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Community Leaders Denounce Hate After 2 Nooses Found in Brooklyn

By Noah Hurowitz | September 18, 2017 2:43pm
 A noose was found outside the Bedford Library branch of the Brooklyn Public Library Thursday morning, according to police.
A noose was found outside the Bedford Library branch of the Brooklyn Public Library Thursday morning, according to police.
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DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — City officials reacted with outrage after a noose was found outside a Brooklyn Public Library branch in Bed-Stuy, following a similar incident a week earlier in Crown Heights.

The noose, fashioned from a 6-foot length of white rope, was found at about 8 a.m. Thursday morning outside the Bedford Library at 496 Franklin Ave. at Hancock Street, police said.

It was the second noose found outside a Brooklyn institution in a week, following the Sept. 7 discovery of a noose hanging outside the Brooklyn Museum, which currently features an exhibition on the history of lynchings in the United States.

The two incidents caught the attention of Councilman Robert Cornegy, who on Sunday afternoon held a press conference with the Brooklyn NAACP, the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council and other community groups to denounce the culprit or culprits.

“While this community sits at the epicenter of gentrification and displacement, We will not be intimidated by these vile acts of hatred and bigotry,” Cornegy wrote on his Facebook page following the press conference. “If you think this symbol has no significance let me remind you that not long ago in this country educating black people was actually illegal!”

A spokeswoman for the Brooklyn Public Library said it is cooperating with the police investigation, denouncing the incident as “antithetical to the BPL’s mission.”

“Brooklyn Public Library is a welcoming space for all New Yorkers and we continue to be diligent in preserving an atmosphere of inclusivity and safety,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

An investigation by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force into the incidents is ongoing, though a police spokesman could not say Monday whether the two incidents were connected.