--- title: Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo description: When Obama mentions the Charlie Hebdo attack during his speech, some members of Congress will hold pencils in tribute to those that died. canonical: https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-20T21:04:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T03:43:30.825Z article:section: Politics og:title: Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo og:description: When Obama mentions the Charlie Hebdo attack during his speech, some members of Congress will hold pencils in tribute to those that died. og:url: https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77db5bd7b533cdab/69877adf524fc06074dec036/charlie-hebdo-pencil.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: BRITAIN-FRANCE-ATTACKS-CHARLIE-HEBDO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo twitter:description: When Obama mentions the Charlie Hebdo attack during his speech, some members of Congress will hold pencils in tribute to those that died. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77db5bd7b533cdab/69877adf524fc06074dec036/charlie-hebdo-pencil.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 20, 2015 9:04 PM UTC  A giant pencil is held up at a vigil outside The French Institute in London on Jan. 9, 2015 for the 12 victims of the attack on the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. A giant pencil is held up at a vigil outside The French Institute in London on Jan. 9, 2015 for the 12 victims of the attack on the Paris offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jan 20, 2015 9:04 PM UTC Members of Congress will honor the victims of [the _Charlie Hebdo_ attack](http://time.com/3658966/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting-terror-attack/) during the State of the Union by holding up yellow pencils. A spokeswoman for Democratic Rep. Gwen Moore of Wisconsin said that she will hold up a pencil and that they have confirmed that other lawmakers will do so as well. “Rather than divide and intimidate us, these brazen and barbaric attacks have united the international community and prompted a global response in defense of the freedom of expression,” said Eric Harris, press secretary for Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI). Moore will participate in the tribute. The pencil has become a symbol of remembrance and solidarity after the massacre at _Charlie Hebdo_, which many saw as an attack on free speech. The advance text of Obama’s speech is not yet available, but it is widely expected that he will reference the attack. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/"},"headline":"Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo","datePublished":"2015-01-20T21:04:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T03:43:30.825Z","description":"When Obama mentions the Charlie Hebdo attack during his speech, some members of Congress will hold pencils in tribute to those that died.","url":"https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/","keywords":["state of the union","France","Charlie Hebdo"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77db5bd7b533cdab/69877adf524fc06074dec036/charlie-hebdo-pencil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77db5bd7b533cdab/69877adf524fc06074dec036/charlie-hebdo-pencil.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"BRITAIN-FRANCE-ATTACKS-CHARLIE-HEBDO","caption":"BRITAIN-FRANCE-ATTACKS-CHARLIE-HEBDO","creditText":"Justin Tallis—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/state-of-the-union/","name":"state of the union"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3675310/state-union-charlie-hebdo-pencils/","name":"Lawmakers Will Hold Up Pencils at SOTU to Honor Charlie Hebdo"}}]}] ```