When police began investigating a noose found hanging from a tree outside the Nyumburu Cultural Center last September, an incident initially classified as a hate crime, no actual law had been broken.
But if the Maryland General Assembly passes the No Nooses Act, such an incident would be classified a crime. The act bans the placement of a swastika sign or a noose – a symbol historically representing the lynchings of blacks during the 19th and 20th centuries – on public or private properties without permission of the owner, said Delegate Victor Ramirez (D-Prince George’s), one of the bill’s sponsors.
“We cannot have people living in fear,” Ramirez said. “I heard about the issue directly from a constituent. I believe in it; that’s also why I support it.”
University Police Spokesman Paul Dillon said officers investigated the noose incident on the campus to determine whether it was intended to be a threat, not because the act of hanging a noose is considered illegal under state law. After completing the investigation, police turn their findings over to the state attorney’s office, which decides if the law has been broken, Dillon added.
Under the new law, if a person is found guilty of hanging a noose or placing a swastika with the intent to intimidate, the maximum penalty is three years in jail and a $5,000 fine, said Delegate Saqib Ali, another sponsor of the bill.
While the burning of crosses is illegal under a destruction of property statute, legislators say the laws need to be updated to include modern forms of racism.
“I realized the noose is becoming the premier symbol of racial intimidation,” Ali said. “People don’t really burn crosses anymore, and they don’t walk around wearing white robes. Our laws need to catch up and reflect reality.”
In addition to the incident last year on the campus, the bill was a reaction to a 2006 hate crime in Jena, La., involving the hanging of nooses at a high school, Ali said.
The House of Delegates initially drafted the inclusion of all “symbols of intimidation,” but narrowed it to the two symbols of Jewish and black oppression due to concerns that the bill’s broad wording could potentially infringe on the freedom of speech, Ali said.
Now, however, the senate is considering revising the bill to include all symbols, a decision Ali and Ramirez say they support.
“I think it should be all symbols,” Ramirez said. “But it could potentially be amended in the future to include more symbols.”
Despite the House of Delegates’ concerns, many students aren’t worried the bill will infringe on free speech.
“I don’t think people really understand the underlying message of [hanging a noose],” said John Sanders, a senior sociocultural anthropology major. “This is a very serious issue. We need to address it and make sure it never happens again.”
But some students are concerned the interpretation of a broadly defined symbol of intimidation could be taken too far.
“If they say a symbol of intimidation is the cross of the lord Jesus Christ, then I don’t support it,” said Brian Nzuwah, a senior family studies major. “If I define it from my perspective, a Christian perspective, not everyone would agree on it.”
The same version of the bill must pass through the House and Senate by April 7 to be written into law during this session, and Ramirez says he expects the bill will pass by the end of next week.
“I’m cautiously optimistic that this will go through,” Ali said.
Nyumburu Cultural Center Director Ronald Zeigler and Associate Director Anne Reese Carswell say they support the bill and hope it will prevent similar hate crimes.
“Once [the noose hanging last year] was done, there were all these copycats,” Carswell said. “And if there’s nothing to deter people from doing it, they’ll continue.”
Editor Steven Overly contributed to this report. miliandbk@gmail.com