[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 357 Referred in Senate (RFS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. J. RES. 357


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                  May 4 (legislative day, May 2), 1994

  Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
Designating the week beginning February 12, 1995, as ``National Random 
                        Acts of Kindness Week''.

Whereas the incidence of random acts of violence in the United States has 
        reached epidemic levels;
Whereas the Surgeon General of the United States estimates that, every day in 
        the United States, 135,000 children carry guns to school;
Whereas every day in the United States, 3 children are killed by child abuse, 9 
        children are murdered, 13 children are killed by guns, 30 children are 
        wounded by guns, 307 children are arrested for crimes of violence, 7,945 
        children are reported abused or neglected, and 5,703 teenagers are 
        victims of violent crime;
Whereas every 4 hours a child in the United States commits suicide;
Whereas in the United States, a rape is committed every 6 minutes, and every 
        year between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 women are battered by their 
        partners and more than 200,000 women are stalked;
Whereas every year in the United States, there are 4.7 random acts of violence 
        committed against every 1,000 persons 65 years of age or older;
Whereas every year in the United States, there are 758.1 random acts of violence 
        for every 100,000 persons in the United States, and 235 firearm-related 
        acts of violence for every 100,000 persons in the United States;
Whereas there are 238,000,000 handguns in the United States;
Whereas in 1992 in the United States, there were 1,730 anti-Semitic incidents, 
        the total number of white-supremacist groups rose 27 percent above the 
        number from the previous year, and a record number of bias-related 
        incidents, including 31 murders, were reported;
Whereas hate crimes against Asians comprised 8.9 percent of all hate crimes 
        documented in Los Angeles County in 1990; every 4 hours an African 
        American child is murdered;
Whereas the United States strongly opposes random acts of violence, and all 
        forms of intolerance and mean-spiritedness based on ethnicity, religion, 
        race, gender, or sexual orientation;
Whereas the people of the United States should be encouraged to practice random 
        acts of kindness, in the spirit of compassion, kindness, and goodwill 
        toward all persons; and
Whereas February 14 is annually celebrated as Valentine's Day: Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the week beginning 
February 12, 1995, is designated as ``National Random Acts of Kindness 
Week'', and the President is authorized and requested to issue a 
proclamation calling on the people of the United States to observe the 
week with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

            Passed the House of Representatives May 3, 1994.

            Attest:

                                           DONNALD K. ANDERSON,

                                                                 Clerk.