Press Releases

Assembly Committee Passes Ban on Terrorizing with a Noose

March 31, 2009

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(Sacramento, CA)……The Assembly Public Safety Committee today passed the California State NAACP's sponsored bill prohibiting the act of terrorizing and threatening a person's life, by hanging a noose.

Authored by Assemblywoman Wilmer Amina Carter, AB 412 would apply the same principles that have prohibited cross burning in 20 states, to noose hanging. Although thousands of African Americans were murdered with nooses, the NAACP' s position is that, regardless ofrace, the bill challenges the very idea that it is acceptable to carry out the act for which nooses were designed.

"AB 412 proposes a policy that protects every human beings right to obtain an education , earn an income and live in peace without the terror of a threat to his or her life and personal safety," said California State NAACP president Alice Huffman.

In making a case for the bill, the NAACP has pointed out that AB 412 does not infringe on freedom of speech in any way.

"The high court, as well as existing law, has viewed speech and behavior differently, and AB 412 takes nothing away from our constitutional freedoms, or the values of persuasion, dialogue and free exchange of ideas," said Huffman.

During her presentation, Assemblywoman Carter said, "No one has the freedom to engage in behavior that represents a real threat to life and safety, and terrorizes another person."

AB 412 stems from a State NAACP Youth & College Division response to recent California noose hangings that were reminiscent of the institutional practice of lynching, employed to maintain white supremacy against blacks, spanning from the late 1800' s well into the 20th Century.