#BlackLivesMatter Activists Denounce Racist ‘Nooses’ That Were Actually Lantern Hangers

One day after #BlackLivesMatter activists called attention to “nooses” that were found on the University of Delaware, the university informed students that they were actually just wire hangers for paper lanterns.

On Monday, there had been a #BlackLivesMatter protest against guest speaker and conservative activist Katie Pavlich. But on Tuesday, the “nooses” were found near the protest site, earning coverage from outlets like MSNBC and online activists like Shaun King.

For the 15,698,326 time @ShaunKing was wrong pic.twitter.com/nqnVRjITJo

— Clarence Whorley (@ClarenceWhorley) September 23, 2015

At first the university was supportive, declaring the “nooses” a hate crime that they planned to investigate. But a day later, they announced that an investigation found that they were just paper lantern hangers left over from a previous event.

Activists refused to believe the revelation, telling Delaware’s News Journal that the investigation was “a cover-up.” One community organizer called the official story “just too inconsistent, I don’t believe that at all… C’mon, there’s never really been a lantern that big.”

[Image via University of Delaware Review]
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