Racism charges leveled in state Senate

Monday, April 21, 2003 | 11 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Charges of racism erupted in the State Senate on Friday during debate over a terrorism bill.

Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas, accused Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, the first black elected to the Senate, of making racially inflammatory comments.

Nolan told the Senate Friday that the previous week he was sitting with a black female staff member before a committee meeting when Neal approached them and said to the woman: "Why are you sitting with him? He told me he doesn't like blacks."

Neal then left, Nolan said, and both Nolan and the woman were shocked.

"I was offended and it was an ugly and rude comment," Nolan said.

Nolan said he believes the remark was racist and Neal owes him an apology for making it.

Neal said he made the comment to the woman in jest.

"In passing, I stopped in and said 'You're sitting here, you don't like black folks here.' Just like that," Neal said. "It was in jest."

Neal added: "(Nolan) just made something out of it and wanted to bring it up on the floor and make a big issue out of it. It wasn't a big issue to me. It wasn't a big issue to her."

The woman was not identified.

In a 45-minute speech opposing the terrorism bill, Neal touched on the topic of mistreatment of blacks in the South, recalling that his mother once accidentally bumped into a white man, who then "called her all kinds of names."

Neal argued that incidents such as the killing of a black man who was dragged behind a pickup truck to his death in Texas should be considered acts of terrorism.

Instead, Neal said, it's likely that minorities would be targeted and prosecuted under the bill. He drew a comparison between the bill and a recent study on racial profiling in Nevada that showed black drivers were singled out for traffic stops more often than whites.

The terrorism bill -- which defines terrorism as a crime and increases the penalties attached to convictions related to terrorist acts -- is based on a federal law and is a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Nolan, who said it was "reprehensible" that Neal brought race into the terrorism bill debate, said he wanted to emphasize that the attacks targeted all Americans, not just minorities.

"Yes, racism still exists," Nolan said. "It (has) existed since the beginning of time. It exists now and we can only do our best to eradicate it. There will always be black people who don't like white people because of their skin color. There will be white people who don't like black people because of their skin color.

"But thank God there are very few of them that still exist."

Neal argued that the language in the bill, Senate Bill 38, was too broad. Someone who came to the Legislature and told lawmakers that he would like see them ousted from office could be seen as a terrorist threat under the bill, Neal contended.

Or someone could write a book about terrorism and find himself prosecuted, Neal said.

But Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said the definition of terrorism under the bill does not include "going to a City Council meeting or writing a letter to the editor."

According to the bill, an act of terrorism "means any activity which involves a violent act or an act so dangerous to human life as to constitute a violation of the criminal laws of this state ..." The act must be intended to "intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of this state or affect the conduct of the state by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping."

Neal also argued the federal law already in place supersedes the proposed Nevada statute.

Joining Neal in voting against SB38 were Sens. Bob Coffin and Maggie Carlton, both Las Vegas Democrats.

The bill passed 17-3 and was sent to the Assembly.