanging is also grossly offensive, there is absolutely no comparison and to argue otherwise completely ignores history.