Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR, recently lobbied the racing series to ban displays of the Confederate battle flag at its events, which the series quickly agreed to do on June 10. On Sunday, NASCAR revealed a noose was discovered in the team garage for Wallace’s No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The racist, threatening gesture recalls the brutal lynchings of Black Americans; it was not seen by the Alabama-born Wallace but instead found and reported by a member of his team, according to ESPN.
Progress rarely comes swiftly, but backlash is often immediate. Reactions to NASCAR’s ban on Confederate imagery earlier this month ranged from supportive to what can only be called deranged, as the nation remains wracked by a reckoning over systemic racism. At the same time the noose was found, a number of fans lined up outside the track to display Confederate flags while a plane flew overhead trailing a banner with the flag and the message, “Defund NASCAR.” NASCAR’s overdue ban on Confederate symbols out of its races comes as protests around the country also focus on the removal and/or destruction of monuments celebrating major figures and elements of the Confederacy, which lost the American Civil War as it fought to maintain the ability for white Americans to own Black Americans.
As in most top-tier racing series, the NASCAR garage area is largely off-limits to the public, which could indicate someone affiliated with the series, another team, or the Talladega track may be responsible. For its part, NASCAR immediately launched in investigation into the incident, adding via a statement that it is “angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act. We have launched an immediate investigation, and will do everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport.” The top-tier stock-car series has long lacked minority representation, and it seems at least one person wanted to send a message they’d prefer NASCAR to stay that way, or at least they be able to fly a flag many Americans consider to be racist.
In a statement of his own, Wallace said, “Today’s despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and 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.”
