Emily Mack
An Amazon construction site in Windsor, Connecticut has been shut down after a seventh noose was discovered there, according to WTNH. The first six nooses were found last month. Now, a local chapter of the NAACP is connecting with Amazon workers at the location to address fears and concerns of racism.
Videos by Rare
A Mysterious Hate Crime
During a press conference with the Windsor Police Department, law enforcement revealed that on Wednesday afternoon a rope noose was found dangling in a section of the warehouse construction site with no security camera surveillance. That alone is freaky. But it turns out this was the 7th noose discovered at Amazon’s Windsor construction site. The first noose appeared during the last week of April and soon after that, local police officers found five more. However, it seems no serious action was taken then.
Of this most recent incident Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told NewsNation:
“We continue to be deeply disturbed by the incidents happening at the construction site in Windsor and have ordered its shut down until necessary security measures can be put in place.”
FBI Special Agent David Sundberg added that “The New Haven Division of the FBI is lending its resources and support to the Windsor PD for this ongoing investigation. The implications of a hanging noose anywhere are unacceptable and will always generate the appropriate investigative response.”
The site is shut down until further notice, but will likely reopen on Monday. A $100,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can provide useful information about the culprit. Considering 300-500 people pass through the site each day, including many non-Amazon contractors, it’s difficult to begin determining suspects. Many of those contractors, though, come from the South: a fact not lost on the CT NAACP president Scot X. Esdaile.
Esdaile said, “It’s kind of ironic that they are from Lynchburg, Virginia, and they were brought on the site, and a lot of individuals from Florida and Texas and Georgia from the south have come up here to work on this particular site.” Apparently, racism at the location is not uncommon.
At the news conference, one employee shared his personal experience of racism at the site. Carlos Best, an ironworker, explained that he had to fire an individual over racist remarks. “We hear a lot of stuff on the job site but it is kept quiet, some guys just want to get a paycheck and go home. But personally, on this job here, I have seen a lot of racism. This is not the only construction site that these things occur on, and it has to stop,” Best said.
The NAACP Responds
The Greater Hartford NAACP, a local chapter of the Connecticut NAACP, is working with the site released an official statement about the nooses:
“These forms of hate crimes have had a detrimental stain on the current state of America’s reality and for them to hit so close to home and with such consistency, shows a robust disrespect for the not only human decency but also for our ancestors who lost their lives due to the hate represented within the knots in those ropes.”
