[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 173 (Thursday, December 13, 2001)]
[House]
[Page H10059]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         HATE CRIME PREVENTION

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise again to support the Local Law 
Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2001, introduced by my good 
friend, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers). The act promotes a 
strict enforcement of hate crimes, providing Federal assistance to 
States and local jurisdictions to prosecute these cowardly crimes.
  In my own district, in the city of Azusa, we have experienced several 
hate crimes. In fact, in 1999, 11 hate crimes were reported, Latinos 
fighting with African Americans. Unfortunately, in this past year, 
Azusa has already experienced nine hate crimes alone, and those were 
the only ones that were reported. What about the ones that were not 
reported?
  Earlier this month, a Molotov cocktail was maliciously thrown at 
three different homes, African American families, and almost killed a 
young child. In one of these outrageous attacks, the bomb landed in the 
bedroom of a 6-year-old boy.
  We must stand to protect our children and communities from these 
hateful actions. I want to be able to tell the people in my district 
that here in Washington, D.C. we are doing something about hate crimes. 
We need to empower our law enforcement and give more support to combat 
hate crimes.

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