[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 25697-25699]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        VOICES AGAINST VIOLENCE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texs. Mr. Speaker, I too rise today with great 
pleasure to stand and welcome the many young people who have come to 
Washington, D.C. to participate in Voices Against Violence, a 
congressional teen conference sponsored by the office of the Democratic 
leader and the Democratic Caucus.
  However, these young people come from all over the country, and many 
of them come from so many different

[[Page 25698]]

walks of life and, might I say, from different political parties. This 
is a bipartisan summit. Young people have come from across the country 
to talk about the issues of youth violence and how it impacts their 
lives.
  I am pleased to have four students here from my district in Houston, 
and I met them at the airport this afternoon as they arrived in 
Washington, D.C. As they communicated with me their desires, each of 
them said they came to listen, but they also came to provide solutions.
  They want to see more opportunities for parents and schoolteachers 
and counselors to listen to students. They want to find ways to help 
students who are concerned or have problems and pressures not to 
explode like what happened in Columbine, but to have resources where 
they can talk. These young people mean business, and they have come to 
work.
  Young people live in a different world than what existed about 20 
years ago. In this new era, young people have all the advantages of a 
new technologically advanced society as well as a new landscape of 
social interaction. Theirs is a future full of promise, and we are 
poised on a dawning of a new century that will bring even more.
  However, in light of these changing times, we also have a society 
that seems to be more detached, more chaotic, more violent. We have 
seen a significant increase in violence against young people and 
violence committed by young people. These young people want the 
violence to stop.
  There are many competing theories as to the causes of youth violence, 
from the increase in violence in popular culture to the lack of prayer 
in schools. Others will even say that the increase of youth crimes is 
the symptom of a larger breakdown of our society. But I believe these 
young people will be instructive as they come to Washington.
  I welcome Jessica Abad from Booker T. Washington High School, Eric 
Del Toro from Barbara Jordan High School, Andrea Marie Garrity from 
Reagan High School, and Ashley Robinson from Jesse H. Jones High 
School, along with Dr. Alma Allen, the chaperone, a member of the Texas 
Board of Education and school administrator from the HISD.
  As I close, Mr. Speaker, let me congratulate the gentleman from 
Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the Democratic leader, and the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Frost), the caucus leader, for helping to sponsor this 
conference.
  I said, Mr. Speaker, that we started out with a sense of hope for 
these young people coming here. I am disappointed, however, as I speak 
about another issue, that as the Commerce, State, Justice appropriation 
bill comes to the floor of the House, the conferees have decided or 
rejected the idea of adding to it the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 
1999. What a travesty inasmuch as the Senate bill did have this 
legislation.
  In the light of the tragedies that have occurred in Illinois, in 
light of the tragedies that occurred in my own State of Texas with 
James Byrd being dismembered by hateful acts, those who promoted racist 
provocations and acts, along with the activities of the killing of 
Matthew Shepard, but many, many others, these are just examples of 
hateful acts in America.
  For those who would say that other crimes are equal to hateful acts, 
that any murder is hateful, they are absolutely wrong. I wish they 
would understand what the hate stands for. It stands for the 
intimidation of large groups of people.
  When James Byrd was killed and dismembered, it was not intended just 
to say something to James Byrd. It was intended to tell African 
Americans that they do not stand equal in this country, that they can 
be dismembered in this brutal manner. When Matthew Shepard was killed, 
it was intended to show gays and lesbians that they are not equal in 
this Nation.
  Hate crimes intimidate groups. When is this Congress going to 
understand that, in order to make a national statement about who we are 
as Americans as we go into the 21st century, we need a national 
position as we did with the Voter Rights Act in 1965 and the Civil 
Rights Act of 1964, that we stand against hate crimes?
  It is a travesty and a shame that this appropriations bill would not 
have the inclusion of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999 similar to 
what the other body did. We are going to fight it, and we are going to 
prevail because good people in America will prevail over evil.
  Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I stand tonight to 
welcome the many young people who have come to Washington, DC, to 
participate in ``Voices Against Violence,'' a congressional teen 
conference sponsored by the Office of the Democrat Leader and the 
Democratic Caucus.
  Young people have come from across the country to talk about the 
issue of youth violence and its effect on their lives. I am pleased to 
have four students here from my district in Houston.
  Young people live in a different world than what existed just 20 
years ago. In this new era, young people have all the advantages of a 
new technologically advanced society as well as a new landscape of 
social interaction. Theirs is a future full of promise and we are 
poised on thedawning of a new century that will bring even more.
  However, in light of these changing times, we also have a society 
that seems to be more detached, more chaotic and more violent. We have 
seen a significant increase in violence against young people and 
violence committed by young people.
  There are many competing theories as to the causes of youth violence, 
from the increase in violence in popular culture to the lack of prayer 
in public schools. Others would even say that the increase of youth 
crime is a symptom of a larger breakdown in the moral fabric of 
society.
  By now, we know that the problem of youth violence cannot be traced 
to a single cause or source. At the same time, we here in Congress have 
formed various working groups and task forces to address this issue, 
because we are all searching for some answers and solutions to youth 
violence.
  It is now appropriate that we have now turned our attention to our 
children, and to take the time to hear from them. Not all of our young 
people are caught up in the cycle of violence. We know that 95% of all 
young people are good kids who want to do the right thing. Too often, 
we focus on the bad elements and overlook these children.
  This conference gives us an opportunity to make up for our neglect of 
this 95%. The purpose of this conference is to go beyond pointing 
fingers at the various causes of youth violence, and to discuss 
tangible solutions. The solutions that will be offered these next 2 
days will come from our children.
  It is refreshing to hear the perspective of young people on solutions 
to youth violence. Last month, during the Congressional Black Caucus 
Annual Legislative Conference, some young people participated in the 
Juvenile Justice forum I sponsored and shared some unique insights into 
the problem of youth violence.
  I was enlightened by the views of these young people, especially the 
views of the young men who were very articulate and insightful about 
their experiences. One young man spoke eloquently of what he thought 
were the negative perceptions he faced as a young Black man.
  This is the type of dialogue I hope the young people will engage in 
as they discuss solutions to youth violence. The close to 400 
participants will get to discuss these issues with the President and 
other policy makers to help us understand their perspective on this 
problem.
  I hope that these teens will come away from this conference with a 
new understanding of each other that they can take back to their 
communities.
  I am pleased to have four students from my district in Houston here 
to participate in the conference--Jessica Abad from Booker T. 
Washington High School; Eric Del Toro from Barbara Jordan High School; 
Andrea Marie Garrity from Reagan High School; and Ashley Robinson from 
Jesse H. Jones High School.
  I would like to thank the Houston community for assisting us in 
bringing these students to Washington. I would also like to thank Dr. 
Alma Allen, a member of the Texas State Board of Education and School 
Administrator from the Houston Independent School District who has 
accompanied the students as a chaperone.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to participate in this conference to 
listen to the concerns of our young people. As I stated earlier, we 
have had many hearings, conferences, working groups and debates on this 
issue in which we relied on the expertise of trained adults to tell us 
about the problem. Now it is time to listen to our young people for 
their view.

[[Page 25699]]

  I would like to thank the Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and Caucus 
Leader Martin Frost for sponsoring this conference. Although the 
conference is being sponsored by the Democrat Party, we have bipartisan 
support in the form of Republican offices that have sent students. I 
thank everyone who has worked so hard since this summer to put this 
event together.
  Finall, I thank the young people who came from all across the country 
to participate. I urge you to raise your voices against violence loud 
and clear--especially now because we are listening.

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