ST. LOUIS (KMOX) — An investigation is underway after a Black woman found a noose hanging at a property in St. Louis where she regularly works.
Photos of the noose tied to a tree were shared on Facebook by the property's owner, Julie Ho. It was found Aug. 5 outside a home under construction on Lemp Avenue in the Benton Park neighborhood of south St. Louis.
"I am disgusted but not surprised," Ho said in her Facebook post.
St. Louis police are investigating who may have left the symbol of racism by trying to track down surveillance video from July 29 to Aug. 5 in the area. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports, the Black woman who found the noose is a contractor who was working on the home. She is a Benton Park resident and business owner, and asked to remain anonymous because she feels her life and business are being threatened.
“I thought, ‘Whoever did this, do they even know me? Who is this directed to: Me or Julia?’ Because we’re both people of color,” the contractor told the Post-Dispatch. “I just saw this rather impressive noose, and the way it’s looped around the tree four times — someone took the time to climb that tree. Nothing about it was accidental. It was all an act of purpose, an act of hate.”
In combating the "very clear message" left on her property, Ho and Arthouse St. Louis organized a creative event for people to make their own art against racism:
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