Sharpton leads call for federal investigation of hate crimes

Several thousand demonstrators descended on the Justice Department on Friday to demand a federal crackdown on hate crimes and a more vigorous response to incidents of noose hangings and other displays of racial antagonism.

“Every noose that’s hung should be prosecuted by the law,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the lead organizers of the march. “And we’re going to demand that today.”

Sharpton said the federal government has relinquished its responsibility to protect the civil rights of citizens by relying on states to investigate hate crimes.

He said it amounted to a “revival of states’ rights,” the doctrine Southern states have historically invoked to challenge federal authority.

Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey, who was sworn in last week, said in a statement: “In recent months, there have been reports of nooses and other symbols of racial and religious hate appearing in schools, workplaces, and neighborhoods across the country. These symbols of hate have no place in our great country. . . .

“Although there are limitations and challenges in bringing successful hate crimes prosecutions, the department takes each case seriously, and is prepared to vindicate the rights of the victims when prosecution is warranted by the facts and by federal law,” Mukasey said.

Friday’s demonstration focused on the case of the “Jena Six” in Jena, La. In September 2006, three white students were suspended from school for hanging nooses from a tree where whites traditionally congregated. In December, six black students were charged with attempted second-degree murder after they allegedly beat and kicked a white student. The charges were later reduced.

Addressing the hate-crime issue, Sharpton said: “We are not fighting conservatives. We’re fighting Confederates. The United States government must intervene and protect its citizens.”

In fiscal year 2007, the Justice Department convicted 189 defendants of civil rights violations, according to a department fact sheet released Thursday. The department said this was the largest number of such convictions in its history.

“The mission of the Justice Department’s civil rights division is as vital today as when it was created 50 years ago,” Mukasey said.

Not all civil rights activists agreed with rally organizers.

Joe R. Hicks, the former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference’s Los Angeles chapter, said the D.C. demonstrators were broadcasting a “message of racial victimization” that he said ignored the progress made and opportunities available to African Americans today.

“This is an instance of racial opportunism on the part of Sharpton and others,” he said. “It’s a vehicle to perpetuate, for self-serving purposes, the idea that America is a bigoted nation.”

During Friday’s protest, demonstrators circled the Justice Department building seven times, echoing the biblical account of the ancient city of Jericho, the walls of which were said to have crumbled after Joshua and his followers circled the city seven times.

Sharpton, who referred to Joshua in his speech, was joined at the rally by the fiancee of Sean Bell, a black New York man who was killed by police on his wedding day last year, and the father of Mychal Bell, one of the “Jena Six.”

In September, thousands marched in Jena to protest what they said was the unfair treatment of the black defendants.

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theo.milonopoulos@ latimes.com