[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Page 345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2001

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, in my first act after taking the oath of 
office for my second term, I rise today to speak about the need for 
hate crimes legislation. In the last Congress Senator Kennedy and I 
introduced the Local Law Enforcement Act, a bill that would add new 
categories to current hate crimes legislation, sending a signal that 
violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society.
  Each day we are in session I have taken the opportunity to make sure 
another example of a hate crime is published in the Record in an effort 
to sway my colleagues about the need for expanding current hate crimes 
law to include sexual orientation, gender and disability and to expand 
the definition of what is a hate crime.
  Hate crimes legislation will benefit our Nation as a whole, our 
country is a diverse one, made up of Muslims, Christians, and countless 
other religious faiths. Our society finds great strength in its Black 
and Hispanic communities as well as its gay and Jewish communities. 
Groups such as these represent not divisions but diversity, and that 
distinction has built a great Nation. However, hate crimes touch all 
our communities and tear the very fabric that binds our Nation 
together.
  Passage of a hate crimes bill will assure all Americans that the 
violence done by a hate crime will not go unpunished. It will ensure 
that the violence done to an American because of the color of his or 
her skin will not go unpunished and will make it easier to punish on 
the Federal level. It will ensure Muslim Americans that they will not 
be harassed because of their faith and make it easier to punish on a 
Federal level. It will ensure that sexual orientation and identity are 
not reasons for a violent crime that goes unpunished.
  As we move through these early weeks of the 108th Congress, I call on 
all my colleagues to consider hate crime legislation as a way to move 
forward on civil rights issues that are so important in our democratic 
society.
  So, I rise today to describe yet another terrible crime that occurred 
January 1, 2003 in Miami, FL. After leaving a New Year's Eve party in 
South Beach, a gay man was shot by two attackers. Earnest Robinson, 23, 
was walking home when he was approached by two men, one of whom tried 
to pick him up.
  Upon realizing that Robinson was not a woman, one of the men shot him 
and left him on the street. Police say one of the assailants shouted 
anti-gay slurs before shooting the victim. Robinson was treated at a 
local hospital and is in good condition.
  I believe that government's first duty is to defend its citizens, to 
defend them against the harms that come out of hate. Hate crimes 
legislation like the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act is now a 
symbol that can become substance. I believe that by passing this 
legislation and changing current law, we can change hearts and minds as 
well.

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