[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 42 (Tuesday, April 16, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BACKLASH OF HATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Flake). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 
5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
backlash of hate that is occurring around the country and around the 
world as the result of September 11 and as a result of current actions 
in the Middle East. Mr. Speaker, this Congress must condemn these 
violent acts which are hurting families and communities around the 
world and here at home.
  During the first week in April, two men dressed in Orthodox Jewish 
clothing were attacked and beaten in Berkeley, California, one of the 
most tolerant cities in the United States, and they were beaten because 
they were Jewish. In the same town, a Jewish student center located 
near the campus was broken into and antiIsrael slogans were spray-
painted on the property. Also in California, a Los Altos Hills orthodox 
Christian church with a congregation of mostly Palestinians and Arab 
Americans was destroyed in a mysterious fire.
  And it continues. In Los Angeles, three 17-year-old boys, all wearing 
yarmulkes were walking home from a friend's house at 12:30 a.m., when 2 
skinheads attacked and beat them for no other reason than that they 
were Jewish. Across the country in Florida, a pickup truck was driven 
into the front of an Islamic center in Tallahassee. The driver, 
motivated by hatred of Muslims, bragged to the officers that he could 
have blown up the mosque if he had put propane tanks on the front of 
his truck. He also said that he tried to join the military in order to 
kill Muslims.
  Mr. Speaker, all of these events happened over the past 3 weeks. 
However, since September 11, the increasing trend of hate has been 
abundantly clear. Immigrants from south Asia appear to have been the 
victims of attacks and other racially motivated incidents because they 
were perceived, often incorrectly, to be Arab or Muslim.
  The National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium reported 250 
incidents against South Asian immigrants just in the last 3 months of 
the year 2001. This number compares to 400 to 500 incidents a year, bad 
enough, that were reported in the past. Complaints of discrimination 
received by Arab American Muslim and Sikh groups have soared.
  Since September 11, the Council on American Islamic Relations has 
received more than 1,700 reports of workplace bias, Arab profiling, 
discrimination in schools, physical assaults and other incidents 
compared with 322 in all of the year 2000.
  This backlash is not only a national problem, it is a global problem. 
France has seen a wave of attacks on Jewish schools, cemeteries and 
synagogues. According to an annual study by the Tel Aviv University, 
anti-Semitic acts rose sharply around the world after September 11 and 
following Israel's offensive into the West Bank. The study revealed 
some of the worst anti-Semitic days since the end of World War II.
  Congress must make it clear that there is no room for personal 
attacks and bigotry in America or abroad. The first step we as a 
Congress can take is to pass H.R. 1343, the Local Law Enforcement Hate 
Crimes Prevention Act introduced by Congressman John Conyers. Under 
current law, the government must prove both that the hate crime 
occurred because of a person's association with a designated group and 
because the victim was engaged in a Federal activity such as voting or 
serving on a jury. H.R. 1343 would eliminate these overly restrictive 
obstacles to Federal involvement, which have prevented government 
involvement in many cases in which individuals kill or injure others 
because of racial or religious bias.
  In addition, H.R. 1343 would authorize the Department of Justice to 
assist local prosecutions and investigate and prosecute cases in which 
bias violence occurs because of the victim's sexual orientation, 
gender, or disability. Currently, Federal law does not provide 
authority for involvement in those cases.
  Mr. Speaker, the people of the United States must set an example for 
the world by expressing our differences without resorting to violence 
against our neighbors. We must remember that disagreement can be 
expressed without physically attacking or demeaning those with whom we 
disagree. Our freedom of speech is a fundamental right that should be 
used for causes that citizens are passionate about, but not in a way 
that damages others' rights to their opinion.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress has the ability to combat unnecessary 
hatred and lead the charge. Let us take a first step by passing H.R. 
1343.

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