Community outraged after neighbor hangs mannequin from tree, flies Confederate flag

Residents in a Little Rock, Arkansas, neighborhood are furious after one resident flew a Confederate flag and hung a mannequin from a tree in her yard. The mannequin appeared to look like a black man hanging from a noose. 

The display was caught on video and posted on Facebook. The post appears to have been removed, but several angry residents commented on the disturbing video, local Little Rock stations KARK and KLRT report.

A reporter for the stations, Mitchell McCoy, snapped photos of the mannequin and flag and also confronted the homeowner about it. She told the reporter her display has nothing to do with race. "Well, hell, I'll take it down," she said. "This is a Halloween decoration - a Creeper. You know the movie 'Jeepers Creepers.'"

The woman said no one had come to her house to complain. "They could have knocked on the door and asked instead of calling the news out," she said. The woman refused to take the display down in front of the news crew, but when they returned 20 minutes later, it was gone, McCoy reports.

"This day of time, there's no place for it," Little Rock resident Ricky Allen told McCoy. "I saw a video of a noose, of a person of color, hanging from it. It's kind of disturbing...It's heartbreaking to know neighbors in the neighborhood like that."

Allen said the only reason the homeowner took the mannequin down is because neighbors drew media attention to it. "Cause you guys are out here," he said. "Somebody called and told you all about it, I think that's why they took it down."

Many people who saw the display on social media said they do not believe the woman's excuse that it was a Halloween decoration. "Girl… it's May. Halloween has BEEN over," one person wrote.

"A Halloween decoration? Honey it's May… you know you're just being hateful so stop trying to pass it off as something else," another commented.

In:
• Confederate Flag