Triggered by Banana Peel

[Thumpalumpacus]

Bananas in a noose is fairly overt racism, a banana on a tree isn't.
Unless you know something else about the situation you're setting the bar where banana skins in and of themselves can be racist.

That's the thing. There have been several previous incidents where bananas have been used as racial taunts at American universities. These ladies being black students, it's much more likely that they knew of those incidents (and indeed they did, hence their response). One of those incidents saw a banana being placed at the doorstep of a black student's dormitory, another saw a banana thrown at a black student. The noose or writing are at this point not necessary to the race-baiting.

It is the racists who are making banana skins the taunt. Place the blame where it properly belongs, Paul.