Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said ropes found hanging from trees at Lake Merritt have been turned over to the FBI to be investigated as a possible hate crime.
Some in the public who saw the ropes said they looked like nooses, long a racist symbol associated with the lynching of Black people in the United States.
The development comes as federal authorities are investigating the hanging deaths of two Black men in Southern California. Those deaths were ruled suicides, but the cases are being reviewed following objections by family members.
“What a privilege for those of us that don’t feel complete fear and terror when we see a rope in a tree,” Schaaf said. “That is a privilege that so many of our African American residents do not enjoy.”