Is hanging a noose a hate crime or a prank?

During its Saturday programming, (9/22/07), CNN asked if hanging a noose is a hate crime or a prank? The question itself is insulting. There is no basis for there to be a question. Of course hanging a noose is a hate crime. As one person reportedly responded to CNN by email, "there is only one use for that noose and we know what it is."
Another person responding to the question cut to the point: "people are promoting terrorism" by displaying the noose.
One responder said displaying nooses was "crass" but not a crime. Another said the act was a "hate prank." These comments reflect a sympathetic attitude with the teens (and others) who are testing the line of social tranquility. In effect they are saying that these acts are inside jokes and humor in the white community, reflecting a prevailing undercover attitude that is crass but tolerated and harmless.
Young people growing up in the tolerant hostility are now acting out--just letting off a little steam. They don't mean nothin' by it.That is not good enough, however. Displaying a noose is not letting off steam--it is a threat meant to cower black people into submission and passivity. That is the history of the noose, a history some who are still living participated in, and apparently their youth have taken up as a cultural legacy.
Title edited 9/22/07 2:06pm