Rep. Brenda Clack, D-Flint speaks at a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday in reaction to a hate crime involving a number of nooses that were hung throughout Central Michigan University’s campus.
With local citizens, TV cameras and a group of middle school students looking on, about 20 Michigan legislators took a stand against hate crimes Tuesday.
In response to four nooses found in a Central Michigan University classroom and an FBI report stating that Michigan reported the third-most hate crimes in the nation in 2006, legislators who are members of the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus gathered at the state Capitol to bring attention to the rash of hate crimes.
Rep. Brenda Clack, D-Flint, said the CMU incident casts a negative light on Michigan universities.
“No student attending any of our institutions of higher learning should experience any threat of racial discrimination or any other form of intimidation,” said Clack, the caucus’s chairwoman. “We will not and should not tolerate these types of actions.”
Clack and other legislators called for immediate action from the state attorney general and the Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office, where CMU is located, in response to the display.
The Isabella County Prosecutor’s Office said Tuesday that CMU police have forwarded a report about the incident to the prosecutor for review. A CMU student has confessed to hanging the nooses, but charges have yet to be filed.
“We have many students in our colleges and universities around the state that were incensed at this incident and have spoken out,” Clack said. “We must build on this type of emotion, we must build on the type of students who know that this is wrong because we want our students to be safe.”
In addition to responding to the CMU incident, legislators encouraged all citizens to report hate crimes, the thorough investigation of all hate crimes and sensitivity training for those convicted of such crimes.
Rep. John Espinoza, D-Croswell, said Michigan’s image is taking a hit with news of hate crimes in the state.
“Those types of actions are like cancer – you’ve got to nip it in the bud very early on. Otherwise, we regress instead of progress,” Espinoza said. “Michigan is considered to be, most of the time, one of the most progressive states in the country. For that reason, we do not tolerate that type of action.”
After hearing about Michigan’s spike in hate crimes, Detroit resident and Lansing employee Laurence Williams attended the conference.
“This is a start right here,” Williams said, “Just getting it out in the open so more people can know about it.”
For Jessica Wilson, one of about 25 students from Detroit’s Murphy Middle School visiting the state Capitol, hearing legislators denounce hate crimes was a positive experience.
“It was good information so all these kids can know what to do in life,” Wilson said.
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