Halloween Event Display With Man In Blackface Hanging From Noose Causes Outrage In Tennessee

A long-running Halloween tradition in Tennessee is drawing national attention after an Instagram used shared a photo from the event showing a display with a man in black-face hanging from a noose.

via WMCTV

A photo, posted on Instagram late Friday night, is causing a stir on social media.

The Mid-South Maze has been in the Memphis area for 13 years, but a photo taken at the maze is causing many residents to speak out. They are classifying the image as offensive and controversial.

“The issue is you have a Caucasian man with a young boy, not even an African American boy, but a young boy with black face. [It's] almost like minstrel times just hanging from a noose. It’s something that shouldn’t be tolerated,” stated concerned visitor Timothy Moore.

Mid-South Maze owner, Chris Taylor, said this is the first he has ever heard of the possible controversy.

“It’s a medieval scene out in a corn maze. There’s a little bit of black makeup on his face. He sometimes wears a mask, but it’s more camouflage,” said Taylor.

Taylor continued to explain how the young man at the noose has been working at the maze for over eight years. He said the image was never intended to offend, it was only supposed to be for fun.

Unfortunately, displays of dead people hanging aren’t exactly scarce around Halloween season. But these people should have known better than to have this young man in blackface…..next to a white man….hanging from a noose and then try to justify it by saying “he’s not even really black.”