CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) had a noose removed Monday afternoon from a home on South Artesian Avenue in Gage Park, a predominantly Black and brown neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
Coleman said she received a complaint from a neighbor Saturday evening about the noose.
"Their complaint was, ‘We don't want — for the Black families and even the brown families — to feel as though, “I can't come on the block” or “I'm going to get hung,”’ considering the social economic challenges that we're facing in the city of Chicago right to this day," Coleman said.
She said the homeowners are people of color, which Coleman added made the incident even more unbelievable.
"This is intolerable,” she said. “I will not stand for it. We're going to have this removed today, and if I see it up again, I'm going to personally make sure and be out here to remove the tree."
After attempting to contact the residents by knocking on their door — and getting no answer — Coleman spoke with them on the phone.
The alderwoman said they told her the ropes were up as a part of a Halloween decoration and that they understood the noose’s racial implications.
"He was very, very well informed that it was taken as a noose,” Coleman said. “As he said, ‘My friends made jokes about it,' and as I informed him, this is no laughing matter.”
April Bailey just moved into her Gage Park home this weekend. Bailey said she first noticed the ropes when she visited the home. She said it upset her.
"It reminded me of my people, who once hung on them, and what happened back in the day,” Bailey said. “It's like history is replaying itself.”
Bailey said her landlord told her the ropes were a part of a hammock, which the home owners put out in the summer — but Bailey noted she didn't believe that.
Neighbors provided several explanations to reporters regarding why the noose was hanging from the tree, though the truth of the matter wasn’t exactly clear.
Other residents, such as Maria Ramirez, said the ropes have been up since June as part of a swing set, which had been up for years and previously had other parts attached to them.
Ramirez added that people on the block have complained. Coleman, though, said the complaint she received on Saturday was the first and only one regarding the noose.
Chiquata Winfrey is another Gage Park resident.
Winfrey said she understands how the ropes could be seen as a noose, but she claimed they're just part of a swing that has been there for three years. Winfrey said she didn’t know why they're being taken down.
"Any kind of rope looks like a noose," she said. "That's what the imagery of it in this country is. When you see a rope wrapped around a tree that's a noose, right? But it was a tire swing. That's it."
Winfrey said she didn't feel threatened or offended by the ropes and that she's always felt welcomed on the block.
On Monday, the Department of Streets and Sanitation removed not only the ropes, but the tree’s limbs were also cut down — so nothing else can be hung from the tree.
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