THREAD

1) In light of the recent "noose" news, I wanted to share a story with you - might take a decent size thread, but I feel it is important.

Because of NDAs that I signed while in film, I won't reveal the actual names of anyone or the film, but this DID happen.....

2) While working on a film in New Mexico in 2016 as a rigging grip, which means I hang things from the ceiling as part of the job, sometimes 80-100 feet off the ground, an incident occurred that seems relevant today. Part of the rigging grips job is to work with...

3) the rigging crew from the Electric department. We hang the points and the Electric riggers come in and hang their lights to our points. Safety is of the utmost importance, especially during the rigging process to make sure NOTHING is ever dropped while you are in the air...

4) A wrench, a bolt, an ANYTHING coming from 100' in the air to the ground below can seriously injure or kill someone who is working on the set below you. Hanging heavy lights and other things from the berms above is dangerous and takes people who know what they are doing....

4) Like I said, ANYTHING, including a water bottle, falling from the basket of a man lift, can seriously injure someone. So on with the details. The rigging crew on most big budget films is split into a day crew and a night crew. This is because the shooting crew during the...

5)...day has rigging requirements that they ask to be completed during the night so when they come in the next day, the job is finished, and they can roll cameras. I was on the day crew on this film. One day we came in and there was a bunch of commotion and noise coming from...

6) ....The electric rigging truck. Now mind you, the day rigging crew and the night rigging crew share the SAME man lifts. We called these lifts "Condors". One of the electric rigging crew had climbed into a condor and found what he called a "noose". Yes, he was a black guy..

7)..And my first instinct when I heard this, was OMG, who would do such a thing? Typically, film crews are pretty tolerant and accepting of anyone, because it is about your skills in your craft, not the color of your skin. Nonetheless, what ensued blew my mind....

8)....Immediately, the production team was notified, the union was notified, and the person from the night rigging crew who had used the lift the day before was identified and singled out. Yes, you guessed it, a white guy. The narrative immediately transitioned to racism....

9)...And we had a company wide meeting to discuss the incident. The white crew member was dismissed from his job, and branded from that point forward as some kind of racist. Now I had worked with this guy on other shows. Typical SJW type, kind to everyone, and a climber....

10)...That is a key point in the story. The guy was a climber. Climbers, and high riggers alike, understand the danger of items falling from the sky. Including, WATER BOTTLES. Turns out, the "noose" was nothing more than a small piece of 550 cord, with a "Jug Knot" on....

11)...the end of the cord, meant to secure a WATER BOTTLE from falling out of the condor basket to the ground below. This is a picture of a "JUG KNOT". However, the accusations from the crew member, that this was a "noose" spread like wildfire, and before you knew it,...

12)...a good person's reputation was sullied, he lost his job, and his future earning potential with other productions was put in jeopardy.

I say all of this, to emphasize this point. Not everything has a racist meaning, and facts are important. The Mayor of Oakland recently...

13)....made this same mistake. Exercise bands, put up by a black citizen, were mistaken for a noose, and critical resources were expended to investigate a "hate crime".
We have to get back to common sense. We have to. This has reached maddening stage.
Where does this..
/END?