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Should hanging a noose in public be considered a hate crime?

The Noose: A length of rope with the end fashioned into a noose used for the purpose of hanging.

Hanging a person for crimes committed has been so long out of fashion; especially here in the United States that only the strangest of circumstances could even bring this old relic into the public eye. I cannot see any reason whatsoever for anyone or any group to hang a noose in public. The idea is utterly and completely ridiculous to me.

But for arguments sake, let us say that a group or an individual thought this act would get their message across. What that message could possibly be is beyond me, but hypothetically speaking, they do this.

Okay, we now have a noose hanging somewhere in public. Why should any particular group of people be offended by this and consider it a crime of hate to them? Again, the answer remains cloudy in my mind. To take offense at the sight of a noose by any one ethic, religious, or other group of people of whom use their backgrounds to divide themselves into any one group other than that of the human race, again is ridiculous to me.

In my minds eye the only true people that might take offense to the sight of a noose hanging anywhere in public would be those whose ancestors were hanged in the past. But again this is not a good reason for being offended. If my great, great grandfather was a horse thief and therefore hung in the public square, why should I care enough to be offended at the sight of a noose?
We must accept the simple fact that the noose was the way that the death penalty was applied in the days of yore.

Is the noose a reminder of pains that run deep for some? Yes, I'm sure that it is. In the southern United States as everyone knows there were many lynchings in our sad American history. These were cruel and utterly unforgivable acts born out of ignorance and yes, hate - of African American people. Should today's African Americans consider the noose a figure of hate? I cannot answer this question, as I am not African American and I cannot know their pain, even the pain that has not directly affected today's African American. But in my personal view, it should not.

Why? To me, the noose is a relic that belongs to the old west and those days when a man could be hanged for his crimes. Hanging was not limited to the western world, however.

Abraham Lincoln, before he was president had over 100 Native Americans "hung from the neck until dead" for their supposed crimes. Many of these were young boys, not much older than children.

The French people were famous for their public hangings as well. And much earlier than we in America was. Societies across the world have used this method to hand down the death penalty for many years in the past.

So to reiterate: No, the noose hanging in public should not be considered a hate crime'. That is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.
If anything, the noose hanging in public should be considered a crime of stupidity'!

Learn more about this author, Carrington M. Nye.
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