NASHVILLE – Six nooses arranged in the colors of the rainbow were part of an art display for a sculpture class at a Tennessee university and were not intended to be a political statement or hate symbol, officials said Tuesday.
Austin Peay State University President Alisa White told students at a forum that the FBI had interviewed the unnamed student and her art teacher and found no malicious intent with the project.
The nooses were hung from a tree near the art building at the Clarksville campus Monday afternoon. Campus police removed them after a complaint.
The art student issued a statement Tuesday saying the display was meant to invoke the cycle of death and rebirth represented by springtime. Before the statement, speculation about the meaning of the nooses had been rampant, with some students saying they were a statement about the high suicide rate among lesbian and gay youth and others assuming they were meant as a threat against African-Americans.
Even after the statement, some students at the community forum were skeptical that anyone would not knownooses would invoke slavery, segregation and lynching – rather than springtime – for many people.