Nooses Found Hanging On Trees In Oakland Being Investigated As Hate Crime
Five nooses were reportedly found by police around Lake Merritt in Oakland, California, and now, the city’s mayor says their placement will be investigated as a hate crime.
“Symbols of racial violence have no place in Oakland and will not be tolerated,” Mayor Libby Schaaf wrote in a statement she tweeted on Wednesday (June 17).
The discovery comes as protests have broken out nationwide over the death of George Floyd, among others, at the hands of police. More recently, numerous Black men have been discovered hanging from trees in various locations around the country all within a span of a few weeks. On Monday, an unidentified man was found hanging from a tree in a vacant lot in Houston’s Shady Acres neighborhood.
Prior to that, 24-year-old Robert Fuller was found hanging from a tree in the Los Angeles suburb of Palmdale, California on June 12 and 38-year-old Malcolm Harsch, another Black man, was found dead in similar circumstances on May 31.
The 38-year-old was found less than fifty miles from where Fuller's body was discovered. In both cases, local authorities quickly ruled the deaths as suicide, saying no foul play was involved. However, community members and the families of the deceased are not convinced, and demand further investigation into the deaths.
The bodies of Black people hanging from a tree is an image directly associated with the country’s racist history of lynchings. The fact that both men were found dead near city buildings — Fuller, 24, near City Hall and Harsch, near the public library — has raised questions causing many to believe foul play is at hand. Fuller's body was found in Palmdale, known to be an area populated by white conservatives.
According to residents in Oakland, the ropes, which have since been removed, were placed on the trees for exercise-related reasons. “One community member claimed ownership of the ropes and stated that he intentionally placed the ropes on the tree limbs for exercise and games several months ago,” the Oakland Police Department said in a press release.
Regardless, Schaaf argued that the racist implication of the ropes should have been clear.
“Reports that these were part of exercise equipment do not remove nor excuse their torturous and terrorizing effects,” she continued in her statement. “We are all responsible for knowing the history and present day reality of lynchings, hate crimes and racial violence. Objects that invoke such terror will not be tolerated in Oakland’s public spaces.”
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