A Michigan man allegedly used nooses and racist notes to intimidate and frighten residents and Black Lives Matter supporters.
On Wednesday, 61-year-old Kenneth Pilon was charged with six counts of interfering with federally protected activities in connection to incidents that took place between June and July 2020. At the time, some of the country was standing together in protest of the police-led murder of George Floyd.
Police say Pilon would go to different stores in Saginaw, Michigan and leave nooses with a message attached to them, NBC News reports.
One of the notes read: “An accessory to be worn with your ‘BLM’ t-shirt. Happy protesting!” The messages were found in several places, including a Goodwill parking lot, inside a beverage cooler at a 7-Eleven and in a Walmart parking lot.”
Pilon went to a number of places, including Walmart parking lots, Goodwill parking lots and people’s cars. In another instance, Pilon allegedly left messages on people’s cars who he saw supporting the BLM movement.
“When he got into his truck, he noticed in the side of the door was this noose with a note attached to it,” said Regina Simon, who believes Plan targeted her because she was wearing a BLM shirt her son made her. “At first I’m thinking it’s a joke, somebody trying to be funny, but then I’m like this isn’t funny,” she said, per NBC News.
