Houston, TX – Congressman Al Green (TX-09), today, was joined by leaders from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the League of United Latin-American Citizens (LULAC), and the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to announce support for his anti-noose bill, House Resolution 826. Congressman Al Green (TX-09) and Congresswoman Laura Richardson (CA-37) introduced this resolution which declares “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 should be thoroughly investigated by Federal law enforcement authorities and that any criminal violations should be vigorously prosecuted”.  This bill has gained strong bi-partisan and community support and will appear before the full House for a vote this Wednesday.

In the past two months, nooses have been found in a North Carolina high school, in a Home Depot in New Jersey, on a Louisiana school playground, on the campus of the University of Maryland, on a Columbia University professor’s office door and in a factory in Houston, Texas. The Southern Poverty Law Center has recorded between 40 and 50 suspected hate crimes involving nooses since September 2007. Additionally, since 2001, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed more than 30 lawsuits that involve the displaying of nooses in places of employment.  Historically, the noose is associated with the terror of lynching, and has been used to intimidate, threaten violence, and terrorize based on racial discrimination and prejudice.

"A situation has arisen in this great nation which compels the United States Congress to act. Noose intimidation takes us back to a time when lynchings and cross-burnings were all too common. We have come too far in this country in the struggle for human equality to allow these acts of intimidation to undo our progress.  In supporting this resolution, Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle stand united against these divisive acts of hate and intimidation.  Our great nation was founded on the ideals of liberty and justice for all. America is a nation of hope, not hate," stated Congressman Al Green.  "According to Tuskegee Institute, more than 4,700 people were lynched between 1882 and 1959.  African Americans and Americans of Italians, Jews and Hispanic ancestry comprise the vast majority of lynching victims. For a period of time in our nation the rising plea for civil rights by numerous Americans was answered with the senseless brutality of the hangman's noose.  The fact that H. Res. 826 has the backing of individuals and groups that span political, racial and religious lines demonstrates that the purveyors of hate shall find no refuge in the quarters of an America determined to turn the page on treacherous bigotry and overt hate. The time has come for us to once and for all condemn noose intimidation for what it truly is- a treacherous symbol of racism and injustice which has no place in an America of the free and the brave."

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