nooses hung at mississippi state capitol

Yesterday, nooses and signage were found hanging from trees with hateful messaging at the Mississippi State Capitol. One of the six signs made reference to the murdered Black teen Emmett Till. The other signs warned that times had not changed enough for Mississippi to elect a Black man to the senate. According to Chuck McIntosh, spokesman for the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration, the images where erected around 7 a.m. on Monday.

This hateful crime comes in the face of a tense run-off election between Democrats Mike Espy and Republican (and racist) Cindy Hyde-Smith. Racial tensions in this particular race have been running high ever since Hyde-Smith’s public comments about attending a public lynching, later characterized as a “joke,” cast a shadow over her campaign. At the time, Hyde-Smith told news reporters that, if a local rancher “…invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row.” Yikes.

“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row”- Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith says in Tupelo, MS after Colin Hutchinson, cattle rancher, praises her.

Hyde-Smith is in a runoff on Nov 27th against Mike Espy. pic.twitter.com/0a9jOEjokr

— Lamar White, Jr. (@LamarWhiteJr) November 11, 2018

In addition to the cringe-worthy comments, Hyde-Smith’s history of white supremacy and Confederate pride has been well-documented. Not only attending, and later, sending her daughter to a segregated school, but Hyde-Smith has also boasted about her respect for treasonous Southern history more than once.

“I enjoyed my tour of Beauvoir. The Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library located in Biloxi,” Hyde-Smith wrote in a caption. Davis was the Confederate president during the Civil War and the former estate now serves as a library and museum. “This is a must see,” Hyde-Smith wrote. “Currently on display are artifacts connected to the daily life of the Confederate Soldier including weapons. Mississippi history at its best!” Yikes.

If elected, Mike Espy would become the first Black senator from Mississippi since reconstruction. So far there are no suspects in this incident and the investigation is ongoing.