[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 826 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 826

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the hanging 
 of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of intimidation 
and which under certain circumstances can be a criminal act that should 
 be thoroughly investigated by Federal law enforcement authorities and 
     that any criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 14, 2007

 Mr. Al Green of Texas (for himself, Ms. Richardson, Mr. McHenry, Mr. 
  Burton of Indiana, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Gohmert, Mr. Poe, Mr. 
Sensenbrenner, Mr. Conyers, Mr. George Miller of California, Mr. Cohen, 
 Mr. Murtha, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Waters, Mr. Abercrombie, Mr. Spratt, 
 Ms. Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Watson, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. Pascrell, 
Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Nadler, Ms. DeGette, Mr. Clay, 
    Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Yarmuth, Mr. Rothman, Mr. Lewis of 
Georgia, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Pastor, Mr. Baca, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Scott 
  of Virginia, Mr. Watt, Ms. Clarke, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Thompson of 
  Mississippi, Mr. Higgins, Mr. Bishop of Georgia, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. 
Doggett, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Cleaver, Mr. Towns, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, 
  Mr. McCrery, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Gene Green of Texas, Mr. Cuellar, Ms. 
  Velazquez, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Honda, Mr. Sires, Ms. Corrine Brown of 
Florida, Mr. Ortiz, and Mr. Shays) submitted the following resolution; 
          which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the hanging 
 of nooses is a horrible act when used for the purpose of intimidation 
and which under certain circumstances can be a criminal act that should 
 be thoroughly investigated by Federal law enforcement authorities and 
     that any criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted.

Whereas in the past two months, nooses have been found in a North Carolina high 
        school, a Home Depot in New Jersey, a Louisiana school playground, the 
        campus of the University of Maryland, a Columbia University professor's 
        office door and a factory in Houston, Texas;
Whereas the Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded between 40 and 50 suspected 
        hate crimes involving nooses since September;
Whereas since 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed more 
        than 30 lawsuits that involve the displaying of nooses in places of 
        employment;
Whereas nooses are reviled by many Americans as racist symbols of lynchings that 
        were once all too common;
Whereas according to Tuskegee Institute, more than 4,700 people were lynched 
        between 1882 and 1959 in a campaign of terror led by the Ku Klux Klan;
Whereas the number of dead lynching victims in the United States exceeds the 
        amount of people killed in the horrible attack on Pearl Harbor (2,333 
        dead) and Hurricane Katrina (1,836 dead) combined; and
Whereas African-Americans, as well as Italians, Jews, and Mexicans, have 
        comprised the vast majority of lynching victims and only when we erase 
        the terrible symbols of the past can we finally begin to move forward: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives 
that--
            (1) the hanging of nooses is a horrible act when used for 
        the purpose of intimidation and which under certain 
        circumstances can be criminal;
            (2) this conduct should be investigated thoroughly by 
        Federal authorities; and
            (3) any criminal violations should be vigorously 
        prosecuted.
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