Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

These images may be disturbing. Please take care if you share them.

An anonymous call early yesterday morning from a McKeesport resident who would not use their name. They told me there was a noose hanging from the power lines on Meadow Street in McKeesport. Their fear was palpable.

I had a trusted source visit the spot and report back to me. I also connected with a local Black leader with media connections to ask about responding and informing. They gave me names of people in the McKeesport area whom it would be appropriate to notify

I contacted each one, asking if it was okay to get into details before I dumped everything on them. Most said yes. When I had photos in hand, I approached them with that information and asked if they wanted to see the photos. Again, most said yes and now most are addressing the issue with McKeesport authorities.

I think it is a noose. It could be something else, perhaps the loose wires coiled around a main line, but it still looks like a noose. And that’s not okay. Whomever – lineman, powerworker, etc – walked away from this made a terrible decision.

I don’t know how long this has been there – I’m hoping my anonymous source will call me back if just to relieve them knowing people are responding. I hope to find out if they know how long it has been there.

A noose is deeply racist, a physical representation of lynching used to intimidate and terrify Black communities. There’s no situation where creating a noose and hanging it in public is not racist. For a city like McKeesport and/or possibly Duquesne Light to allow this to happen or linger is deplorable. I can’t imagine how the people who live there or drive there or walk there or ride in a school bus there must feel.

But having grown up in the Mon Valley (West Mifflin), I’m not surprised. Shocked? Yes.

I do know that as a white woman, it is my obligation to believe a Black person who calls me anonymously about a noose hanging in their neighborhood. Obviously, I need to confirm the report which I did. And I notified community leaders whom I’m sure will respond in ways they think are appropriate.

As a white woman with a blog and a lot of followers, it is my obligation to make sure you know this sort of thing – intentional or not – is happening in the Pittsburgh region. Don’t downplay it, don’t rationalize it, don’t ignore the power of racist symbolism in our community. Again, I am acting after being informed by local leaders and the original person who contacted me.

The NFL draft is here in Pittsburgh this week. That’s a lot of BIPOC folx and a lot of media scrutiny. And a lot of reasons to downplay or deny the trauma of a situation like this.

Since 2000, The Grio cites reports of over 70 suspected modern-day lynchings predominately in Southern states. Many have been classified as deaths by suicide, but Black communities repeatedly say that this is unlikely and not a coincidence.

A noose is not just a symbol of the Jim Crow era, a historical reminder. It has a contemporary reality, a manifestation of the impact of white supremacy and racism in our society right now. Nine years ago, I wrote about ‘Two Pittsburghs’ and that truth still hold today.

If you choose to see the images, click here and here.

I don’t know what will come of this, but I do believe community advocates and media scrutiny is necessary to address the situation. It matters to me that one Black neighbor is upset enough to track me down and ask for help. It matters that they feel comfortable and safe in their neighborhood. And it matters that I can intervene to disrupt the harm this situation is causing in my community. Turning away might be an option, but it is not a moral choice available to people who want to be anti-racist.

I’ll be writing more later.

For more information on the imagery of a noose, read this statement from the NAACP and this from the Southern Poverty Law Center.