Winston-Salem residents have been served notice. Hanging a body from a tree on Halloween is insensitive.
In an effort to be the scariest house on the block, the Lyth family hung a stuffed figure from a tree limb in their front yard. Black neighborhood residents took offense:
“All we were trying to do is be the coolest house on the block,” said Lyth, who is white. To some, however, the Halloween motif was overpowered by the image of a man hanging from a tree branch. The body carried a much different meaning, one that is wrapped in images of black men and women being lynched.
“I don’t know what they were thinking,” said Delores Wall, who is black and lives on the same road. “She has to understand that you can’t come here and do that in a black neighborhood. It’s a slap in the face.”
Likewise, Harry Andrews knew that it wasn’t a real body hanging from a tree when he passed by the Lyth house two weeks ago. But as a black man who grew up in South Carolina more than 60 years ago, he saw a man hanging in a tree.
Andrews called Wall, the president of the local neighborhood-watch group. Wall called the police department.
“If we don’t nip this in the bud now, there’s no telling what people might do,” said Wall, who is black. “It’s very disturbing to me, because it took me back 100 years.”
Not all of the Lyth’s neighbors were offended by the display:
…Sylvester and James Tate, who are black, the decoration wasn’t a big deal. The children enjoyed it, they said.
“They tend to their business. We tend to ours,” said Sylvester Tate, 63. “If you think something’s wrong all the time – that’s racist.”
