[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 192 (Friday, December 14, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15704-S15705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   RELATIVE TO THE HANGING OF NOOSES FOR THE PURPOSE OF INTIMIDATION

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to Calendar No. 543, S. Res. 396.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution which had been reported from the Committee on the Judiciary 
with an amendment and an amendment to the preamble and an amendment to 
the title, as follows:
  [Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part 
printed in italic.]
  [Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic.]

                              S. Res. 396

       [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]
       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

[[Page S15705]]

     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, by erasing the terrible symbols of the 
     past, we can continue 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.]
     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) incidents involving the hanging of a noose should be 
     investigated thoroughly by Federal, State, and local law 
     enforcement, and all private entities and individuals should 
     be encouraged to cooperate with any such investigation; and
       (3) any criminal violations involving the hanging of nooses 
     should be vigorously prosecuted.

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
committee-reported amendment be considered and agreed to; that the 
resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that the amendment to the 
preamble be agreed to; that the preamble, as amended, be agreed to; 
that the title amendment be agreed to; that the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table en bloc; and that any statements relating to the 
resolution be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The committee amendment was agreed to.
  The resolution (S. Res. 396), as amended, was agreed to.
  The amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
  The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:
  (The resolution will be printed in a future edition of the Record.)
  The title amendment was agreed to, as follows:

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

                          ____________________