[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 396 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 396

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the hanging of nooses for the 
 purpose of intimidation should be thoroughly investigated by Federal, 
  State, and local law enforcement authorities and that any criminal 
              violations should be vigorously prosecuted.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 7, 2007

 Mr. Cardin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that the hanging of nooses for the 
 purpose of intimidation should be thoroughly investigated by Federal, 
  State, and local law enforcement authorities and that any criminal 
              violations should be vigorously prosecuted.

Whereas, in the fall of 2007, nooses have been found hanging in or near a high 
        school in North Carolina, a Home Depot store in New Jersey, a school 
        playground in Louisiana, the campus of the University of Maryland, a 
        factory in Houston, Texas, and on the door of a professor's office at 
        Columbia University;
Whereas the Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded between 40 and 50 suspected 
        hate crimes involving nooses since September 2007;
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 symbols of racism and 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 victims killed by lynching in the history of the United 
        States exceeds the number 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 Italian, Jewish, and Mexican-Americans, 
        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 on issues of race in the United States: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the hanging of nooses is a reprehensible act when used 
        for the purpose of intimidation and, under certain 
        circumstances, can be criminal;
            (2) the hanging of nooses for the purpose of intimidation 
        should be investigated thoroughly by Federal, State, and local 
        law enforcement; and
            (3) any criminal violations involving the hanging of nooses 
        should be vigorously prosecuted.
                                 <all>