When I was in highschool there was this kid they called Snookie that had a passion for tying nooses. He tied the pullcord of every windowshade in the study hall into a noose, he tied the pullcord on every movie screen in the high school into a noose, he could not be around a rope, cord or string without tying it into a noose. During lunch hours he would twist napkins into a rope and tye a noose from it.
He never expressed any desire to hang anyone or anything.
He just liked nooses.
When he graduated he and Wesley Wilson, his sidekick or possibly wheelman, joined the Marines. Wesley weighed 300 lbs, and had to go through basic training twice before he lost 100 lbs and passed. Then they made him a clerk. I never did hear what became of Snookie.
There were several kids with the Stars and Bars front license plates on their cars, but I don't think they meant they supported racism by it. They just wanted to be thought of as "rebels".
About a dozen or so kids in the HS would stand up with their hands over their chests when the band played "Dixie", because it pissed the principal off.
Eventually, the band stopped playing 'Dixie" altogether. But it took three years.
A noose around Jena, LA probably indicates a hostile attitude.