[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 25223]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 25223]]

                 IN SUPPORT OF HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, under the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act of 1994, Congress has defined a hate crime as ``any act 
of violence against a person or property based on the victim's race, 
color, gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or 
disability.''
  I am here today, Mr. Speaker, to talk about the victims of hate 
crimes that provide a real-life definition.
  James Byrd, Jr., an African-American male victim, chained to the back 
of a pickup truck and dragged along a dirt road, murdered by supporters 
of a white supremacist organization.
  Thanh Mai, a Vietnamese-American victim who died from a split skull 
after being taunted and called a ``gook'' and struck to a cement floor.
  A Latino-American family victimized by arsonists who burned down 
their home after spray-painting racist messages on the walls.
  Women in Massachusetts victimized by a sexual batterer who was found 
to have violated the State's hate crime law for his biased crimes 
against women.
  Jewish children victimized by shootings at their community center by 
a man who had connections to an anti-Semitic organization.
  And today, we remember Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old college student 
who was brutally and savagely beaten, strapped to a fence like an 
animal and left to die, all because of his sexual orientation.
  These are only a few of the human faces that fell victim to 
intolerance, bias and bigotry. In fact, FBI statistics reveal that in 
1997, a total of 8,049 biased motivated criminal incidents were 
reported. Of these incidents, 4,700 were motivated by racial bias, 
1,400 by religious bias, 1,100 by sexual-orientation bias, 800 by 
ethnicity/national origin bias, and 12 by disability bias.

                              {time}  1830

  The number of incidents reported in my home State of Maryland was 
335.
  As we discuss this issue, I believe that there are two questions our 
Nation must answer: First, why should we care?
  I submit to my colleagues today that we should care because our 
Nation was built on a foundation of democracy and independence for all. 
Our Declaration of Independence states that we hold these truths to be 
self-evident, that all men are created equal, and they are endowed by 
their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are 
life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We all take pride in these 
words, Mr. Speaker, but we all have a duty as American people to 
recognize this principle applies to all of our Nation's citizens 
regardless of their race or national origin, gender, sexual 
orientation, religion or disability status.
  As cosponsor of the Celebrating One America resolution that this 
House passed today by unanimous consent sponsored by my good friend 
from New York (Mr. Rangel), I believe that we should reach out across 
our differences in ethnicity, race and religion to respect each other 
and to celebrate in friendship our unity and one America. We must all 
remember that although we are a melting pot of various cultures, ideals 
and physical make-ups, we are all one human race.
  As one 16 year-old recently wrote:
  ``He prayed, it wasn't my religion;
  He ate, it wasn't what I ate;
  He spoke, it wasn't my language;
  He dressed, it wasn't what I wore;
  He took my hand, it wasn't the color of mine;
  But when he laughed, it was how I laugh, and when he cried, it was 
how I cry.''
  The second question our Nation must answer is: How can we put an end 
to hate violence?
  The American people must take action. A resolution will require a 
united and determined partnership of elected officials, law enforcement 
entities, businesses, community organizations, churches and religious 
organizations and schools.
  Congress must also take action. Yes, statistics have shed light on 
the prevalence of hate crimes in our society, however hate crimes are 
often under reported. Although we gathered significant information as a 
result of the Hate Crimes Statistics Act, this act makes the reporting 
of hate crimes by State and local jurisdictions voluntary, leaving gaps 
in information from various jurisdictions.
  As such, I call for immediate passage of the Hate Crime Prevention 
Act, and I ask that we all join together. But most significant, non 
action translates into silence, and as Martin Luther King stated, We 
will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our 
friends.

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