Hanging Halloween prop denounced by Brooklyn demonstrators for racist overtones – By Ellen Moynihan & Larry McShane (nydailynews.com) / Oct 6 2018
A gruesome Halloween display of a life-sized hanging “body” evoked real horrors Saturday for Brooklyn protesters — until they forced its takedown.
Outraged neighborhood activists and residents, confronted with the sight of a dangling corpse reminiscent of African-Americans lynchings, protested until a Brownsville building super removed the so-called decoration.
“Thanks to the persistence of community residents … we were successful” in efforts to remove the creepy fake corpse, according to an email from local activist Tony Herbert — who even held the ladder for the dismantling.
Demonstrators gathered earlier to express their dismay beneath the prop wrapped in a garbage bag and suspended by an electrical cord.
“If they just put it in a chair, or had it standing there, then it’s just a scarecrow,” said Brother Jennings, 57, who lives on the block. “But once you put a noose around the neck, it’s lynching.”
Jennings said public reaction would change dramatically if the body sported a police hat or the face of a politician.
“But it’s us, so it doesn’t matter,” he said. “You don’t do that in this kind of neighborhood.”
A Protester speaks to William Soto, at 2348 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn on Saturday October 6, 2018. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Salama Patrick, 23, became instantly despondent upon seeing the display just down the street from her corner apartment.
“I felt my chest sinking,” she said, shaking her head at the faux corpse. “It was a visceral reaction.”
The effigy was wrapped in a garbage bag and hung from the fire escape, with the building super insisting that people were overreacting to the seasonal decor.
“It’s a Halloween prop,” shot back William Soto before he caved in to the demonstrators. “That’s it! I’m Puerto Rican, we come from the same struggle.”
Police talk to William Soto (right), who put up the display. At 2348 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn on Saturday October 6, 2018. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)
Soto offered one last defense: “It’s a white figure, not black.”
But community activist Herbert said Soto missed the historical significance of the hanging body in a predominantly black neighborhood.
“I don’t care if it’s Halloween or not,” said Herbert. “You want to celebrate Halloween, do it in your house … It’s not artwork. It’s wrong, and we’re asking for it to be taken down. It’s totally disrespectful and disgraceful, too.”
According to the NAACP, there were 3,446 blacks lynched in the United States between 1882-1968.
The building super slightly altered the holiday display after a visit from police, moving the cord from around the body’s neck to its torso, before agreeing to removed the whole thing.
“Halloween these days is more about blood and gore, not like it was in Salem with the witches,” said the defiant Soto. “The bloodier, the better.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny-metro-halloween-hanging-protest-20181006-story.html
