Hundreds of new laws went into effect Aug. 15. Louisiana became the 50th state to ban cockfighting while the fleur-de-lis became an official state symbol.
It is now illegal for a noose – whether actual or drawn – to be displayed publicly with intent to intimidate, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine or imprisonment of no longer than a year.
The law defines a noose as “a rope tied in a slip knot, which binds closer the more it is drawn, which historically has been used in execution by hanging, and which symbolizes racism and intimidation.” Louisiana is now the third state, after Connecticut and New York, to ban the noose.
The noose always symbolizes intimidation; hanging it at all demonstrates the intent to intimidate.
This rationale applies to the Confederate flag.
In my eyes, the noose and the flag only differ in symbolism because the noose is the actual weapon used to lynch.
But the flag has long been defended as a symbol of Southern pride. “The flag is seen by some Southerners simply as a symbol of Southern pride, [but] the flag is often used by racists to represent white domination of African-Americans,” according to the Anti-Defamation League, which lists the Confederate flag as a hate symbol.
The “pride” some Southerners are adamant about perpetuates the stereotype the Confederacy was established on – that whites and blacks are not equal. Tailgaters who support the purple and gold Confederate flag will stop at nothing to argue otherwise, pretending this symbol of “pride” is not at its core racist and intimidating.
Don’t take my word for it – consult the Cornerstone Speech of Alexander Stephens, the only vice president the Confederate States of America ever knew. His speech in Savannah, Ga. in March 1861 defined the foundation of the Confederacy.
“Those ideas [of the U.S. Constitution] were fundamentally wrong … Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.”
For the record, it was also the last.
“It is, indeed, in conformity with the ordinance of the Creator,” Stephens continued. “It is not for us to inquire into the wisdom of His ordinances, or to question them. For His own purposes, He has made one race to differ from another.”
The noose law slipped through the House and Senate unanimously, with eight legislators absent from voting. The author of the bill, Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, expressed his joy in the bill’s passing to The Daily Advertiser on June 17.
“[Passage of the bill] really shows the heart and mindset of the state has changed,” Hardy said. “I hope no one will be prosecuted under this law. We should not fight but do what’s right.”
Gov. Bobby Jindal signed the law as a disingenuous attempt to resolve the controversy involving the Jena 6. Presumably, Jindal would not want to appear racist by vetoing this feel-good legislation.
But by its mere definition as a “symbol of racism and intimidation,” if the noose is now illegal to display, why stop there? Why can’t we ban every symbol of racism and intimidation?
More importantly, how many people does it take to classify something as intimidating? If one person – say, myself – finds the Confederate flag intimidating, which I do, can we successfully ban it?
But then again, can we successfully ban anything? Alcohol was banned during Prohibition in 1920, forcing bootleggers to work underground until 1933 when the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealed the 18th.
Marijuana is still banned by federal law, yet according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 94 million Americans, nearly one-third of the population, have admitted to marijuana use at some point in their lifetimes.
It’s one thing to ban an herb. It’s another to ban a symbol of an ideology, which – when pushed underground – forces zealots to educate by example, indoctrinating intolerance in their children.
This example has already been seen through egregious acts across the country.
Last Thursday, 19-year-old Jeremiah Munsen was sentenced to four months in prison for disrupting Jena 6 demonstrators in Alexandria. Munsen drove his pickup, with nooses in tow, back and forth in front of demonstrators.
According to the Associated Press, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor federal hate crime, which carried a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Munsen has a KKK tattoo on his chest, as he and his family are members of the Ku Klux Klan. Brass knuckles and an unloaded rifle were also found in his truck, according to the police report. The noose law was not instituted at the time of his arrest.
In education we find the secret to creating a culture of acceptance, unfortunately coupled with the secret to breeding future agents of racism and intimidation. The last sentence of every flier distributed by the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), the largest current Klan organization in America, implores the importance of “proper” education.
At the end of its fliers, the IKA pleads, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
While the noose and the Confederate flag are vile, despicable symbols of our nation’s history of hatred, they are also constitutionally protected pieces of speech.
However horrible the noose is, its ban will only encourage those who wish to display it to do exactly that, claiming free speech while ignoring the hatred sparked by its display.
Pretending to dismiss a symbol by banning its display only encourages said use, only less publicly.
The law cannot afford liberties to one symbol of racism and intimidation while banning another. Either the Confederate flag should be banned, or the ban of the noose should be lifted. In either case, we have a responsibility to teach our children exactly what happened in our history and why.
Banning a noose will not end racism, but teaching and spreading the truth will.
While tailgaters fly the purple and gold, and racist, Confederate flag, I’ll be getting a tattoo of a fleur-de-lis. That’s Southern pride.
And for any of you who wish to display your racism publicly with intent to intimidate but fear imprisonment, don’t fret. There’s no law against making a noose out of a Confederate flag.
Yet.
—-Contact Eric Freeman, Jr. at [email protected]