A noose was found hanging from a tree Friday morning at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill. The church’s rector, the Reverend Michele Morgan, says a local choir was getting ready to rehearse in the church’s nave when they discovered the noose around 11 a.m. It was hanging about 10 feet off the ground, attached to a branch of the tallest tree in the courtyard.

Morgan says when her music director showed her a photo of the noose, she first thought it was a rope used to trim trees. When she arrived, she recognized the neon green rope with yellow speckles for what it was: “It was a noose. It looked like a noose.”

Police showed up along with Thomas Bowen, director of the Mayor’s Office of Religious Affairs, Morgan says. The whole time she thought, “This has such a symbolism of hatred and racialized terror attached to it. And, you know, I’m in the business of symbolism. That’s part of my job.”

Morgan says St. Mark’s has had two Black Lives Matter banners stolen from the front of the church over the past four months. One was stolen around the time of the Capitol insurrection, and another was taken on March 13. She says she will continue putting the banners up “until the cows come home.”

Churches across D.C., most of them historically Black churches, were the sight of vandalism and hate as MAGA supporters tore down Black Lives Matter banners repeatedly during the winter (St. Mark’s is not a historically Black church). Church leaders condemned the actions as hate crimes.

Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who oversees the D.C. Council’s public safety committee, tweeted about the incident, writing, “Denounce it loud & clear – hate has no home here.”

Morgan says this latest act of vandalism “chilled” her, but she wouldn’t let it stop her from spreading the message of racial justice and hope. Her boss, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, arrived shortly after police cut the rope down and told Morgan that the two should pray.

“In the Episcopal tradition, we bless and consecrate,” Morgan says. “In a way, she re-consecrated that tree for everything a tree should be  … and I was just really moved by that. I think that’s the best of the church.”

Morgan says she has no leads on who left the noose. The Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that it is investigating the incident as a possible hate crime. “These types of offenses are taken seriously and are entirely unacceptable,” the department wrote in its statement. Anyone with leads or information can call 202-727-9099 or text anonymously to 50411.

“I hope whoever did this finds some redemption on the other side of this,” Morgan says. “I’ll be praying for that as well.”