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[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 396 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 396

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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 7, 2007

   Mr. Cardin (for himself, Mr. Hatch, Mr. Leahy, Mr. Specter, Mrs. 
Clinton, Mr. Schumer, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Obama, Ms. Landrieu, Mr. Biden, 
 Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Coburn, Mr. Kohl, and 
Mr. Dodd) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

                           December 13, 2007

   Reported by Mr. Leahy, with an amendment and an amendment to the 
                 preamble and an amendment to the title
[Strike out all after the resolving clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
      [Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic]

                           December 14, 2007

 Considered, amended, and agreed to with an amendment to the title and 
                          an amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
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.

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, 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) 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.
                                 <all>
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