What to Know
- A Fort Greene park employee hangman's noose hanging from a tree Monday morning
- Police found racist graffiti accompanied by a quote from Hitler on a tree stump in the park a week prior to the noose incident
- The graffiti and the noose were found about 20 feet apart from each other
Police are investigating a noose and racist graffiti that were found inside a Brooklyn park.
A park worker found a ten foot long hangman's noose hanging from a tree inside Fort Greene just before noon as he was making his rounds Monday morning, NYC Park Advocates reports.
"I felt uncomfortable seeing that hanging there," he told the organization. "Back in the day, they used to hang innocent people, people of color."
The employee climbed the tree and removed the noose. He initially thought it was a Halloween prank, but quickly dispelled the thought when he saw there was no evidence to symbolize it was a joke or related to Halloween.
"I know racism still exists, but now it's being targeted in Fort Greene Park, where I work," the parks employee said, noting that a majority of his co-workers are people of color.
Police said they found what the worker described as "hate speech" graffiti scribbled onto a tree stump a week prior to the incident, about 20 feet from where the noose was hung.
Local
The graffiti read "they should have gotten rid of you when they had the chance," and quoted Hitler.
The incidents are being investigated by the NYPD as an aggravated harrassment.
