NASCAR has launched an immediate investigation after a noose was found in Bubba Wallace‘s garage at the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. And while there were cameras in the garage, finding out who hung the noose could be more challenging than anticipated. Desiree Wallace, Bubba Wallace’s mother, called into Joe Madison’s SiriusXM NASCAR radio show on Monday and explained why finding out who hung the noose won’t be easy.
“There were video cameras but there were not cameras where the noose was hung,” Wallace said via NESN. “See, everybody thinks the cameras were around there, they know who done it. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.” Desiree Wallace went on to say officials “have names of who was allowed in the garage, so they have that much. But they’re going to have to figure out exactly where it came from; if it was one person or several people involved.” The one thing Desiree hopes for the person not being from Wallace’s team. She said she would be upset if it was somebody from NASCAR.
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There has been speculation that Wallace was the one to place the noose in order for more attention. When Wallace heard those rumors, he wasn’t happy. “It’s simple-minded people like that, the ones that are afraid of change, they use everything in their power to defend what they stand up for… instead of trying to listen and understand what’s going on,” Wallace said on The View Tuesday.
Wallace is the only full-time Black driver in NASCAR. Jesse Iwuji, a Black NASCAR driver who competes in the Truck Series, said he’s been a target of racism for a number of years. He said fans would send him messages on Instagram revealing they don’t like him because of the color of his skin. Iwuji is disappointed with those messages but says the noose is on another level.
“To see someone go to that level, and the thing is, there are no fans at the track there,” Iwuji said. “So it had to be someone, whether it was on a team or … I don’t know. Somebody got in there and put that in there. … That’s literally one step away from carrying out the real action of lynching someone. Everyone knows what that noose means. It’s racist, it’s hate, and it just shows that you do not care, any bit, about our race.”
