Amazon has halted construction at a plant in Windsor, Connecticut, after employees found the site’s seventh case of a “rope that could be viewed as a noose.” During the last week of April, the first six were found on the job site. The most recent incident occurred on Wednesday, when officers on a private duty assignment were informed of the discovery of a rope that could be viewed as a noose hanging inside overhead beams on the site, according to police.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “We continue to be profoundly concerned by the incidents occurring at the construction site in Windsor and have ordered its shutdown before appropriate security measures can be placed in place.” According to the Hartford Courant, the ropes were hanged in an area without security cameras, and since the area has “hundreds of workers from different businesses,” there is no knowledge on suspects. Amazon is shutting its Windsor, Connecticut headquarters after a seventh noose was discovered on the premises. After a seventh noose was discovered, Amazon is closing its Windsor, Connecticut, location.
The NAACP’s local chapter said it is collaborating with Amazon to discuss worker issues at the facility. “These types of hate crimes have left a damaging stain on the current state of America’s reality, and for them to strike so close to home and with such consistency, shows a robust contempt for not only human dignity, but also for our ancestors who died as a result of the hate embodied inside the knots in those ropes,” the civil rights organization said in a statement.
The FBI is also looking into the matter. In a quote, FBI special agent in charge David Sundberg said, “The consequences of a hanging noose anywhere are unacceptable.” “We stand together with all of our law enforcement partners across the state in rooting out and enforcing the rule of law against anyone or any community that promotes hateful rhetoric and violence in our communities.”
At the press conference, Connecticut NAACP State President Scot X Esdaile said that the organization would not stop exerting pressure until the person who planted the rope is apprehended. He said, “They’re not going to push us back; we’re going to push them back.” Last month, Esdaile also stated that there have been many reports of racism at Amazon facilities around the country, including the finding of a noose at an Arizona facility a year ago. He also claimed that similar accidents have occurred at construction sites across Connecticut in recent years, and he
urged the construction industry and state officials to do more to prevent what he described as a “direct threat to someone’s life.”
“The NAACP understands what a noose is,” he said. “The NAACP knows, because we’ve been in cases where our churches have been bombed, where children have been killed, and where families have been torn apart. This nonsense will not be tolerated.”
