[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 58 (Tuesday, April 4, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S2371]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  SENATE RESOLUTION 118--CONDEMNING HATE CRIME AND ANY OTHER FORM OF 
    RACISM, RELIGIOUS OR ETHNIC BIAS, DISCRIMINATION, INCITEMENT TO 
     VIOLENCE, OR ANIMUS TARGETING A MINORITY IN THE UNITED STATES

  Ms. HARRIS (for herself, Mr. Rubio, Mrs. Feinstein, and Ms. Collins) 
submitted the following resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 118

       Whereas, in the past several years, violent crimes, threats 
     of violence, and other incidents of hate-motivated targeting 
     of religious, racial, and ethnic minorities have increased 
     across the United States;
       Whereas, in 2015, hate crimes targeting Muslims in the 
     United States increased by 67 percent, reaching a level of 
     violence targeting Muslim Americans that the United States 
     had not experienced since the aftermath of the September 11, 
     2001, attacks, according to the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation;
       Whereas, in 2015, anti-Semitic incidents increased in the 
     United States for the second straight year, according to the 
     Anti-Defamation League's 2015 Audit of Anti-Semitic 
     Incidents, which describes trends such as the tripling of 
     assaults targeting Jews since 2012 and the rise of online 
     harassment and hate speech directed at Jewish journalists and 
     individuals through social media;
       Whereas, in 2015, anti-Semitic incidents at institutions of 
     higher education nearly doubled compared to the number of 
     those incidents in 2014, and during the 2016-2017 school year 
     there has been an increase in white supremacist activity on 
     college campuses across the United States, according to the 
     Anti-Defamation League;
       Whereas, in 2015, among single-bias hate crime incidents in 
     the United States, 59.2 percent of victims were targeted due 
     to racial, ethnic, or ancestry bias, and among those victims, 
     52.2 percent were victims of crimes motivated by their 
     offenders' anti-Black or anti-African American bias, 
     according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
       Whereas, in 2017, there have been more than 100 reported 
     bomb threats against Jewish community centers, Jewish day 
     schools, and other Jewish organizations and institutions in 
     more than 38 States;
       Whereas, in 2017, Islamic centers and mosques have been 
     burned in the States of Texas, Washington, and Florida, and 
     Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated in the States of 
     Missouri and Pennsylvania;
       Whereas, in 2017, there has been harassment and hate-based 
     violence against individuals who are perceived to be Arab or 
     Muslim, including members of South Asian communities in the 
     United States, and Hindu and Sikh Americans have been the 
     target of hate-based violence targeting religious minorities; 
     and
       Whereas, on February 28, 2017, President Donald Trump, 
     before a joint session of Congress, acknowledged threats 
     targeting Jewish community centers and the vandalism of 
     Jewish cemeteries, and stated that ``we are a country that 
     stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very 
     ugly forms'': Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) affirms that the United States stands united in 
     condemning hate and evil in all forms;
       (2) rejects hate-motivated crime as an attack on the fabric 
     of the society of the United States and the ideals of 
     pluralism and respect;
       (3) condemns hate crime and any other form of racism, 
     religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to 
     violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United 
     States;
       (4) calls on Federal law enforcement officials, working 
     with State and local officials--
       (A) to expeditiously investigate all credible reports of 
     hate crimes and incidents and threats against minorities in 
     the United States; and
       (B) to hold the perpetrators of those crimes, incidents, or 
     threats accountable and bring the perpetrators to justice;
       (5) encourages the Department of Justice and other Federal 
     agencies--
       (A) to work to improve the reporting of hate crimes; and
       (B) to emphasize the importance of the agencies' collection 
     and reporting of data pursuant to Federal law;
       (6) encourages the development of an interagency task force 
     led by the Attorney General to collaborate on the development 
     of effective strategies and efforts to detect and deter hate 
     crime in order to protect minority communities; and
       (7) calls on the executive branch--
       (A) to continue to offer Federal assistance that may be 
     available for victims of hate crimes; and
       (B) to continue to carry out safety and preparedness 
     programs for religious institutions, places of worship, and 
     other institutions that have been targeted because of the 
     affiliation of the institutions with any particular 
     religious, racial, or ethnic minority in the United States.

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