Hanging, empty chair ignites controversy in Austin Some call home's display is sending a racist, anti-Obama message

A folding chair with an American flag, tied with a rope and hanging from a tree has brought a lot of attention to a northwest Austin neighborhood.

Weeks after Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood's chair skit mocked President Obama at the Republican National Convention, an Austin homeowner is drawing criticism for his folding-chair display, which some call a racist attack against the nation's first black president, Austin's KVUE reports on Thursday.

(Watch a video report on the chair by clicking the above link.)

KVUE says cameras rolled as homeowner Bud Johnson removed the rope and placed the chair on the lawn. He told the TV station those complaining about the display have the wrong idea:

"... It's a misconception," Johnson said. "It has nothing to do with racism. Nothing."

But Austin NAACP leader Nelson Linder disagrees, telling KVUE:

"When you put up a chair in your lawn with a rope around it, you're sending a very powerful message," said Linder. "It's also very insensitive. Black folks know what that means. It happens in the workplace for example. Nooses in the workplaces are unacceptable. It's no different in your yard. Even though it's private property, it goes beyond individual expression."

In a statement to KVUE, Travis County Democratic Party Chairman Andy Brown called on his Republican counterpart to condemn the chair display.

For more, go to KVUE.com: Hanging chair stirs up firestorm of controversy in Northwest Austin