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Duke University Investigates Noose Found Hanging on Campus

Published

11 years ago

April 2, 2015

Oakland Post

Noose found hanging from a tree on Duke University campus. (Courtesy of Twitter)

EMERY P. DALESIO, Associated Press
MARTHA WAGGONER, Associated Press

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Duke University officials are trying to determine who hung a rope noose from a tree, what the president of the elite Southern school described Wednesday as a vicious symbol in a region where lynchings were once used to terrorize black residents.

President Richard Brodhead told a crowd of several thousand gathered in front of the university’s Gothic chapel building that their presence was a rejection of that symbol. And he said that while administrators and campus police investigate who displayed the noose and why, it is up to each individual to reject racism.

“One person put up that noose, but this is the multitude of people who got together to say that’s not the Duke we want,” he told the crowd. “That’s not the Duke we’re here for, and that’s not the Duke we’re here to create.”

Officials say the noose was found about 2 a.m. in the plaza outside the Bryan Center, the student commons building.

Black Student Alliance vice president Henry Washington said he and about 14 other students saw the noose hanging overnight after being alerted via Twitter.

“We wanted to see if it was an actual thing. And yeah, there it was,” said Washington, a sophomore from Aliceville, Alabama.

Both Duke administrators and police are investigating, school spokesman Keith Lawrence said. Duke police referred all questions to the school’s communications office.

Brodhead and Provost Sally Kornbluth earlier sent a joint email to students, saying the Duke campus “has been jolted over the past few weeks by several racial incidents, including a report of hateful speech directed at students on East Campus” and the discovery of the noose.

Brodhead, Washington and other members of the Black Student Alliance had previously scheduled a meeting Wednesday morning to discuss the campus atmosphere for blacks.

“Obviously the conversation needed to shift to kind of the things that happened this morning. We expressed to President Brodhead that students were just kind of exhausted. Students didn’t know how to feel,” Washington said.

Students Tara-Marie Desruisseaux, 19, of New York City, and Jada Gibbs, 19, of Dumont, New Jersey, said the incident came days after they helped host a recruiting weekend at Duke for talented black high school students from around the country. Duke has about 15,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It costs about $60,000 a year to attend as an undergraduate, including room and board, according to the school’s website. About half of all undergraduate students receive financial aid.

“Now I feel like they’re looking back at us and wondering, what were they selling me and what do they accept that they think Duke is so great?” Desruisseaux said.

While minorities may be forced to cope with racism at other selective universities, “I think the fact that Duke is in the South gives it something different from Stanford or Harvard,” she said. “I think the way that racism resonates is a lot stronger here just because not that long ago Duke’s campus was segregated and the only blacks on this campus were cleaning up bathrooms.”

Freshman student Anika Richter said though she is half-Japanese and half-Colombian, growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, meant many of her friends were black.

“Honestly, I’m appalled and embarrassed to go to the school right now,” said Richter, who saw a photo of the noose on Facebook just after waking up Wednesday. “Coming to Duke, I was very nervous about the racial tensions at the school but I never actually imagined that something so blatantly racist could happen here.”

___

Emery P. Dalesio can be reached at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio

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Oakland Post: Week of May 6 – 12, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of may 6 – 12, 2026

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May 10, 2026

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2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring Review — Is This $136K EV Sedan Worth It?

AUTONETWORK ON BLACKPRESSUSA — Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, but it still feels elegant instead of trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Published

2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

Oakland Post

The 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring is the kind of luxury EV that makes people stop and ask a simple question: Is this really better than a Tesla Model S, Mercedes EQS, or BMW i7? At $136,150, it has to do more than look futuristic. It has to feel special every time you get in it.

Finished in Stellar White Metallic with the Tahoe Grand Touring interior, this Lucid makes a strong first impression. The shape is sleek and low, yet it still feels elegant rather than trying too hard. Features like soft-close doors, powered illuminated door handles, 20-inch Aero Lite wheels, and the Glass Canopy Roof help the car feel expensive before you even start it.

Inside is where the Air Grand Touring really makes its case. The 34-inch Glass Cockpit Display and retractable Pilot Panel screen give the cabin a clean, modern look that still feels different from other EVs. The Tahoe Extended Leather and Lucid Black Alcantara headliner lifts the sense of occasion, and the front seats are a highlight. They are 20-way power-adjustable, heated, ventilated, and include massage. That matters because luxury buyers at this price expect comfort first.

