LOS ANGELES -- Civil rights leaders said they will demand a federal investigation into a display of nooses found in the Cal State Fullerton quad area last week prior to a campus rally against hate.
"The hanging nooses at Fullerton are only the latest in the dozens of hanging nooses that have been found on campuses and work places in California and throughout the nation," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, President of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable.
"We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe," said Hutchinson, who planned to hold a news conference this morning to publicize the demand.
Five nooses spray-painted orange were found on Nov. 7 hanging on a clothesline alongside t-shirts displaying anti-hate messages. The display appeared just prior to a "Rally Against Hate" demonstration sponsored by the university's Association for InterCultural Awareness.
"It was a smack in the face that something like this could happen in central Orange County," association chairwoman Sumanah Mithani told the Los Angeles Times. "Incidents like this are not going to be tolerated anymore, and we're going to speak out. This was an attack not just on African Americans, but all ethnic groups on our campus."
A week after the incident, many angry campus members gathered during a second rally held on Wednesday afternoon where students were free to speak.
During Wednesday's protest, students of different racial backgrounds, including some from Cal Poly Pomona, UC Irvine and UCLA, showed up in orange shirts expressing their opposition to the orange nooses.
Campus police were also in attendance to ensure a peaceful protest.
"It's an incident, it's not a crime. We do document incidents that happen on campus. Actively, we have nothing to go on, no lead, nobody to talk to," campus police Lt. Fred Molina told CSUF's Daily Titan newspaper.
"What we're asking is for the community to call us, give us some leads so we can find which way to go with this. Students are bound by certain rules of conduct on this campus, so if we get lucky and find out who did this, they will be dealt with in that form."
"The hanging nooses at Fullerton are only the latest in the dozens of hanging nooses that have been found on campuses and work places in California and throughout the nation," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, President of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable.
"We are demanding an immediate Justice Department full probe," said Hutchinson, who planned to hold a news conference this morning to publicize the demand.
Five nooses spray-painted orange were found on Nov. 7 hanging on a clothesline alongside t-shirts displaying anti-hate messages. The display appeared just prior to a "Rally Against Hate" demonstration sponsored by the university's Association for InterCultural Awareness.
"It was a smack in the face that something like this could happen in central Orange County," association chairwoman Sumanah Mithani told the Los Angeles Times. "Incidents like this are not going to be tolerated anymore, and we're going to speak out. This was an attack not just on African Americans, but all ethnic groups on our campus."
A week after the incident, many angry campus members gathered during a second rally held on Wednesday afternoon where students were free to speak.
During Wednesday's protest, students of different racial backgrounds, including some from Cal Poly Pomona, UC Irvine and UCLA, showed up in orange shirts expressing their opposition to the orange nooses.
Campus police were also in attendance to ensure a peaceful protest.
"It's an incident, it's not a crime. We do document incidents that happen on campus. Actively, we have nothing to go on, no lead, nobody to talk to," campus police Lt. Fred Molina told CSUF's Daily Titan newspaper.
"What we're asking is for the community to call us, give us some leads so we can find which way to go with this. Students are bound by certain rules of conduct on this campus, so if we get lucky and find out who did this, they will be dealt with in that form."
