[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 40 (Thursday, March 21, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2717-S2719]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




COMMENDING THE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE FOR THEIR EFFORTS TO COMBAT HATE 
                                 CRIMES

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, I applaud the Anti-Defamation League 
[ADL] for its continuing work to expose and combat hate crimes, and to 
bring your attention to its most recent ``Audit of Anti-Semitic 
Incidents.'' For the past 17 years, the ADL has compiled data about 
anti-Jewish attacks. Their efforts in the collection of data and the 
development of programs regarding anti-Semitic acts increase public 
awareness of this problem, and help generate constructive solutions. I 
commend ADL for continuing this important endeavor and would like to 
share with you some of their recent findings.
  In 1995, the total number of anti-Semitic incidents reported to the 
Anti-Defamation League--including acts against property and persons--
was 1,843. I am pleased to report that this total represents a decrease 
of 223 incidents, or 11 percent, from the 1994 total of 2,066. This is 
the largest decline in 10 years. Unfortunately, the decline is 
contrasted with the seriousness of many of the incidents reported. For 
the fifth straight year in a row, acts of anti-Semitic harassment 
against individuals outnumber incidents of vandalism against 
institutions and other property. In 1995, the 1,116 incidents of 
harassment account for 61 percent of all incidents, compared to 727 
accounts of vandalism. Fortunately, the 1,116 incidents of harassment, 
threats, and assaults represents a decrease of 81, or 7 percent from 
the 1994 total of 1,197, which was the highest on record. Although it 
is encouraging to see the number of harassments down from previous 
years, I am troubled that incidents of harassment remain one of the 
dominant forms of anti-Semitic activity.
  Although the ADL audit provides useful statistics about anti-Semitism 
generally, it is particularly revealing to consider specific incidents. 
One particularly violent incident occurred in Cincinnati, OH, when a 
group of four youths assaulted the son of a community rabbi, chasing 
him for about a block before they caught him outside of the synagogue 
and beat him until he collapsed on the street. The ADL also reported an 
incident of arson in New York City, at Freddy's Fashion Mart, where 
eight people, including the arsonist himself, died. At Fresno State 
College, following the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak 
Rabin, the student-run newspaper printed an article calling Rabin, 
``The most despicable mass murderer the 20th century has seen, making 
Hitler look like Big Bird.''
  Sadly, 1995 saw a large number of anti-Semitic incidences on college 
campuses. One disturbing incident occurred at the University of 
Pennsylvania. On March 24, two students were walking in an area 
immediately off campus. Derogatory epithets were shouted at them by two 
students sitting on the porch of a private home. When the Jewish 
students confronted them, one of the two went into the house and 
returned brandishing a shotgun which he used to threaten the Jewish 
students, who quickly fled the scene.
  On another somber note, the number of arrests made in conjunction 
with anti-Semitic hate crimes was 108, a significant decrease of 33 
from last year's arrest total of 141. This may be attributed to either 
fewer crimes or underreporting of crime instances. However, the number 
of arrests is still relatively high, which is encouraging. Law 
enforcement agencies have been making intensive efforts to refine 
procedures for investigation of hate crimes, with the assistance of the 
ADL and other human relations organizations.
  In closing, I again want to commend the ADL for its outstanding and 
important work and ask that portions of the ADL report be printed in 
the Record.
  The material follows:

                 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents--1995


                              the findings

       In 1995, the total number of anti-Semitic incidents 
     reported to the Anti-Defamation League--including acts 
     against both property and persons--was 1,843. This total, 
     comprising reports from 42 states and the District of 
     Columbia, represents a decrease of 223 incidents, or 11 
     percent, from the 1994 total of 2,066.
       The four states reporting the highest totals of anti-
     Semitic incidents of all kinds in 1995 were: New York (370), 
     California (264), New Jersey (228), and Florida (152). These 
     four states account for 1,014 of the 1,843 incidents reported 
     (55 percent).
       The 1995 audit reveals the following new developments:
       (1) The decline in violent crime in the U.S. that has been 
     reported by Federal and municipal law enforcement in 1995 
     carries over

