There's been an uptick of nooses being placed around the country lately, and this time it is in Philadelphia.
The noose was discovered on a tree near Penn Medicine Rittenhouse on Friday morning, according to CBS Philly. The symbol of racial hate has since been removed.
"It could be someone playing a prank, but what we’re concerned about is that, obviously, anytime you see a noose or that type of artifact, it evokes images of lynchings and, so, it could be something related to hate speech, so that’s why we’re not treating it as something benign," Capt. Sekou Kinebrew of the Philadelphia Police remarked.
Just this past month another noose related incident occurred at the nearby United States Mint in Philadelphia when a white employee fashioned rope into a hangman's noose and placed it onto the chair of an African-American co-worker. Surveillance video captured the incident.
Washington D.C. has also seen multiple noose incidents as of late. Three discoveries of nooses were made on the National Mall. Back in May a noose was found on the grounds of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Just a few days later another noose was discovered at an exhibition on the subject of segregation at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. A third noose was placed on a lamp post outside the National Gallery of Art. On June 15, a noose placed on a tree was found in Montgomery County in nearby Maryland.
Lonnie Bunch, the Museum director for the National Museum of African American History and Culture, posted a statement to Twitter addressing the events:
"The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity—a symbol of extreme violence for African Americans. Today’s incident is a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face.
The Mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney and the executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations Rue Landau released a joint statement condemning the act. They wrote: "These symbols of hate and racially-motivated violence have no place in Philadelphia - our residents and visitors should not have to witness such abhorrent incidents in public or private settings."
Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who represents the area where the noose was discovered, called it “an act of racial terrorism.”
