SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) - Federal and state authorities are investigating after a black mayoral candidate in Shreveport, Louisiana, said he was threatened with lynching if he didn’t drop out of the race.
Louisiana State Police trooper Glenn Younger told the Shreveport Times on Thursday an investigation was opened after Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson said he received the anonymous threat.
At a news conference, Jackson said an envelope containing the threat inside was left at his home. He showed a piece of paper depicting his face on top of a head in a noose with the word “Rope” below.
Under the image, Jackson was called a racial slur and urged to stop trying to remove a Confederate monument from the grounds of a local courthouse.
The commission voted last fall 7-5 to remove the monument, with Jackson supporting the move. The monument’s removal has been blocked by a lawsuit although a federal judge in July ruled that the parish could go forward with the removal.
Shreveport is about 330 miles northwest of New Orleans.
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