[[Page S2718]]

     into anti-Semitic bias incidents as well. The overall 11 
     percent decline reflected in this year's Audit is the first 
     since 1992, and the largest decline in 10 years. Thus, the 
     Audit statistics mirror the state of crime in American 
     society. Enhanced security awareness by Jewish institutions, 
     steadily improving law enforcement action, and passage of 
     hate crimes legislation have likely contributed to this 
     decline.
       (2) The decline is contrasted with the seriousness of many 
     of the incidents reported. An extremely violent arson 
     incident in New York City led to several deaths. In addition, 
     the number of cemetery desecrations (one of the most serious 
     and hurtful forms of vandalism, which affects an entire 
     community) actually increased over 1994.
       (3) The number of incidents occurring on the college campus 
     shows the first decline since 1987, and only the second since 
     the Audit began separately counting such incidents in 1984. 
     In 1995, 118 campus incidents occurred, a decrease of 25 (17 
     percent) from the 1994 total of 143.
       In addition to the aforementioned findings, the 1995 
     figures maintain two important trends noted in the 1994 ADL 
     study:
       (1) For the fifth straight year, acts of anti-Semitic 
     harassment outnumber incidents of vandalism. In 1995, the 
     1,116 incidents of harassment account for 61 percent of all 
     incidents, vs. 727 incidents of vandalism. The number of 
     harassments and assaults in 1995 dropped by 81, or 7 percent, 
     from 1994.
       (2) As in previous years, of the total of 727 incidents of 
     vandalism, the number of vandalism incidents committed 
     against public properly locations (362)--i.e., public school 
     buildings, bridges, and sign posts--in 1995 was more than 
     twice that committed against synagogues and other Jewish 
     institutional targets (145). (The remaining 220 vandalism 
     incidents were perpetrated against privately owned property.) 
     This pattern continues a trend seen over the previous five 
     years. Vandals, it seems, are still opting for the more 
     numerous and harder-to-protect public locations rather than 
     the generally better secured and increasingly more aware 
     Jewish institutions. In recent years, such institutions have 
     also become better protected by more intensive law 
     enforcement action.


