Triggered onlookers want 'noose' taken down — even though it's a steel cable loop attached to a crane at a construction site

Perhaps it was the American flag placed on a steel cable at a Central Connecticut State University construction site in honor of Memorial Day that attracted attention.

Because even though the loop at the end of the steel cable was clearly part of the site's crane mechanism, it triggered a few folks.

Image source: WTIC-TV video screenshot

What are the details?

"Regardless of what someone else says about that, what I see, as a black man? That's a noose. Period," Ronald Davis, president of the New Britain NAACP, told WTIC-TV. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Take it down."

Community organizer Mimi Gonzalez told the station, "We have to think about intention versus impact. If that's not the intention, then think about the impact you're having on the community."

What did the college have to say?

Sal Cintorino, CCSU's chief operating officer, added to WTIC that "their perception is mine as well, and it's all of ours. We want to be respectful and understand when we look at that from afar it's concerning. You can certainly perceive that as looking like a noose, and so even though it's a loop hook, and it's a steel cable, we're gonna lower it and we're gonna remove it."

The university said it contacted the construction company, and the cable would be taken down as soon as possible, the station reported.

WTIC also noted recent discoveries of nooses at an Amazon construction site in Windsor — just 20 minutes northeast of New Britain — as adding to the tension surrounding the construction site's cable loop.

"We understand this is a very concerning image, especially in light of the recent issues at the Amazon construction site," CCSU President Zulma Toro said a statement, the station reported. "We have been in contact with the construction company and demanded that the cable be lowered tonight. We have a team on-site tonight monitoring the situation."

'It's not a rope'

A WTIC reporter conducted an on-camera interview about the controversy with John Tully, the school's interim vice president of student affairs — and the reporter twice referred to the cable as a "rope."

Perhaps realizing the incorrect perception might add fuel to the fire, Tully replied by saying, "First of all, it's not a rope; it's part of the steel cable, which is part of the crane operation ... that is used to create the parking structure" that's the focus of the construction project.

Image source: WTIC-TV video screenshot

But Tully still added to the station, "Even so, the perception of its noose-like appearance is concerning. We were speaking to people last night who certainly felt some pain. We feel that pain. ... and we're working diligently to get it down."

(H/T: Campus Reform)