[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 257 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 257

Condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, religious or ethnic 
  bias, discrimination, incitement to violence, or animus targeting a 
                     minority in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 2017

 Mrs. Comstock (for herself, Mrs. Dingell, Mr. Taylor, and Mr. Curbelo 
 of Florida) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
                     the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, religious or ethnic 
  bias, discrimination, incitement to violence, or animus targeting a 
                     minority in the United States.

Whereas, in the past several years, violent crimes, threats of violence, and 
        other incidents of hate-motivated targeting of religious, racial, and 
        ethnic minorities have increased across the United States;
Whereas, in 2015, hate crimes targeting Muslims in the United States increased 
        by 67 percent, reaching a level of violence targeting Muslim Americans 
        that the United States had not experienced since the aftermath of the 
        September 11, 2001, attacks, according to the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation;
Whereas, in 2015, anti-Semitic incidents increased in the United States for the 
        second straight year, according to the Anti-Defamation League's 2015 
        Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents, which describes trends such as the 
        tripling of assaults targeting Jews since 2012 and the rise of online 
        harassment and hate speech directed at Jewish journalists and 
        individuals through social media;
Whereas, in 2015, anti-Semitic incidents at institutions of higher education 
        nearly doubled compared to the number of those incidents in 2014, and 
        during the 2016-2017 school year there has been an increase in White 
        supremacist activity on college campuses across the United States, 
        according to the Anti-Defamation League;
Whereas, in 2015, among single-bias hate crime incidents in the United States, 
        59.2 percent of victims were targeted due to racial, ethnic, or ancestry 
        bias, and among those victims, 52.2 percent were victims of crimes 
        motivated by their offenders' anti-Black or anti-African-American bias, 
        according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
Whereas, in 2017, there have been more than 100 reported bomb threats against 
        Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools, and other Jewish 
        organizations and institutions in more than 38 States;
Whereas, in 2017, Islamic centers and mosques have been burned in the States of 
        Texas, Washington, and Florida, and Jewish cemeteries have been 
        desecrated in the States of Missouri and Pennsylvania;
Whereas, in 2017, there has been harassment and hate-based violence against 
        individuals who are perceived to be Muslim, including members of South 
        Asian communities in the United States, and Hindu and Sikh Americans 
        have been the target of hate-based violence targeting religious 
        minorities; and
Whereas, on February 28, 2017, President Donald Trump, before a joint session of 
        Congress, acknowledged threats targeting Jewish community centers and 
        the vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, and stated that ``we are a country 
        that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly 
        forms'': Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) affirms that the United States stands united in 
        condemning hate and evil in all forms;
            (2) rejects hate-motivated crime as an attack on the fabric 
        of the society of the United States and the ideals of pluralism 
        and respect;
            (3) condemns hate crime and any other form of racism, 
        religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to 
        violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United States;
            (4) calls on Federal law enforcement officials, working 
        with State and local officials--
                    (A) to expeditiously investigate all credible 
                reports of hate crimes and incidents and threats 
                against minorities in the United States; and
                    (B) to hold the perpetrators of those crimes, 
                incidents, or threats accountable and bring the 
                perpetrators to justice;
            (5) encourages the Department of Justice and other Federal 
        agencies--
                    (A) to work to improve the reporting of hate 
                crimes; and
                    (B) to emphasize the importance of the agencies' 
                collection and reporting of data pursuant to Federal 
                law;
            (6) encourages the development of an interagency task force 
        led by the Attorney General and bringing together the 
        Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, the 
        Department of Education, the Department of State, the Federal 
        Bureau of Investigation, and the Office of the Director of 
        National Intelligence to collaborate on the development of 
        effective strategies and efforts to detect and deter hate crime 
        in order to protect minority communities; and
            (7) calls on the executive branch--
                    (A) to offer Federal assistance that may be 
                available for victims of hate crimes; and
                    (B) to enhance security measures and improve 
                preparedness for religious institutions, places of 
                worship, and other institutions that have been targeted 
                because of the affiliation of the institutions with any 
                particular religious, racial, or ethnic minority in the 
                United States.
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