Rear passengers are not ignored either. You get 5-zone heated rear seating, a rear center console display, and power rear and rear side window sunshades. Add in the Surreal Sound Pro system with 21 speakers, and the Air feels like a true long-distance luxury sedan.

Lucid also gives this car serious EV hardware. The dual-motor all-wheel-drive system, 900V+ charging architecture, and Wunderbox onboard charger are big talking points. Buyers in this segment care about range, charging speed, and everyday ease, not just raw performance. That is where the Lucid continues to stand out.

On the technology side, the Air Grand Touring includes DreamDrive Premium, with 3D Surround View Monitoring, Blind Spot Warning, Automatic Park In and Out, Automatic Emergency Braking, and a Driver Monitoring System with distracted and drowsy driver alerts. This one also has DreamDrive Pro, which adds future-capable ADAS hardware.

There are still some real-world annoyances. Based on your notes, the windshield wiper control is hard to find and use, and that matters more than people think in a high-tech car. When controls become less intuitive, even a beautiful interior can feel frustrating.

Still, the 2026 Lucid Air Grand Touring succeeds where it matters most. It feels luxurious, advanced, comfortable, and thoughtfully engineered. For buyers who want an EV sedan that feels truly premium and less common than the usual choices, this Lucid makes a very strong case.

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Snoop Dogg Celebrates 10 Til’ Midnight at the Compound

LOS ANGELES SENTINEL — The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles.

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2 weeks ago

May 3, 2026

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Snoop Dogg celebrated the premiere of 10 Til’ Midnight at his Inglewood recording studio & multipurpose facility, The Compound, but the night felt like much more than an album release. It felt like Los Angeles. It felt like legacy. And it felt like another major move from one of the city’s greatest cultural architects as he continues to prove that he is not just dropping music — he is building moments, shaping narratives, and pushing the culture forward in real time.

What made the event so powerful was the clarity behind the vision. During a panel conversation with DJ Hed, Snoop opened up about the heart behind 10 Til’ Midnight, explaining that the project was created to help bridge older and younger generations while also speaking to the long-standing divisions between Bloods and Crips in a unique way through film. That alone gave the project a different kind of weight. This was not just about songs. This was about using creativity as a tool for connection. This was about taking a story rooted in Los Angeles and telling it in a way that could bring people together.

Snoop Congratulated By Rapper & Fellow 10 Til Midnight Cast Member G Perico (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

The album is paired with a film that stars Snoop Dogg, Hitta J3, G Perico, and Ray Vaughn, and one of the strongest elements of the whole project is that the production stayed rooted right here in Los Angeles. The film was shot in the city, including at WePlay Studios in Inglewood, which gave the entire project an even deeper hometown feel. It was not just a West Coast story in content — it was a Los Angeles-made production from the ground up.

That matters because, in a city like this, authenticity still carries weight. Snoop understands how to make sure that what he creates does not just represent Los Angeles on the surface, but actually comes from it.

What also makes 10 Til’ Midnight significant is that it represents another major step in Snoop’s evolution as both an artist and executive. Public reporting around the project identifies it as his 22nd studio album, but the bigger story is what it represents in this season of his life. This is one of several consecutive moves he has made in his 50s that show he is still building, still expanding, and still finding new ways to reinvent what the next chapter looks like.

Snoop Dogg at the Premiere of 10 Til Midnight (CreativeLB/KreativeKapturez)

Now, as the head of Death Row Records and the newly aligned leader of Death Row Pictures, he is taking the brand into a new dimension. That is what made this moment feel bigger than music. Snoop is not just protecting the legacy of Death Row — he is stretching it. He is expanding it beyond records and into film, visual storytelling, and larger creative worlds that can continue carrying the label’s impact forward. Public reporting has noted that this project arrives as part of that broader cinematic push.

That is a major Los Angeles move because the city has always been built on the intersection of music, film, neighborhood identity, and cultural storytelling. With 10 Til’ Midnight, Snoop is leaning all the way into that intersection.

The room at The Compound reflected that. It felt like a private premiere, but it also felt like a statement — a reminder that Snoop Dogg’s staying power has never been based only on nostalgia. It comes from his ability to remain connected, remain visionary, and remain in tune with how to move the culture without losing the essence of who he is.

That is why this premiere mattered. It was not just about celebrating another album. It was about witnessing a Los Angeles legend continue to evolve, continue to unify, and continue to use art to tell stories that hit deeper than entertainment alone.

In that sense, 10 Til’ Midnight became more than a project launch. It became another example of how Snoop Dogg is still taking Los Angeles to the next level — using music, film, and legacy together to build something bigger than a moment.