Home Depot changes rope sales policy after nooses found in stores

• Home Depot is changing the way its US stores sell rope after a noose was reportedly found in a North Carolina store. 
• This incident is the latest in a series of similar occurrences in stores and other locations. 
• “Unfortunately, we’ve had some instances where spooled rope was used to create hate symbols and we’re not going to tolerate it,” said Home Depot spokesperson Margaret Watters Smith in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we temporarily removed spooled rope from our aisles.”
• Home Depot will replace larger lengths of rope on spools with shorter lengths of pre-cut, packaged rope.
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Home Depot is changing the way it sells rope in its stores after a noose was reportedly discovered in a North Carolina store, the latest in a string of similar occurrences in stores across the US.

In June, a woman claimed that she found two nooses in a Charlotte Home Depot aisle, to which Home Depot responded to in a statement saying it was  “appalled and disturbed by the incident.” Last July, another woman posted on Facebook about a similar experience in a Denver Home Depot.

“Unfortunately, we’ve had some instances where spooled rope was used to create hate symbols and we’re not going to tolerate it,” said Home Depot spokesperson Margaret Watters Smith in a statement. “Out of an abundance of caution, we temporarily removed spooled rope from our aisles.”

The home improvement retailer will now replace larger lengths of rope on spools with shorter lengths of pre-cut rope, which will be packaged in plastic. Smith said that associates should be available to assist with specific requests in stores if a customer requires another length of rope that is not offered in the pre-cut selections.

Sightings of nooses, a type of knot associated with the lynchings of Black individuals since slavery times, have become more common in the last few weeks, amid the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace recently reported finding a noose in his garage, though an FBI investigation found that no federal crime had been committed.