ALBANY N.Y.
Following a growing use of a threatening image, New York state’s Legislature on Monday moved toward making a felony of etching, drawing, painting or displaying a noose.
“We won’t tolerate this,” said Sen. Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who sponsored the measure that passed Monday in the Senate. “There is no place for racism and intimidation in America and this rash of incidents clearly demonstrates the need for tough new penalties.”
The bill is sponsored in the Democrat-led Assembly by Rules Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol of Brooklyn. The Assembly may convene Tuesday and could consider the bill. There was no immediate comment from the Assembly.
Monday’s Senate vote came as New York City police said a black high school teacher in Brooklyn had been targeted with a letter containing racial slurs and a string tied into a noose.
The 44-year-old teacher at Canarsie High School told police she received the letter and the noose through the mail. Police say they have no suspects.
The discovery is among a number of recent incidents involving the symbols of lynchings in the Old South.
