[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[Senate]
[Pages 33516-33517]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 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

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

                              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
       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;

[[Page 33517]]

       (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.

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, earlier this year this Nation marked the 
50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. That landmark 
legislation was Congress's first civil rights bill since the end of 
Reconstruction. It established the Civil Rights Division of the Justice 
Department and empowered Federal prosecutors to obtain court 
injunctions against interference with the right to vote. It also 
established a Federal Commission on Civil Rights with authority to 
investigate discriminatory conditions and recommend corrective 
measures.
  In the Judiciary Committee, under the leadership of my distinguished 
colleague, the senior Senator from Vermont, we held a hearing to 
commemorate this milestone, to talk about our Nation's progress over 
the past half century, and how we must move forward if we are to live 
up to the ideals enumerated in the Constitution. My former colleague 
from the House and an American hero, Representative John Lewis, shared 
his recollections and his hopes for the future with us.
  Today, however, it is with great sadness that I come to the Senate 
floor to talk about a rash of incidents involving the hanging of nooses 
in this country. These incidents are a painful reminder of just how far 
we have to go. I am introducing a Senate resolution that expresses the 
sense of the Senate 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 it should be thoroughly 
investigated by Federal, State, and local law enforcement authorities; 
and that any criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted. The 
House of Representatives unanimously passed a similar resolution, H. 
Res. 826, on December 5, and I ask the Senate to take the same action.
  American students are being targeted by this epidemic of hate crimes, 
many of which have occurred after the Jena Six incident arose. Just 
this year, nooses were discovered hung on the campuses of the 
University of Maryland, Indiana State University, the United States 
Coast Guard Academy, East Carolina University, North Carolina State, 
Columbia University, Louisiana State University, and Purdue.
  Nooses are being found in elementary and high schools, in Illinois, 
Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and New York. And so we have 
a new generation of children who are growing up with the same symbols 
of hate that proliferated more than 100 years ago.
  Our Nation's first responders are targeted with these symbols of 
hate: firefighters in Jacksonville, FL, and police departments in 
Hempstead and Brooklyn, NY. Nooses have been displayed in hospitals in 
Pittsburgh, PA, and Orangeburg, NY. Finally, the Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission has filed more than 30 lawsuits for hanging 
nooses in the workplace since 2001, and stated that it observed ``a 
disturbing national trend of increased racial harassment cases 
involving hangman's nooses in the workplace.''
  Let us remember the chilling history of the United States on this 
subject. The hanging of nooses and lynching was first used to punish 
African slaves as early as the 17th century and was still commonplace 
in the United States until the 1960s civil rights movement. An 
estimated 5,000 people were lynched in the United States--roughly 70 
percent of whom were African-Americans--between the 1880s and 1960s.
  Mr. President, the situation is even more dire than most Americans 
imagine. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project counted 
844 active hate groups in the United States in 2006.
  Hate crimes' tentacles reach far beyond the intended targets. They 
bring a chill to entire neighborhoods and create a sense of fear, 
vulnerability, and insecurity in our communities. They poison the well 
of our democracy and strike at the very heart of the American spirit.
  Hate crimes are un-American. They cannot be tolerated. When 
individuals are targeted and attacked because of who they are, entire 
communities suffer, we are all diminished by it. I call on the Senate 
today to condemn the recent spate of noose hangings and urge vigorous 
Federal, State, and local investigation and prosecution of criminal 
violations.

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