NAACP asks Utah man to remove hangman Halloween decoration

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Ogden • The NAACP is calling a Utah man's Halloween display offensive and asking for its immediate removal.

The Standard Examiner reports that the display is a homemade animatronic piece in Roy that shows a wriggling hangman with a sack over his head and hands tied behind his back.

An NAACP statement says the decoration "makes a mockery of the history of lynchings in our country."

Designer Kevin Van Miltenberg says the decoration was not meant to be offensive. He says it was inspired by hangings in the Old West and that the hangman's hands are white.

Van Miltenberg says he needs time to think about whether he will take it down.

Ogden NAACP president Rev. Stanley Ellington says the decoration is offensive even if it wasn't Van Miltenberg's intention and should be removed.