Texas Man Sues Over Racist Noose Prank on Juneteenth

Hanging Noose Rope Against White Background — Source: Christopher Murray / EyeEm / Getty

A man in Arlington, Texas, filed a lawsuit this week alleging the manager at the hardware store where he formerly worked hung up a racist display on Juneteenth.

According to CBS News, when Devondrick Hartsfield arrived at work at Van Marcke’s Ace Hardware on Juneteenth in 2023, he was told to follow a manager into the back. When they got to the back area, the manager allegedly told Hartsfield to look up. When he did, he saw a black backpack hanging from a noose.

“I took it as a Black man being hung, dismembered. The bag to me looked to me like a Black man who was hung and dismembered,” Hartsfield told CBS.

The manager’s explanation was that it wasn’t a racist prank, but one targeted at the employee who left their backpack at work, but Hartsfield wasn’t buying it. “I think it was a message,” he told CBS. “I don’t think it was a misunderstanding. It was a message. It happened on Juneteenth, and it was a black monster backpack at that. So I feel like it was a message.”

Hartsfield said he was the only Black employee at the hardware store and had only been working there for four months as a delivery driver. He told the company that he would refuse to return to work unless an investigation was launched and someone was held accountable for the racist prank.

Hartsfield’s lawsuit states that an investigation was never launched and that he was fired two weeks after filing a complaint with human resources. This allegedly occurred despite a statement released by the hardware store in 2023 saying an investigation would be launched.

“Van Marcke’s Ace Hardware would like to assure you and the entire community that any allegations of racism; or any discrimination is being thoroughly investigated and addressed with the utmost urgency. We take such incidents seriously and are committed to creating a safe and inclusive environment for both our employees and customers,” the statement read.

Hartsfield has said Juneteenth has become “a painful reminder” of the incident. “Instead of a celebration, it’s actually a reminder of someone traumatizing me for the rest of my life.” Hartsfield’s lawsuit is seeking at least $1 million in damages for the alleged mental anguish and loss of earnings.

The noose has long been a symbol of America’s sordid history of lynching and has become racists’ favorite way to showcase that they don’t get down with Black people. In 2019, charges were filed against four Florida firefighters after a hangman’s noose was placed in the workspace of a Black firefighter. In 2020, a white man in Michigan went on a tirade and threatened to kill several Black people with a noose.

Even more concerningly, there’s been an uptick in incidents involving Black people being hanged from trees. Javion Magee was found hanging from a tree in North Carolina last year. Investigators said that he bought the rope himself and committed suicide, though his family is doubtful that was the case.

Trevonte Jamal Shubert-Helton was found hanging from a tree in Georgia last year, and once more, investigators were quick to label it a suicide despite Georgia having a sordid history of lynching. Only a couple of weeks ago, a Black man was found hanging from a tree in Albany, N.Y. While the official line on all these cases was that they were suicides, America’s history of lynching Black bodies makes it hard to take them at face value.

What makes Hartsfield’s case more disheartening is that Juneteenth specifically marks the day when news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally made its way to Galveston, Texas. In a state where Juneteenth holds such a special significance, the employees should’ve known better than to even consider putting up a noose given what it historically represents. ‘Cause at the end of the day, if the prank was really about the backpack, they could’ve hidden it, not hung it.

SEE ALSO:

Racist Imprisoned For Noose Threats

Lawyers Compare Javion Magee Hanging To Emmett Till