Amazon Pauses Construction At Connecticut Site After Nooses Found

Nooses found at an Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN site in Windsor, Connecticut, are causing the company to halt construction there.

What Happened: Amazon has temporarily halted construction site at the Windsor location after seven nooses were discovered at the site since April, AP reports. 

Amazon has said that it is closing the site until Monday so that additional security measures can be put in place.

A rope tied like a noose was discovered on Wednesday at the site in Windsor, about 10 miles north of Hartford.

According to Windsor Police Capt. Andrew Power, the first noose was found in April hanging from a steel beam on the building's second floor. Five more ropes "that could be interpreted as nooses" were found on various other floors on April 29.

"Some of them were just rope that was tied at the end, and some were twisted in a manner to look like a noose," Power said, adding that the police have had a difficult time identifying a suspect since the ropes were all found in areas that lacked surveillance equipment.

Connecticut NAACP leaders, along with state and local officials, condemned the incidents as racist.

"We're here to make sure that people are safe," said Scot X. Esdaile, president of the state NAACP. "We're making sure that the voices are heard and that this situation is dealt with in a professional and adequate way."

According to USA Today, Amazon and the facility's development company are jointly offering a $100,000 reward for information that could result in those responsible.

"We continue to be deeply disturbed by the incidents happening at the construction site in Windsor," Amazon said. "Hate, racism or discrimination have no place in our society and are certainly not tolerated in an Amazon workplace."

Why It Matters: Cases of racism on construction sites are at a high. According to a news website focused on the construction industry Construction Drive, 65% of readers surveyed last year had witnessed racist incidents on job sites. 

Those incidents included nooses, graffiti and slurs. Seventy-seven percent of readers said that nothing had been done to address the incidents.