The FBI has concluded their investigation into the Bubba Wallace noose incident.
Turns out, it was a garage door pull rope which had been there since last year.
And Bubba isn’t very happy about how he is now being treated.
From CNN:
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace says he’s “pissed” members of the public are now questioning his integrity after the FBI said a noose found in his garage stall this week was there before his team moved in.
“I’m mad because people are trying to test my character and the person that I am and my integrity,” he told CNN’s Don Lemon Tuesday night.
NASCAR said it launched an investigation after a crew member discovered the noose Sunday afternoon at the Talladega Superspeedway. In a statement earlier this week, NASCAR said it was “angry and outraged.”The FBI said Tuesday the noose had been in the garage since last year and Wallace was therefore not a victim of a hate crime. NASCAR, mentioning the FBI report, described the item as a “garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose.”
Coverage by Yahoo reiterates that Wallace was not the one to see the noose in the first place:
Bubba Wallace said Tuesday night he’s “pissed” that some are attacking his character following the determination that no federal charges will be brought after a noose was discovered in his garage stall at Talladega.
Wallace, the only Black driver racing full-time in NASCAR, was informed by NASCAR president Steve Phelps early Sunday evening that a crew member on Wallace’s team had discovered the noose. Wallace — who isn’t allowed to go to the garage because of NASCAR’s coronavirus social distancing protocols — said Phelps called him and told him that he wanted to talk in person.
Wallace said he at first wondered if he had said something wrong to get suspended or punished by NASCAR. Then he realized that was not the case when he went and met with Phelps.
“The look that he had on his face alerted me in a way I’ll never forget as well and I’m still thinking ‘OK what did I do, let me know,’” Wallace told CNN’s Don Lemon. “ … The conversation I had with Steve Phelps I would say, and I’m speaking for him, probably one of the hardest things if not the hardest thing he’s ever had to tell somebody. Tears running down his face. Choked up on every word that he was trying to say, the evidence he brought to me that a hate crime was committed, quote unquote.”
“And I immediately thought my family was in danger and so I was about ready to call my mom and dad and make sure everybody was OK. But it was in the garage stall where our car was at so I was kind of taken aback and not really comprehending everything.”
The rush to indict "society" was immediate in the case before the facts had even come out:
Now many have taken to the internet to criticize the rush of judgment:
In the eyes of many, America is guilty until proven innocent.
Anything that can be manipulated to further push the narrative of division will be capitalized on.
I don't blame Bubba, he was notified of the "problem."
But he did jump on the "America is racist" bandwagon and rode it until the wheels fell off.
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