[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 122 (Thursday, July 2, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4230-S4231]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESOLUTION 645--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE THAT MOB 
                      VIOLENCE SHOULD BE CONDEMNED

  Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. Braun, and Mr. Johnson) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary.:

                              S. Res. 645

       Whereas the United States of America was founded in 1776 on 
     universal principles of freedom, justice, and human equality;
       Whereas throughout our nation's history, Americans have 
     struggled to realize those ideals, falling short, as 
     imperfect human beings always do, but nonetheless making 
     greater progress toward them than any nation on earth;
       Whereas the United States is today, as ever, an ethnically, 
     racially, religiously, and culturally diverse nation, morally 
     committed to cultivating respect, friendship, and justice 
     across all such differences, and protecting the God-given 
     equal rights of all Americans under the law;
       Whereas America's law enforcement officers do an extremely 
     difficult job extremely well, and despite the inexcusable 
     misconduct of some, the overwhelming majority of such 
     officers are honest, courageous, patriotic, and rightfully 
     honored public servants;
       Whereas in recent weeks, people across the United States 
     have organized legitimate, peaceful, constitutionally 
     protected demonstrations against instances of police 
     brutality and racial inequality, serious problems meriting 
     investigation and reform;
       Whereas some Americans, unsatisfied with peaceful and 
     positive demonstrations, have instigated and indulged in mob 
     violence and criminal property destruction, not in service of 
     any just or coherent cause, but simply as an arrogant, 
     bullying tantrum of self-righteous illiberalism and rage; and
       Whereas these mobs have demonstrated not only contempt for 
     public safety (as evidenced, among other crimes, by an 
     unprovoked physical assault on a Wisconsin State Senator and 
     the shooting of a motorist in Provo, Utah) and common decency 
     (as evidenced by their routine harassment and obscene 
     berating of law enforcement officers standing their posts to 
     protect their communities), but also their manifest ignorance 
     and historical illiteracy (as evidenced by their destruction 
     of public memorials to historical heroes like Ulysses S. 
     Grant, St. Junipero Serra, Miguel Cervantes, George 
     Washington, Hans Christian Heg, and a reported plan to target 
     a statue of Abraham Lincoln financed in 1876 entirely by 
     private donations from freed African-American slaves): Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) the rising tide of vandalism, mob violence, and the mob 
     mentality that feeds it--including its cruel and intolerant 
     ``cancel culture''--should be condemned by all Americans;
       (2) peaceful demonstrations and mob violence are different 
     in kind;
       (3) physical assault and property destruction are not forms 
     of political speech but violent crimes whose perpetrators 
     should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law; and
       (4) the innocent law enforcement officers, public 
     officials, and private citizens who suffer the mob's violence 
     and endure its scorn while protecting our communities from 
     them deserve the thanks and appreciation of every American.

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