Amazon on Friday agreed to meet with CT NAACP and Windsor town leaders to discuss how to address a possible hate crime at the company’s fulfillment site after at least one noose was found there last week.
“My general question is both to the general contractor and the soon-to-be tenant is what are you doing about this?” Windsor mayor Don Trinks said.
The company agreed to meet with the CT NAACP, town leaders and site contractors RC Anderson to address the issue. RC Anderson is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the person responsible for the noose, while Scannell Properties, the project developer, is offering an additional $10,000.
Trinks said the discussion will be the latest in an ongoing conversation in Windsor. The town was one of the first to declare racism a public health crisis last year.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
“What we wanted to do was get our citizens together to say do you agree with this is, is this how you feel and overwhelmingly it was supported,” Trinks said.
Since then, Trinks said the town painted an “End Racism” mural on its library driveway, hosted rallies and will soon move a controversial statue of town founder John Mason.
“This tells us that the job is not done of equality and equity there’s still people out there that want to hold on to these disgusting symbols of the past,” Trinks said.
Local
Trinks said RC Anderson employees have since undergone sensitivity training and the contactor requested an additional seven Windsor police to secure the property.
Windsor police said detectives are continuing to interview employees, and evidence recovered at the scene is at the state crime lab for processing.
Both Amazon and RC Anderson condemned the racist symbol found at the site. Trinks said the conversation with the companies will add to the discussion that was already underway in Windsor.
“Certainly the first goal will be to find who did it why they did it but also to keep the message going at the school the town or construction site Windsor does not tolerate that,” Trinks said.
