[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 113 (Thursday, July 13, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9855-S9856]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RACIST ACTIVITIES AN OUTRAGE

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I am going to divert from this bill for a 
minute on a matter that I consider to be of extreme importance. I have 
been reading some accounts in the newspaper, and I would like to take a 
moment to address something that deeply distresses me.
  According to certain press reports, several current and former 
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents participated in a so-called good 
old boys roundup, an event that is alleged to have involved hateful, 
racist conduct.
  As many of my colleagues are no doubt aware, this event involved 
hundreds of Federal, State, and local law enforcement agents. When 
African-American agents tried to attend the event, however, they were 
turned away. According to various news reports, participants at the 
event displayed blatantly racist signs and sold T-shirts displaying, 
among other things, Dr. Martin Luther King's face behind a target and a 
picture of an African-American man sprawled across a police car with 
the words ``Boys on the Hood.''
  Apparently other things were available for sale that are, frankly, 
too despicable to even be mentioned on the Senate floor. I can only 
express my outrage and anger that such activities of this type could 
occur in America and especially when law enforcement officials are 
involved. 

[[Page S 9856]]

  Mr. President, it means something to me and I think every American--
it means something--for a person to be a law enforcement officer. Among 
other things, it means that the American people have placed their trust 
in that law enforcement officer. It means that they represent the 
people, all the people. And it means that they have taken an oath to 
uphold and enforce the law, and if we cannot rely on law enforcement 
officers to do that, upon whom can we rely?
  That any American, but especially any law enforcement officer who 
holds a sacred trust, would engage in these racist activities is an 
outrage, and it must be condemned. To be an effective law enforcement 
officer, you must have the trust and the respect of our people. Indeed, 
law enforcement officers take an oath to defend the community. When law 
enforcement officers engage in racist activities, they betray the trust 
of the people and they disgrace the uniforms that they are empowered to 
wear.
  This is not only a concern of African-Americans, this is a concern to 
all Americans. We have a right to expect that our law enforcement 
officers will treat all citizens equally. If the press reports are 
true, and these officers engaged in hateful racist conduct, not only 
must their actions be condemned, but they should be dismissed from 
their positions, for no one in whom the people's trust is placed should 
be allowed to destroy that trust by engaging in such hateful behavior.
  No doubt some of the participants will say that they were aware of 
what was going on but did not directly participate. I would ask them, 
What were you thinking? If you were at a party and people were selling 
drugs, would you not do something as a law enforcement officer? Those 
who would stand by while others engage in this kind of conduct are no 
less guilty than those who turn their heads when crimes are committed 
on the street. We simply cannot tolerate any sort of racist conduct on 
behalf of our law enforcement officers, not of any sort by any law 
enforcement officers.
  I hope Director Magaw will take swift action to determine whether 
these allegations are true and, if so, to dismiss those who are 
involved.
  Similarly, I would tell State and local law enforcement agencies to 
purge themselves of agents who would violate the people's sacred trust 
by engaging in such hateful activities. This is America. We are one 
Nation under God. We are a Nation that guarantees liberty and justice 
to all people. When one citizen is mistreated regardless of race, 
color, or creed, all citizens should be outraged. And when a person 
clothed with the authority of the people engages in hateful conduct, 
that person's conduct must be condemned by the people. We simply cannot 
condone racial discrimination in any of its vile forms.
  Having said that, I have to say almost all law enforcement officers 
are good, decent people, but those who betray the public trust by 
displaying deplorable judgment and terrible prejudice, they forfeit 
that trust.
  Let me be clear that this is not the voice of political correctness. 
Being a law enforcement officer is a public trust, because public-
safety matters of life and death are in the hands of law enforcement 
officers. The overwhelming majority of our law enforcement officers are 
really good people. But if someone authorized to wield a gun in the 
name of the law can organize and find comfort at gatherings such as the 
one I have described, that person does not deserve the people's trust.
  Faced with a threatening situation, or the perception of a threat, 
can we be confident that such an agent would not react based on 
prejudice if the situation involved an African-American or some other 
minority person?
  This is not a matter of concern only to African-Americans, I might 
add. Prejudice is not so readily limited. But I would not want someone 
exhibiting such terrible judgment and prejudice enforcing the law with 
respect to me either. If it is determined that these various officers 
have done these things and that these accounts are true, then, I 
reiterate, those law enforcement agents who knowingly participated 
ought to be fired. They ought to be terminated.
 We should not have them in positions of trust among the people. They 
should certainly not wear the badge of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and 
Firearms Bureau.

  Having said that, I hope that the director will get behind this, find 
out exactly what the true facts are, determine who the people are who 
are culpable and responsible for this kind of activity. I think they 
should be fired on the spot.
  It is just one of those things that you just cannot tolerate in a 
society as great as ours.
  I yield the floor.

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