Photo by David Cruz
Police said that on Thursday night, Jun. 18, 2020, the Commanding Officer of the 50th precinct responded to a report from the grove part of Van Cortland Park further to the discovery of what was believed to have been one or more nooses hanging from trees in the park, prompting fears of a hate crime.
The NYPD said that upon arrival, the Commanding Officer observed a nylon string that is often used to hang piñatas hanging from a tree branch. Upon further investigation, it was determined that there had been a party at the location earlier and the incident was not deemed to be a hate crime.
News of the nooses was met with horror and shared widely by users on social media. Some preferred not to share the noose photos in order not to traumatize people any further.
Wishing Twitter had a way to retweet a story without an accompanying image on the original story. There’s a story in @Gothamist about nooses found in a Bronx park…which is horrible, but I don’t think I need to be the one to push a pic of a noose onto someone’s feed.
— Joe Bartolotta (@jbartolotta) June 21, 2020
Officers quickly deemed the incident in Riverdale non-criminal and the nooses mere nylon strings—not symbols of racist hate against African-Americans. #Bronx #LocalNews https://t.co/Bv7AqAG86s
— Bronx Justice News (@bxjusticenews) June 20, 2020
Last week in California, ABC7 News reported that Mayor Libby Schaaf of Oakland said on Jun. 17 that a hate crime investigation was underway after nooses were found on trees at Lake Merritt.
On the same day, Global News reported that for the fourth time in less than a month, a Black person was found dead by hanging in the United States, while authorities, once again, ruled the incident a suspected suicide.
Some have raised doubts that these people died by suicide, and there is discussion on social media that the incidents merit further investigation given the current political climate and the global movement highlighting that Black Lives Matter.
Meanwhile, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported that a mannequin dressed in a police uniform and pig mask was found hanging from an I-95 overpass in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday morning.
DISTURBING: A mannequin dressed in a police uniform and wearing a pig mask was found hanging from an I-95 overpass in Jacksonville Saturday morning in what the sheriff describes as a mock lynching. DETAILS: https://t.co/XeZB9P9weL
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) June 20, 2020
Though Van Cortlandt Park is well known as a popular location for parties and summer barbecues, Norwood News asked the NYPD how it came to determine that the noose incident was definitely not a hate crime. Police had recently confirmed and Norwood News had recently reported about “disturbing messages” found on the phone of Nicholas Bingman of Mount Vernon who was arrested on Jun. 2, for criminal possession of a loaded semi-automatic weapon. The NYPD declined to comment further.
In response to our initial request for information about the noose incident, a spokesperson for the department wrote, “The NYPD will never tolerate hate in our city in any form.”
On Monday, Jun. 21, 2020, NY State Senator Alessandra Biaggi (SD-34) and Congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) joined North Bronx Racial Justice and local leaders, activists, and residents to demand a full investigation from the NYPD into the Van Cortlandt Park noose incident.
A noose was also found in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem earlier this month. Advocates say there is evidence of visible white supremacist activity in the North Bronx/Inwood neighborhoods in recent years and that the NYPD’s response has been lackadaisical.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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