              fewer incidents--but many still very serious

       In contrast to the overall decline in incidents reported in 
     1995, there were several particularly troubling incidents 
     which took place over the last year.
       On November 11, 1995, the FBI arrested four suspects in a 
     foiled attempt to bomb several offices of civil rights 
     organizations around the country, including ADL Regional 
     Offices. Willie Ray Lampley, Cecilia Lampley, Larry Wayne 
     Crow, and John Dare Baird had been allegedly conspiring since 
     August 1995 to build homemade bombs out of ammonium nitrate, 
     fuel oil, and other ingredients to destroy the ADL Houston 
     office, a second unnamed ADL office, the Southern Poverty Law 
     Center in Montgomery, Alabama, and two other targets to be 
     decided by the ``Tri-State Militia.''
       The FBI became aware of the plans on a tip from local law 
     enforcement sources in South Dakota, and closely monitored 
     the development plot through the use of undercover informants 
     and surveillance. All of the suspects were arrested without 
     incident, and indicted on Federal charges.
       On December 8th, Roland Smith entered Freddy's Fashion Mart 
     on Harlem's historic 125th Street in New York City. According 
     to the New York Times (Dec. 9, 10), he then produced a 
     revolver and yelled ``It's on now!'' and ordered all blacks 
     to leave the store. After this he began to fire the gun, and 
     to spread a flammable liquid over the racks of clothing in 
     the store, before igniting them. When the fire department had 
     finally extinguished the flames, 8 people were dead, 
     including Smith. An additional 4 people were wounded.
       Fred Harari, the Jewish owner of Freddy's, was involved in 
     a landlord-tenant dispute with Sikhulu Shange, the black 
     owner of the Record Shack, a store subletting an adjacent 
     property. (The entire property was actually owned by the 
     United House of Prayer for All People, a Black church). Mr. 
     Shange enlisted the support of the 125th Street Vendors 
     Association, which organized demonstrations outside of 
     Freddy's. Though it started as a simple economic dispute, the 
     demonstrators quickly began to characterize it in terms of a 
     white Jewish-owned business trying to force a black business 
     off 125th Street. In late November, Mr. Harari complained 
     that the demonstrations, which was supported by community 
     newspapers and radio stations, were taking an anti-Semitic 
     tone, and were laced with increasingly violent racist 
     rhetoric.
       On Saturday, February 18, members of the Ohev Shalom 
     Synagogue in York, PA, arrived for services to find a severed 
     pig's head mounted on the front door. The community quickly 
     rallied behind the efforts of law enforcement officials to 
     apprehend the perpetrator, and support the synagogue. At a 
     vote on a motion to condemn the incident, town supervisor 
     Lori Mitrick states that the Jewish community should know 
     ``this is not just an embarrassment to them, it is an 
     embarrassment to all decent human beings.''
       Determined police work led to the eventual arrest and 
     conviction of 22-year-old Mason E. Aldrich for institutional 
     vandalism, desecration of venerated objects, and criminal 
     conspiracy. He was sentenced to 23 months in jail and ordered 
     to perform 120 hours of community service, including 15 hours 
     of cultural awareness programming with ADL.
       In interviews leading up to his October 16 Million Man 
     March, the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan sought to 
     justify his referring to Jews and others as ``blood 
     suckers.'' On Reuters Television, Farrakhan explained, ``Many 
     of the Jews who owned the homes, the apartments in the black 
     community, we considered them bloodsuckers because they took 
     from our community but didn't offer anything back to our 
     community.'' Minister Farrakhan was interviewed by many 
     national news programs in the weeks leading up to the march, 
     interspersing many of his remarks with thinly veiled 
     conspiracy theory anti-Semitism.
       In addition to the above incidents, other troubling acts 
     included the beating of a rabbi's son in Cincinnati, OH, and 
     the intimidation of the cast of a play about the Holocaust in 
     Honolulu, HI. At the University of Pennsylvania, two Jewish 
     students were threatened by other students brandishing a 
     shotgun, after being taunted with anti-Semitic epithets. In 
     California, a home-made fire-bomb was thrown at a synagogue. 
     The bomb did not detonate, and the synagogue was spared. 
     (Please see Examples of Harassment, Threats and Assaults, p. 
     4; Campus Incidents, p. 9; and A Look at Some Noteworthy 
     Incidents, p. 13, for more information.)


                   Harassment, threats, and assaults

       In 1995, the number of incidents of anti-Semitic 
     harassment, threats, and assaults directed at Jewish 
     individuals and institutions totaled 1,116. This total 
     represents a decrease of 81, or 7 percent from the 1994 total 
     of 1,197, which was the highest on record.
       This category of incidents covers a large variety of 
     intimidating and hostile acts, including: slanderous anti-
     Semitic and neo-Nazi hate literature mailed or disseminated 
     in public places; slurs directed against Jewish individuals 
     walking to synagogue services or campus gatherings; speeches 
     given on campus containing anti-Semitic language; Holocaust-
     denial advertisements in campus newspapers; a threatening 
     phone call to a synagogue or Jewish school; as well as direct 
     physical violence against Jewish persons as a result of their 
     identity. Although many incidents of harassment are not 
     crimes, they continue to constitute overt and painful 
     expressions of anti-Semitic hatred.
       While it is encouraging that the number of harassments is 
     down from previous years, a troubling trend has been 
     maintained in the 1995 totals. As in past years, incidents of 
     harassment are significantly more common than incidents of 
     vandalism. While any expression of anti-Semitic behavior is 
     troubling, the high number of these more personalized attacks 
     is a cause for particular concern.


