Let me repeat this warning:
DO NOT INCLUDE A DUMMY HANGING FROM A NOOSE IN HALLOWEEN YARD DISPLAYS.
Add another dummy to the graveyard of racist Halloween decorations.
Along with the troublesome dummies in Greenfield, Wisconsin, and Madison, New Jersey, a dummy in Anderson, Indiana caused a stir.
A Halloween display featuring a “monster” hanging from a tree by a rope was dismantled Sunday afternoon under protest that it resembled a human being lynched.
Eleventh Street resident James Warner took issue with neighbor John Agee’s display, saying that it too closely resembled a lynching. Warner and Madison County NAACP President James Burgess confronted Agee Sunday afternoon; Anderson police were called, and Agee agreed to take down the display.
Agee contends that the display — which depicted a human-shaped dummy hanging from a tree, and two other dummies dead and bloodied beneath the tree among humorous fake headstones — was just in the scary spirit of Halloween. He said that he’s used the same display before, when he was living in Pendleton, and never had any problems.
“They’re just eerie creatures, monsters,” said Agee of the characters in his display. “You could say they’re from space if you want to.”
The display was located in Agee’s front yard, which is on the corner of 11th and Locust streets.
Warner said the hanging dummy might incite a retaliation from “outsiders” against Agee and the neighborhood. Burgess said the display was a civil rights violation.
“I didn’t like it,” said Warner. “I’m thinking that it could cause trouble.”
Anderson police mediated the dispute, which grew heated at times, and ultimately determined that there was no legal issue with the display. Police Sgt. Tom Brown told Agee that he had done nothing criminally wrong, but did not speak to either Warner or Burgess.
Agee, with officers watching, cut down the hanging dummy, and dismantled the entire display. He said his First Amendment rights had been violated, but he did not want to cause a problem with his neighbors.
It seems that 2007 marks a turning point in Halloween displays.
A dummy hanging from a noose is not acceptable. NO NOOSES.
Case closed.
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."
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