A Sacramento man is refusing to remove a noose hanging in his yard, even though his neighbors say it is offensive and racist.

Jimmy West says the swinging rope has nothing to do with racism; it is merely his attempt to remember suicide victims and to remember history. "I've found no reason to take it down. I'm expressing my opinion, probably in a poor format, but it's my opinion.”

But the NAACP says that the noose is a hate symbol that flashes back to a part of history most Americans, particularly African Americans, don’t want to remember.

Alice Huffman, of the Sacramento NAACP, says she would like to see laws passed to make such actions by West and others deemed a hate crime.

Until then, West says, he’ll keep right on hanging nooses and flying his Confederate flags. "If the NAACP gives me a good reason, then I might consider taking it down, but we have not had that conversation yet," he says.