         examples of harassment, threat, and assault incidents

       The following is a representative sampling of 1995 
     incidents of anti-Semitic harassment, threats, and assaults 
     in the 20 states reporting the highest totals of such acts.
       1. New York (200 incidents) March--Upon leaving a dance 
     club late at night, a group of men was approached by several 
     people who asked if they were Jewish. When they responded 
     that they were, one of them was beaten with a ``Club'' anti-
     car-theft device. (New York City)
       2. California (175) August--A car with four young men in it 
     drove past a group of campers and staff at a JCC camp and 
     shouted profanities and anti-Semitic epithets. (San Diego)
       3. Florida (102) October--Police officers and social 
     workers received messages on their beepers leading them to 
     call the Children of the Reich hate line, with a message 
     threatening Jews and African-Americans.
       4. New Jersey (97) January/February--Community leaders were 
     threatened with bodily harm if they supported an application 
     to erect a new synagogue building. (Closter)
       5. Connecticut (51) February--An anti-Semitic, Holocaust-
     denying letter was sent to a Jewish newspaper. (Hartford)
       6. Ohio (50) November--Soon after the assassination of 
     Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a spectator at a 
     Cleveland Browns football game held a sign saying, ``They 
     killed the wrong Jew,'' a reference to Art Modell, the owner 
     of the team who decided to move it to Baltimore. (Cleveland)
       7. Massachusetts (47) June--A 74-year-old Russian immigrant 
     was assaulted by his neighbor, who yelled, ``F__ __ __ing 
     Jew--go back to Russia.'' (Brighton)
       8. Maryland (44) May--A Holocaust information center 
     received numerous anti-Semitic phone calls after its phone 
     number was posted on the Internet. (Baltimore)
       9. Illinois (40) August--A man was walking on a downtown 
     street wearing a sandwich board sign which read, ``HIROSHIMA 
     + NAGASAKI Were (and are) JEWISH ATROCITIES.'' (Chicago)
       10. Pennsylvania (36) April--A synagogue nursery school 
     received a letter which stated, ``Fuel oil fertilizer. Jews 
     go boom.'' (Western Pennsylvania)
       11. Missouri (31) March--The Aryan Revolutionary Army 
     passed out flyers stating that the ``only good Jew is a dead 
     Jew.'' (St. Louis)
       12. Georgia (27) April--A high school history teacher 
     asserted in class that the Jews control the media and film 
     industry. (Atlanta)
       13. District of Columbia (21)--A U.S. Congressman received 
     anti-Semitic hate mail including, ``How is it that a Jew 
     backs a

[[Page S2719]]

     Nazi?'' and ``You Jews cause trouble all around the world and 
     then try to hide behind your religion,'' and imagery such as 
     swastikas and other offensive drawings.
       14. Minnesota (20) February--The National Socialist 
     American Workers Freedom Movement, a neo-Nazi group, 
     distributed flyers questioning the Holocaust and filled with 
     virulently anti-Semitic statements. (Minneapolis)
       15. Texas (20) February--A 15-year-old Jewish student was 
     assaulted by a gang of 15 skinheads. He escaped without 
     serious injury. (Alamo Heights)
       16. Colorado (16) October--A threatening message was left 
     on the voice mail of the ADL Regional Office, stating, 
     ``Hello, is this the rabbi? F__ __ __ you. Six million more, 
     hey six zillion more!'' (Denver)
       17. Wisconsin (16) April--A letter addressed to the 
     Executive Director of the Jewish Council said ``Death to all 
     jews [sic]. Six million more!!! May you be next!!!'' 
     (Milwaukee)
       18. Washington (13) April--A package of dog feces was left 
     on the front porch of a Jewish family, with the message, 
     ``Happy Passover from Congregation Beth Shalom.''
       19. North Carolina (11) January--Skinhead hate literature 
     was distributed at a flea market by Gary Lauck's National 
     Socialist German Workers Party. (Fayetteville)
       20. Virginia (11) January--Anti-Semitic hate literature 
     from the National Alliance was left in people's driveways. 
     (Henrico County) 

                          ____________________