Triggered by Banana Peel

[paulpablo]

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.

Yeh people are using bananas as part of taunting black people. Black people shouldn't have bananas thrown at them, and bananas shouldn't be hung from a tree by a noose with racist writing on, also a banana shouldn't be left outside someone's door as a mock gift for them, but that's as far as it goes.

People shouldn't be afraid of putting a banana skin somewhere where a black person might see it.

In all the other instances you mentioned I see racism. I can see how racism could be brought into question if a peel is left on a tree but just if itself that's not proof of racism.