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Brooklyn "Lynching" Halloween Decoration: Racist To Some, Festive To Others
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 20, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 20, 2011
Modified Oct 20, 2011
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Every year somebody goes too far on Halloween—a woman dressed as a slutty nurse gets drunk and actually performs an invasive medical procedure, or an area man slips actual eyeballs into that bowl of peeled grapes. There's a fine line! Putting a bloodied mannequin underneath a rider lawnmower in your front yard? BRAVO. But lynching a black scarecrow from a tree outside your home? That's a Hallowon't, and yesterday the NYPD was summoned to enforce a little taste in Brooklyn.
The lynched, dark-complected scarecrow was spotted hanging from a tree in Kensington this week, and it somehow came to the attention of City Councilman Charles Barron, who described it as "grotesque" issuing a statement saying, "The scarecrow is offensive and reprehensible not only to the Black Community, but to all those who have a history of persecution and, or have been victimized by lynch mobs. The perpetrators of this horrific display are only acting out what they conceal in their hearts." Barron added, "It’s not a cool decoration."
But not everyone was offended. Area woman Nicole Clemente told NY1, "I don't think that that portrays lynching. I mean, it's Halloween, that's part of the Halloween spirit. When I see a jack-o-lantern with a scary face on, I don't get scared and think monsters are going to come get me." Granted, we slept through most of our American history classes, but we don't seem to remember anything about hillbilly jack-o-lanterns committing horrible civil rights abuses in the South.
Anyway, the NYPD removed the decoration yesterday because the tree is considered city property. NY1 reports that cops were unable to locate the resident who hung the decoration, but we're guessing he was down in the basement putting the finishing touches on his popular Haunted Auschwitz House.
Tagged
brooklyn
Charles Barron
halloween
inappropriate behavior
kensington
lynching
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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