Why, asks Mike Riggs at Reason, should people not be allowed to carry nooses around on public property when we let KKK members and flag burners do their thing in public?
I'll tell you why. Because people shouldn't have to live in fear for their lives. A rally is a political statement, a noose is a threat -- just the same as a brandished gun or a burning cross. What other meaning could it possibly have? Riggs claims that the laws that ban nooses when used for "intimidation" are ambiguous, but I don't see how they possibly could be. Outside of a museum or a play, a noose in public is an explicit and clear suggestion of the possibility of racist violence.
--Sam Boyd
