Third noose this week found at DC construction site

A noose was found at a construction site in southeast Washington on Thursday, police said, marking the third time such an object was found in the District in a week.

The noose was found hanging by the front door of a house under construction, according to CNN, which reported Saturday that the house is currently unoccupied.

A noose was found on the floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Wednesday in a section of the building dedicated to segregation and racial violence against African Americans.

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The discovery temporarily shut down the exhibition, and it was reopened within three hours. National Park Police are investigating the appearance of the noose at the museum.

“The noose has long represented a deplorable act of cowardice and depravity — a symbol of extreme violence for African Americans,” Museum Director Lonnie Bunch wrote in an email to staff after the incident. “Today’s incident is a painful reminder of the challenges that African Americans continue to face.”

The incident, however, marked the second time in less than a week that the symbol of racial violence had been found on Smithsonian property. Another noose was found hanging on a tree outside of the Hirshhorn Gallery, a contemporary art museum, just days earlier.

Bananas were found hanging in nooses on the campus of American University in northwest Washington in early May. Prior to that, a noose was left in a fraternity house in April on the University of Maryland campus in College Park, just northeast of the District.