MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is looking into the discovery of two stuffed animal monkeys hanging from a noose at Miami International Airport that led to two Transportation Security Administration officers being punished.
TSA officials said they are dealing with the matter internally, but that is not good enough for local NAACP leaders.
"(It's) not just the TSA workers who were caught. There were supervisors and even their immediate directors too," Daniella Pierre, of the NAACP, said.
Pierre is preparing a formal letter demanding a wide-ranging probe -- administrative and criminal -- of the incident, who knew about the offensive display and what actions were taken or not.
"We would all know that that can never be considered a prank or be taken lightly," Pierre said.
TSA employees in a screening area not visible to the public reported seeing the display July 21 on a pole in the center of a workstation where agents screen luggage.
In a statement on its website, TSA indicates officers immediately reported it to TSA management.
It's what happened next that raises questions.
CNN obtained internal emails that indicate the manager brushed it off as a joke instead of taking action against the employees.
In the email six days after the incident, TSA's acting deputy administrator suggests to TSA brass that they pull together a message for officers, considering the volume of emails coming in about the Miami situation.
For any criminal charge here, there would have to be intent or threat against a victim.
The NAACP insists there is.
"This is directed at all persons that have suffered for over 400 years through slavery and lynching," Pierre said. "So while it is not a direct person, what their actions have done have attacked the people."