Dems Slam Feds for Inaction on Noose Crimes

Racial cases up since 2000, but some spurn incidents as 'pranks'
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2007 5:18 PM CDT
Dems Slam Feds for Inaction on Noose Crimes
Hjordy's Matos, a student at City College, attends a protest rally at Teachers College at Columbia University, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007, in New York, one day after Professor Madonna Constantine, who is black, discovered a hangman's noose on her office door at Teachers College. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)   (Associated Press)

Dems blasted the feds this week for not pursuing a nationwide spate of noose crimes. More than a half dozen nooses left in Maryland, Memphis, New York, and Pittsburgh have prompted no arrests, the Washington Post reports. But acting Attorney General Peter Keisler claims that the FBI and Department of Justice "are actively investigating these incidents."

Racial harassment cases have doubled since 2000, says a rep at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and 2 dozen lawsuits have been filed since 2001. But opinions differ widely about their importance. One blogger reacted to a North Carolina noose incident by writing, "Once again, over reaction to a childish prank. With the over reaction will probably come more copycats."  (More Jena 6 stories.)

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