More chilling news was heard around the sports world on Sunday night, as NASCAR announced that a noose was found in Bubba Wallace’s garage at Talladega in Alabama for the Geico 500 this past weekend. Wallace, uncoincidentally, is the only Black driver in NASCAR and has repeatedly shared his views about racial inequality over the past several weeks.
NASCAR officials released a statement from Sunday night’s heinous act:
“Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team. We are 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. As we have stated unequivocally, there is no place for racism in NASCAR and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcoming to all.”
The FBI, state of Alabama, and the Department of Justice Civil Rights division all announced that they are heavily involved in the investigation. Wallace has not stayed silent despite the acts made towards him, releasing several posts on social media.
NASCAR has been very vocal recently as they try to combat everything that has been going on in the country in the last three months. President Steve Phelps stated that whoever was responsible for hanging the noose in Wallace’s garage “will be banned from the sport for life.” All of this most likely stems from Bubba’ s recent statement of wearing an “I can’t breathe” shirt to a previous race to bring awareness to those who have been victims of racism and police brutality.
Wallace also urged NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at all of its races, to which the league swiftly obliged. Controversy has ensued as a result of the removal of flags, which leads us to the event that took place Sunday at Talladega.
