RICHMOND, Va. (NNPA)— The Verizon noose story is true.

The story is still circulating among Verizon employees in the giant telecommunications company’s downtown Richmond offices.

In response to Free Press queries, a Verizon spokesman acknowledged last week that a company supervisor hung a noose made of rope in a company workplace.

The noose is a notorious symbol of racism that recalls the lynching and terrorism of Black people in the Jim Crow South.

The spokesman, Harry Mitchell, said the Verizon supervisor was fired in May after an investigation of the incident. The investigation was launched in response to an employee’s complaint.

Mitchell declined to identify the former supervisor or where he worked before he was fired. He said only that the employee was a supervisor in operations.

Mitchell said nothing in Verizon’s corporate culture would allow any employee to believe he or she could bring a noose to work.

“We have zero tolerance for that kind of stuff,” Mitchell said. “We expect our employees to be respectful of others.”

Verizon Virginia repeatedly has been sanctioned by the State Corporation Commission for unfair and improper business practices and criticized by civil rights advocates, as well as the Free Press, for poor diversity practices in procurement and employment.