Two days after the FBI washed its hands of a hate crime investigation centering around a noose tied in NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace's garage, the racing company released a photo of the hate symbol in question. And despite social media chatter desperately trying to convince the public that the tied rope was simply a device used to pull down the garage door, NASCAR President Steve Phelps defended Wallace, who is the company’s only Black driver in the Cup Series, Thursday during a teleconference.
“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba," he said. Apparently, the FBI didn’t view the noose as quite the threatening symbol history has shown us it is.
Federal officials determined after a two-day investigation—and that’s being generous—that “no federal crime was committed” in the situation brought to light Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. said in a joint statement Tuesday:
“The FBI learned that garage number 4, where the noose was found, was assigned to Bubba Wallace last week. The investigation also revealed evidence, including authentic video confirmed by NASCAR, that the noose found in garage number 4 was in that garage as early as October 2019. Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week. The decision not to pursue federal charges is proper after reviewing all available facts and all applicable federal laws. We offer our thanks to NASCAR, Mr. Wallace, and everyone who cooperated with this investigation.”
In a NASCAR staff report, the organization said “NASCAR officials asked each track to sweep through respective garages.” Phelps added: “So across those 29 tracks and 1,684 garage stalls, we found only 11 total that had a pull-down rope tied in a knot and only one noose — the one discovered on Sunday in Bubba Wallace’s garage.”
The noose investigation follows Wallace’s recent push to be more outspoken about racial injustice, and specifically about NASCAR’s decision to ban the Confederate flag. "Yeah to you it may seem like it's heritage, but others see hate," Wallace said of the flag.
He called the noose left in his garage a “despicable act of racism and hatred” that “serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism … As my mother told me today, 'They are just trying to scare you,'” Wallace said in a statement he shared on Twitter Sunday. “This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in."
He said in another tweet Wednesday that he was "relieved" when the FBI investigation revealed that "this wasn't what we feared it was … I think we'll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been," Wallace said.
Still, much to the apparent dismay of social media advocates ferociously defending racism, it’s hard to dispute what was depicted hanging from Wallace’s garage door.
He also told CNN’s Don Lemon that “whether tied in 2019, or whatever, it was a noose. I’ve been racing all my life,” the driver said. “We’ve raced out of hundreds of garages that never had garage pulls like that, so people that want to call it a garage pull and put out old videos and photos of knots as their evidence, go ahead. But from the evidence that we have, that I have, it’s a straight-up noose.”
NBA star LeBron James called the situation "Sickening!" in a tweet Sunday. "@BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone! I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete,” he added. “I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports! @NASCAR I salute you as well!”
Other drivers came together Sunday night to push Wallace's team No. 43 car to the front of the track during the Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney also supported his peer in a video shared Monday on Twitter. Blaney said Wallace’s response “shows how strong Bubba is. I’m getting sick of this s—t. It’s not something that he should deal with.” But deal with it, he does.
Wallace’s mother, Desiree Wallace, told Sirius XM’s the “Joe Madison Show” that this isn’t the first racial incident her son has encountered. “If he gets into it with another driver, you know, they’ll quickly to throw out the n-word,” she said. “He’s been told he doesn’t belong here. You know, we’ve been through all of that, and everything I teach my son is you don’t throw back at them. You just get in that race car and win.”
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