Oakland mayor insists on investigating rope swing as a hate crime, says 'intent does not matter'

The people of Oakland, California, deserve better than this.

Mayor Libby Schaaf plunged her city into a panic this week when she announced that a series of supposed nooses found hanging from trees in a city park would be investigated as a hate crime. The FBI is investigating the matter now, she told reporters at a somber, deadly serious press conference.

Schaaf’s announced investigation has almost certainly served as confirmation for some that something nefarious indeed happened at that park. After all, they would not go through the trouble of bringing in the FBI unless something serious had happened, right?

As it turns out, nobody had hung nooses. The ropes, which have been removed by city officials, were put up by a black resident, Victor Sengbe, who said they were part of an exercise swing system that he and his friends assembled for the benefit and enjoyment of parkgoers.

Amazingly, despite Sengbe’s explanation and video proof and despite how several members of the community who came forward immediately told law enforcement officials that the ropes were just part of a swing system erected months ago, Schaaf maintains the ropes are a hate crime until proven otherwise.

Indeed, rather than back away, shutter the investigation, and admit they accidentally terrorized the people of Oakland by putting the city’s stamp of legitimacy on a false hate crime, Schaaf was defiant and self-righteous, saying intent does not matter in this case.

“Intentions don’t matter when it comes to terrorizing the public,” the mayor said in response to a reporter who noted specifically that a black resident claims responsibility for the swing system. “It is incumbent on all of us to know the actual history of racial violence, of terrorism, that a noose represents and that we as a city must remove these terrorizing symbols from the public view.”

She added, "We have to stop terrorizing our black and brown citizens. As white people, we have to become knowledgeable and educated about the impacts of our actions."

The city’s director of parks and recreation, Nicholas Williams, backed her up, saying, “The symbolism of the rope hanging in the tree is malicious regardless of intent. It’s evil, and it symbolizes hatred.”

This is crazy. Again, let us review the timeline of events.

On Tuesday, a Facebook user uploaded a video to social media, misidentifying one of the ropes as a “noose.”

The video went viral, prompting action from the police. Law enforcement officials subsequently found four additional “nooses” that same day during a search of the area. At the same time, members of the community came forward and told the investigating officers that the ropes were just part of a makeshift swing system. The man who claimed responsibility for putting the ropes up in the first place also came forward and told members of the press that there had been a terrible misunderstanding.

On Wednesday, Schaaf announced that the “nooses” would be investigated as a hate crime. When a reporter reminded the mayor that local residents said the ropes represented nothing sinister, the mayor dismissed the remarks, reiterating that the matter would be investigated as a hate crime.

Along with bringing in the FBI, city officials have also dispatched extra police officers to the area where the ropes were found.

Sengbe, who again is black, is distraught that it has come to this.

“Out of the dozen and hundreds and thousands of people that walked by, no one has thought that it looked anywhere close to a noose,” he told a local ABC News affiliate. “Folks have used it for exercise. It was really a fun addition to the park that we tried to create.”

It is “unfortunate,” he adds, “that a genuine gesture of just wanting to have a good time got misinterpreted into something so heinous.”

It is amazing just how self-defeating and tone-deaf Schaaf’s actions are in this matter. First, I cannot be the only one who sees this story now as a middle-aged white woman calling the police over what she views as suspicious behavior, all while ignoring the repeated pleas of a black man who insists he did nothing wrong.

Lastly, you want to terrify black people and other minorities, especially amid the turmoil over the death of George Floyd? Insist that there is a devious, malicious hate crime where there is none and then load up their communities with local and federal law enforcement officials tasked with solving a crime that never happened. The abundance of law officers, coupled with the insistence that a racially motivated crime took place, should help the minority residents of Oakland sleep better at night.

It is as if some people have become so “woke,” their brains stopped working altogether.