[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 150 (Tuesday, October 20, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S12729]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE DEATH OF MATTHEW SHEPARD

 Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, Americans from every region in the 
country, from all walks of life--Americans straight and gay --have 
spent the past week expressing our sense of shock and outrage for what 
happened on a dark road in Wyoming. We have also expressed our 
passionate conviction and knowledge that there is no room in our 
country for the kind of vicious, terrible, pathetic, ignorant hate that 
took the life of Matthew Shepard.
  We are a better country than that and, Mr. President, I know that 
Wyoming is filled with good people who share our shock tonight.
  But the question, here in this city of monuments, is what will we do 
about it as a country? Is there a lesson that can become a monument to 
Matthew Shepard and so many others who suffer because of other people's 
limitations?
  The reason we are here is to guarantee that lesson and to make 
certain that there will be no period of indifference, as there was 
initially when the country ignored the burning of black churches or 
overlooked the spray-painted swastikas in synagogues; or suggested that 
the undiluted hatred which killed this young man is someone else's 
problem, some other community's responsibility.
  We must all accept national responsibility for the killing in 
Wyoming, and commit--each of us in our words, in our hearts, and in our 
actions--to insure that the lesson of Matthew Shepard is not forgotten.
  To my friends in the Congress, I say let us pass the Hate Crimes 
Prevention Act. And, let the so-called leaders in this country stop 
their immature and nonsensical rhetoric which encourages, or justifies, 
these barbaric acts. Look to the 58 high schools in my own beautiful 
state of Massachusetts where 22 percent of gay students say they skip 
school because they feel unsafe there and fully 31 percent of gay 
students had been threatened or actually physically attacked for being 
gay. Matthew Shepard is not the exception to the rule, Mr. President; 
his tragic death rather is the extreme example of what happens on a 
daily basis in our schools, on our streets and in our communities. And 
that's why we have an obligation to pass laws that make clear our 
determination to root out this hatred. We hear a lot from Congress 
today how we are a country of laws, not men. Let them make good on 
those words and pass hate crime legislation.
  To all Americans, I encourage you tonight to stare down those who 
want you to live in fear and declare boldly that you will not live in a 
country where private prejudice undermines public law.
  Each of us has the power to make this happen, and in a small way 
change misperception and reverse prejudice. Our belief in the strength 
of human justice can overcome the hatred in our society--by confronting 
it.
  So we must confront it as Martin Luther King did when he preached in 
Birmingham and Memphis and all over this country, when he thundered his 
protest and assuaged those who feared his dreams. He taught us how to 
look hatred in the face and overcome it.
  We should face it as Nelson Mandela did the day he left prison in 
South Africa, knowing that if his heart was filled only with hatred, he 
could never be free. Nelson Mandela destroyed systemic hatred, faced 
the fear--and today sets an example to the world about moving away from 
ignorance.
  We need to challenge it as Harvey Milk did in San Francisco, when he 
brushed aside hatred, suspicion, fear and death threats to serve his 
city. Even as he foretold his own assassination, Harvey prayed that 
``if a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every 
closet door.'' He knew that true citizenship belongs only to an 
enlightened people, undeterred by passion or prejudice--and it exists 
in a country which recognizes no one particular aspect of humanity 
before another.
  Today, the challenge is to face our fears and root out hatred 
wherever we find it--whether on Laramie Road in Wyoming, or on the back 
roads of Jasper, Texas, or in the Shenandoah National Park.
  The Declaration of Independence framed it all for us and everything 
we try to be is based on the promise of certain inalienable rights; 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  Mr. President, those two young high school dropouts threaten each and 
every one of us when they stole Matthew's rights and life itself.
  That kind of hate is the real enemy of our civilization--and we come 
here to call on all people of good conscience to pass the laws that 
help us protect every citizen and we ask all Americans to make the 
personal commitment to live their lives each day in a way that brings 
us together.

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