SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — A Halloween decoration in Ludowici has caused many to question the intention of the display.
The decoration depicts a person hanging from a barn door with a noose around its neck, legs tied, arms tied behind the back and a black hood over its head.
Just days ago in Marietta, folks witnessed the same thing — a person hanging from a tree with other Halloween decorations in the yard. Those who have seen both decorations find it disturbing.
Local leaders of the NAACP are working to investigate to the reason behind this display.
According to Richard Shinhoster, Vice President of NAACP-Savannah, “It’s deplorable and while individuals certainly have a first amendment right, they do not have a right to intimidate, to frighten and to make others feel uncomfortable in places where they must live. And therefore we think that if this is truly a Halloween decoration that it is certainly in very poor taste and it feeds into the age-old relationships that African Americans have had especially in this part of the country with the larger community.”
After speaking with Shinhoster, Garylin Quarterman, President of NAACP who oversees the county, decided to weigh.
Quarterman called the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Civil Rights Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other NAACP state and regional officials.
“The NAACP looks very hard of actions of individuals like that. It sometimes makes folks in the community uncomfortable and sends a message of division,” Quarterman says.
The message is also one that brings back memories to some who remember when lynching first began hundreds of years ago.
“We know that lynching has been one of the dreaded histories that we have had to face. In fact, lynchings were partly responsible for the forming of the NAACP in 1909. It was a response to the number of lynching’s going on in this country,” Shinhoster said.
The decoration has been taken down, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is looking into the display.