Gabriel Keith said he wasn't aware of the implications of the hangman's knot that has become a symbol of the lynching of African-Americans during the Jim Crow days.

"I am definitely aware of it now," Keith told the Star-Tribune newspaper in Minneapolis.

Keith was fired by the editor of the Minnesota Community Technical College newspaper last month amid an uproar over how long it took for the noose to be reported by the college. He said it was a joking effort to get reporters to file their stories on time. The noose was fashioned from a sweater drawstring.

Lisa Dean, president of Association of Black Collegians at the college, told the news paper, "If we do not nip it in the bud, it will spread and a lot of students may not want to attend this college because of racism."