In what museum director Lonnie Bunch III calls "a painful reminder of the challenges that African-Americans continue to face," a noose was found in a gallery at the National Museum of African American History and Culture Wednesday. Visitors to the Washington, DC, museum found the noose in front of a display called "Democracy Abroad. Injustice at Home" in the exhibition on segregation, the New York Times reports. Officials say the incident is being investigated by the US Park Police, but no arrests have been made yet. The exhibit reopened to the public around three hours after the noose was found.
"This is history. This should not be happening in this day and age," a museum visitor tells News4. The museum is part of the Smithsonian complex on the National Mall, where another noose was found hanging from a tree at the Hirshhorn art museum on Saturday, the Washington Post reports. "The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity—a symbol of extreme violence for African-Americans," Bunch said in a statement, per the Smithsonian, adding: "We will continue to help breach the chasm of race that has divided this nation since its inception." (George W. Bush joined the Obamas at the museum's official opening last fall.)
(More National Museum of African American History and Culture stories.)
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