[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 55 (Tuesday, April 17, 2012)]
[House]
[Pages H1852-H1853]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                         GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Al Green) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning with good 
news and bad news.
  This news comes by way of my hometown newspaper, the Houston 
Chronicle, and I'm proud that they have printed and published the news 
that I'm about to share with the public. The bad news is that Mr. 
Yondell Johnson was accosted and beaten on the streets of Houston, 
Texas, simply because of his race. This is bad news for anyone in our 
great country, a country that believes in liberty and justice for all.
  The good news, however, is they were prosecuted and they were 
convicted in a Federal court pursuant to the James Byrd hate crime law, 
and I'm honored to tell you that that law passed here in this Congress 
in 2009 and was signed into law. It is properly styled as the Matthew 
Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. It was 
supported by many people and organizations expressing goodwill. The 
NAACP supported it, the ADL supported it, a good many Members of this 
Congress supported it, and many others supported this law. This law 
allowed the prosecution to take place in a Federal court, when these 
three men would have been charged in a State court, and if convicted, 
faced misdemeanor charges.
  In this, the greatest country in the world, no one should have to 
fear for life or liberty simply because of who you are, simply because 
of your race, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexuality. It shouldn't 
happen in this country.
  The truth is that in this case there was some testimony with 
reference to one of the defendants having dated a person of African 
ancestry. There was testimony that he did not appear to be the kind of 
person that would be considered a white supremacist. But here is 
another truth that we have to deal with. The truth is that there is 
confusion about the hate crime law. There's a misunderstanding. This 
law does not allow you to impose dastardly deeds upon persons simply 
because you are of the same race as the person that you are assaulting.
  The truth is that if you assault and target a person because of race, 
it doesn't matter what your race is, and you are committing a hate 
crime. The truth is that you can be of the same race and commit a hate 
crime. The victim and the perpetrator can be of the same race and you 
will still have a hate crime. We need to rid ourselves of this foolish 
notion that this law was passed in some way to assault persons who are 
of an ethnicity or a race that we have traditionally, in this country, 
found to be engaged in some of these kinds of activities. It's not 
targeted at any given race; it's targeted at people who commit crimes 
against other people simply because of who these people are.
  I remind you that an injustice against any one of us is a threat to 
justice for every one of us, and we all have a duty to make sure that 
we don't send out some silly notion that this law was designed for one 
race of people. This law was designed for every person who would commit 
a hate crime against another person.
  So I'm saddened to say this morning that the bad news is Mr. Johnson 
had

[[Page H1853]]

to fight off several persons, stood his ground for 10 minutes, but 
indicated that he thought he was going to die as they assaulted him. 
That's the bad news. The good news is that the law has worked, that 
this law is bringing new meaning to the notion of justice for all. This 
law will not allow those who would commit dastardly deeds and be 
prosecuted in State courts for misdemeanors to go unchecked. They will 
now face felony charges in our Federal courts. This is the way it 
should be in the greatest country in the world.
  Mr. Speaker, God bless all listening, and God bless the United States 
of America.

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