Amazon has halted construction at a location in Windsor, Connecticut, after several nooses were discovered at the site, according to FOX61 News.
Windsor Police Capt. Andrew Power noted in a statement that the first noose was found in April hanging from a steel beam on the building's second floor. Five more ropes "that could be interpreted as nooses" were found on various other floors on April 29.
"Some of them were just rope that was tied at the end and some were twisted in a manner to look like a noose," Power said, adding that the police have had a difficult time identifying a suspect since the ropes were all found in areas that lacked surveillance equipment.
In a press conference Thursday held by the NAACP, a spokesperson for Amazon announced that the site would be closed until security measures can be implemented.
"We continue to be deeply disturbed by the incidents happening at the construction site in Windsor and have ordered its shutdown until necessary security measures can be put in place," Amason spokesperson Kelly Nantell told FOX61 News in a statement. "Hate, racism or discrimination have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated in any Amazon workplace — whether at a site under construction like this one, or at one that we operate."
Nantell added: "We are committed to working with the Town and Windsor Police Department, as well as our development partners, to hold the perpetrators accountable and ensure that all members of our community feel valued, respected, and safe."
The NAACP said in a statement: "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."
Connecticut NAACP President Scot X Esdaile said during the press conference: "They're not gonna push us back; we're gonna push them back."
Esdaile added that Amazon has faced allegations of racism in the workplace before, and that a noose was found at an Arizona facility last year. Esdaile noted that hanging a noose should be considered a "direct threat to someone's life," and said officials in the state and in the industry must do more to combat it.
"The NAACP knows what the showing of a noose is," he said. "The NAACP understands and we've been in situations where our churches were bombed, children were killed, families were destroyed. We're not tolerating this nonsense."
FBI special agent David Sundberg told USA Today that the agency's Civil Rights Division is working with Connecticut State Police to investigate the incident.
"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," he said. "We stand united with all of our law enforcement partners across the state in rooting out and applying the rule of law to any individual or group perpetuating hateful ideology and intimidation in our communities."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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