A U.S. attorney, the FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice are “reviewing the situation” after a noose was found in the garage of a Black NASCAR driver.
In a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Alabama, officials said investigators would look for any “violations of federal law.”
“Regardless of whether federal charges can be brought, this type of action has no place in our society,” the statement added.
Driver Bubba Wallace said on Twitter that “the despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism.”
NASCAR has pledged to find who put the noose in Wallace’s garage and “eliminate them from the sport.”
“We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act,” NASCAR said in a statement. “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.”
Wallace successfully pushed NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at its venues a couple weeks ago.
