[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 143 (Sunday, October 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  THE NEED FOR HATE CRIME LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, on the front page of virtually every 
newspaper in America yesterday, I saw a story that sickened me when I 
read it and should shock every Member of this body. Matthew Shepard, 
the 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming who was described 
by a family member as an incredibly caring person with a big heart, 
mind and soul, was lured Tuesday night from campus by two young men, 
driven a mile outside of town, bludgeoned with a blunt instrument and 
tied to a fence like a dead animal. Close to death, with his head 
battered and burn marks on his body, he was discovered 12 hours later 
by two passing cyclists who at first said they mistook his unconscious 
body for a scarecrow. Today, as we deliberate here, young Matthew 
Shepard is lying in a coma, clinging to life.
  Why was this young man singled out for such a barbaric act of 
violence? According to all accounts, he was attacked simply because he 
was gay. This is the latest in a series of brutally violent crimes 
committed against people for no other reason than the color of their 
skin, their sexual orientation or their religion.
  For example, in southern Virginia last year, a soft-spoken black man 
was soaked in gasoline, burned alive, and then beheaded in the yard of 
his slayer. The victim was the only son of his parents, who were 
incredibly proud of his service in the Marines. He was targeted for 
this act of violence, it was discovered, simply because he was black.
  Likewise in April 1994, two African American men murdered a white 
father of three in Lubbock, Texas. The killers later stated that they 
had set out to find a victim this time who was white.
  Earlier this year in Illinois, a Hispanic family mourned the loss of 
their son who was kicked and verbally abused as he lay on the ground 
bleeding to death, shortly after being in a car accident with the 
assailant. According to the authorities, the driver of the other car 
was upset that his car had been damaged and went over to the victim and 
repeatedly kicked him in the stomach while shouting, ``Mexican, go back 
to Mexico.''
  And all of us by now have heard about the recent slaying in Texas of 
James Byrd, a disabled black man. The Nation was horrified to hear the 
account of Mr. Byrd who was offered a ride by three young men in a 
pickup truck. After luring him into their vehicle, buying him beer and 
driving him to a remote location, the men beat Byrd unconscious, 
chained him to their truck and dragged him around until he was 
beheaded.
  Incidents like these underscore the need for Congress to move forward 
and pass pending hate crime legislation sponsored by my colleague from 
Florida (Mr. McCollum). We have a responsibility as lawmakers and as 
human beings to do everything in our power to punish those who commit 
hate crimes of any kind to the fullest extent of the law. But it is 
equally important for us to speak out loudly against those individuals 
and organized groups like neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and skin-head 
sects which target people based on benign traits like skin color, 
sexual orientation or religion.
  Today we should all keep Matthew Shepard and his family and his 
friends in our prayers as we reflect on this brutal act of violence. If 
we are in fact to survive as a society, we have got to come to grips 
with these horrible, horrible crimes that are being committed around 
us, and we have got to teach our children different, we have got to set 
examples.
  The two young couples that disposed of the body of a baby in a trash 
can as they celebrated their evening prom continue to underscore how 
terribly weak we are becoming as a Nation and how careless we are 
becoming with facts and how we are not protecting each other from these 
types of acts of violence.
  So, again I urge my colleagues to speak forcibly on this floor about 
protecting every human being on this earth. And we may have our 
differences, we may disagree on a lot of things, but to witness these 
kind of crimes being repeated and repeated and repeated, and allow them 
to go unchallenged, and allow it to be, well, because he was different, 
or that just happened because he was hanging out around the wrong types 
of people. Even the characterization of a legislator several years ago 
when he said, homosexuals are like gay bulls; they are worthless and 
should be sent to the packing plant. When legislators and people of 
authority start talking about other people like that, you wonder what 
impact it may have on average Americans who are sitting, listening.

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