Jena LA, Now New York, NY - Hangman's Noose Is Criminal and Racist Symbol

When is anyone going to realize that a hangman's noose is no joke. It's a criminal act implying someone's desire to murder someone else because they're different and historically because they're Black.

This was just done in New York at Columbia University , but totally unlike the town of Jena, LA and its terrible district attorney , the people at Columbia called a town hall meeting on the issue.

I hope they catch the person who did it and jail them for a good long time.

The main problem is we don't teach young people that this is wrong or that diversity is good and racism is bad. So with each passing generation, we're doomed to see the same mistakes we made in the past as a culture.

I hope I'm wrong on this.

Reed Walters - Jena 6 DA's NY TImes Op-ED Show Race Bias Applied To Law

Reed Walters -- the district attorney in the Jena 6 case -- wrote a most unfortunate op-ed in today's New York Times. He may have thought he was explaining his position, but he really opened a can of worms.

Aside from admiting he a "small-town lawyer" he also wrote this...

I cannot overemphasize how abhorrent and stupid I find the placing of the nooses on the schoolyard tree in late August 2006. If those who committed that act considered it a prank, their sense of humor is seriously distorted. It was mean-spirited and deserves the condemnation of all decent people.

But it broke no law. I searched the Louisiana criminal code for a crime that I could prosecute. There is none.

A DA can find some law to prosecute if he or she wants to. My first thought was Reed Walters could have charged the noose-hangers with Disturbing the Peace, which they certainly did.

To determine why he didn't do this, I called the office. The receptionist said she would relay my message to him. His office number is (318) 992-8282 - the fax is (318) 992-4731. Please be polite when you call.

The bottom line is that it's hard to see that racism didn't play a roll in Walter's blindness to the legal options as well as the very disturbing door he leaves open to anyone who would taunt Blacks in this way.

Really upsetting.