LINCOLN, Neb.—Nebraska state Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha is challenging the Army’s conclusion that an officer’s decision to hang a noose in the work area of a black woman last year was not racially motivated.
In a letter mailed to a White House official last week, Chambers says the conclusion is “preposterous and absurd” and that he believes military officials are trying to wear him out by not releasing information in a timely manner.
The state Legislature’s lone black senator has been pursuing the case for more than a year, corresponding with military officials and requesting more information.
“There should be … zero tolerance for such patent displays of hateful, threatening, racist symbols at any and all facilities, bases or installations under U.S. Military jurisdiction/control,” he says in the letter. “Anything less is totally unacceptable.”
In October 2007, 1st Lt. Harold Hessig, a detective with the Bellevue Police Department, hung a noose from a pipe in the work area of Sgt. Tiffany Robinson, who is black, at an Army Reserve facility in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
An Army investigation concluded that the hanging of the noose was “neither racially motivated nor directed towards” the black sergeant, according to a letter to Chambers last summer from the Army Reserve.
Hessig declined Wednesday to describe exactly what happened, saying that it wouldn’t change people’s minds about him.
“Nobody in the media will ever understand what my family’s been through,” he said. “I’m not a racist and never have been and Senator Chambers will never be convinced of that.”
Chambers got involved when Robinson came to him for help after becoming frustrated with how the military was handling the matter.
The letter to Chambers from Maj. Gen. Rita Broadway explains the story like this:
Hessig and several others were discussing complaints about the new location for physical fitness testing.
Hessig then said he wished he had a noose. One of the others present picked a piece of rope out of the trash and made a noose. Hessig tied it noose to a pipe behind his desk so he would remember to take it home that evening.
But Hessig forgot to take it and it was discovered by the black sergeant.
Afterward, Robinson asked for and received permission to be reassigned to Mississippi. She also filed a complaint about the matter.
Broadway’s account of why the noose was hung by Hessig is one of three versions that have been provided. In December 2007, Hessig’s wife told reporters that someone taught her husband how to tie a rope knot that he wanted to use on his farm. She said he left the rope on a pipe in the office so he wouldn’t forget to take it home.
In June, Hessig told reporters he made the noose with another soldier as a Halloween joke.
“They’re making up stories as they go along,” Chambers said on Wednesday.
Said Hessig of the three versions: “They’re all right.”
But he declined to explain how they are all correct.
Army officials have not specified what disciplinary action was taken against Hessig, and he declined to say how he was disciplined on Wednesday.
But Hessig has said he was allowed to return to his Army Reserve unit after being separated for several months during the investigation, and received sensitivity training. And Army Reserve officials confirmed on Wednesday that Hessig is currently the officer in charge of the Army Reserve’s 784th Transportation Company Detachment in Omaha.
Broadway said Hessig’s battalion received “equal opportunity” training during three classes late last year and early this year.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice told Chambers that if the Army Reserve’s investigation “reveals prosecutable violations … the Department will take action.”
Justice Department spokeswoman Jamie Hais described the case as “open” on Wednesday, but said it was not being investigated.
The Army released hundreds of pages of documents pertaining to the case in August, but Chambers said most of them are worthless. Not released were records Army officials said are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act because they contain “internal guidance” in the noose matter.
A letter from an Army officer to Chambers in September said that he would back hear from the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s office regarding his request for the documents in the “near future” but Chambers said he has not heard back.
Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said late Wednesday afternoon he did not know why Chambers had not received a response and would check on the status of his request.
“It does take time. There are a lot of requests,” Boyce said. “Sometimes there’s just a higher priority.”
———
On the Net:
U.S. Army Reserve:
