Keywords: noose,
Noose Watch, Southern Poverty Law Center, Jena 6,
racism, noose laws, hate-crime legislation, Louisiana, Rep. Rickey Hardy, racial
intimidation
Nine months after the nation began
witnessing an uptick in the number of reported noose sightings following the
furor over the Jena 6 incident in Louisiana, lawmakers there, as well as in Connecticut and New York,
have made hanging a noose a crime punishable by imprisonment. And more states
are likely to follow.
Since September of last year, the
number of reported noose incidents nationally jumped to nearly 80, according to the DiversityInc Noose Watch,
the first and only tracker of national reported noose sightings.
Reported noose incidents skyrocketed
after the Jena 6
case, in which six young Black men were arrested after a fight with a white
student following a noose hanging at their high school. The incident sparked a
nationwide protest last summer with more than 30,000 people marching in support
of the men, nicknamed the Jena 6.
"We might see half a dozen [noose] cases
a year; there is no doubt in my mind that there has been a major outbreak of
noose incidents blossoming because of Jena," said Mark Potok, director of the
Intelligence Project for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors
hate crimes. The SPLC and DiversityInc co-authored an op-ed column for The New
York Times in November, titled "The
Geography of Hate" about the Noose Watch and preponderance of noose
sightings.
These noose incidents are a part of
a "larger phenomenon," according to Potok. According to the SPLC, the number of
hate groups rose to 888 in 2007, up 5 percent from 2006 and 48 percent since
2000.
To date, three states have passed
laws to punish those who use nooses as a means to intimidate. Connecticut and New York
passed laws in May, with prison sentences ranging from a year in Connecticut to four years in New York. Earlier this
month, Louisiana, the state where thousands of
protestors marched in support of the Jena 6, became the third state to pass such a
law. So far, no one has been sentenced under these new
laws.
"I want to send a message that this
will not be tolerated in 2008 in the state of Louisiana," said Rep. Rickey Hardy, who
introduced the bill, in an interview with Stateline.org
Louisiana's law makes hanging a noose, or an
image of one, on another person's property or on public property with "the
intent to intimidate" illegal and punishable by up to $5,000 and up to a year in
prison.
Lawmakers in Florida, Maryland,
Missouri and North Carolina are considering similar
legislation.
Readers' Comments
Posted: Friday, Jul 18, 2008
Jena 6 Aftermath: Nooses Punishable By Prison
Thank you for this incredible and important information. I am taking a class in Power, Privilege and Oppression at Lesley University and would like to include a copy with references and links to you website. Can you grant permission to me for this purpose?
Karen Joyce
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Posted: Friday, Jul 18, 2008
Jena 6 Aftermath: Nooses Punishable By Prison
As it may do some good to teach young people about symbols, those young people involved with hanging the noose in Jena were already educated around what it means to hang a noose, hence the reason for hanging it in the first place. Teaching these particular young people did not have a positive outcome. The noose evokes certain feelings among those people whose ancestors suffered, SUFFERED from those injustices that took place. NOTHING positive will result from hanging a noose anywhere, whether it's outside someone's house or in a school yard. People KNOW the results doing so... it evokes HATE. Therefore there should be repercussions for those actions. If you can get arrested for a hate crime, you should get arrested for evoking hate as well. WAKE UP!
Karen Wilson
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Posted: Friday, Jul 18, 2008
Jena 6 Aftermath: Nooses Punishable By Prison
To state that hanging a noose is freedom of speech is denying the very foundation of personal rights. Freedom of speech was tempered by it's creator with him saying everyone should have the freedom to express themselves until it imposes on another's right to express themselves. No one can justly yell "fire" in a theater. Stop this insanity of using freedom of speech as a reason to intimidate and subjugate people.
Jeanette Jamal
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Posted: Friday, Jul 18, 2008
Jena 6 Aftermath: Nooses Punishable By Prison
Until we as a society learn to tolerate other people and protect the acts of a few idiots laws such as the noose law will need to be legislated and enforced upon us. Look at seat belt laws, speeding laws, etc. We need laws to protect us from ourselves and change the way we as a society think. It is a process in which ideas supported by a law will take plant in society. Perhaps this should have been legislated years ago.
Brian Dixon
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Posted: Friday, Jul 18, 2008
Jena 6 Aftermath: Nooses Punishable By Prison
I applaud those states who choose to enact laws against noose use. (Catchy phrase). For those of the mindset this is some kind of free speech declaration, If as Lee Bollinger once said, "The free speech principle is left with the concern of nothing less than helping to shape "the intellectual character of the society." Now I ask you, how does a symbol of hate and oppression shape the intellectual character of society. It would in fact display of a lack of character, or at least a character of worth. In Brandenburg vs OH, the supreme court stated restrictions on free speech are appropriate if the "speech" were "likely to incite imminent lawless action". Is not Jena 6 an example?
grant garber
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