The Oregon Senate voted 27-1 Thursday to make the display of a noose a crime of intimidation. The bill will now move to the House.
The sole no vote on Senate Bill 398 was Sen. Dennis Linthicum of Klamath Falls.
Linthicum did not immediately respond to a request for a comment about his vote.
Senators Brian Boquist and Dallas Heard were absent when the vote was taken.
“Displaying a noose is a hateful act. It is meant to intimidate and harass,” Sen. Ginny Burdick, a chief sponsor of the bill, said in a statement.
Burdick, who represents a district in Portland, added, “Hate crimes are disturbingly on the rise in Oregon, including in my district. A noose is a racist symbol, it is intimidating to our neighbors of color and it needs to be banned.” She noted that a noose was found in the past year at the elementary school that she and subsequently her daughter attended.
The Anti-Defamation League considers a noose a hate symbol and notes it is commonly used to intimidate Black people.
Nooses have been found in Portland schools multiple times, as well as at OHSU and at a construction site in Portland.
“The display of a noose should have been a crime long ago. It’s not okay,” said the bill’s other chief sponsor, Sen. James Manning Jr. of Eugene. “Louisiana, Virginia, California, New York, Maryland and Connecticut have criminalized the display of nooses because they all know exactly what that noose implies.”
If the House passes the bill, displaying a noose would be punishable by up to 364 days in jail, a fine of up to $6,250 or both.
Manning called the noose “a racist relic.”
“Its roots lie in fear and hate,” he said. “It reminds us of the 4,400 documented lynchings of African Americans between 1800 to 1950. A noose doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. It means something much more imminent, terrifying and unacceptable to BIPOC communities. It’s not okay.”
“I am glad we passed this bill today,” he added. “This should have been a law much sooner.”
-- Lizzy Acker
503-221-8052, lacker@oregonian.com, @lizzzyacker
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