[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 2486]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about my friend Chad 
Debnam and the need for hate crimes legislation. In the last Congress 
Senator Kennedy and I introduced the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement 
Act, a bill that would expand current hate crimes law, sending a signal 
that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society.
  Each day since the introduction of the Local Law Enforcement 
Enhancement Act, I have detailed for the Record a hate crime that has 
affected our fellow citizens. Today, I would like to describe a 
terrible crime that occurred very recently, on January 19, 2003, in my 
home State of Oregon. Four young men went on a shooting spree through 
Northeast Portland because, according to police, they thought the 
neighborhood was predominantly African American. The four fired shots 
into cars and homes as they drove down the street. Although no one was 
physically injured, the incident opened painful wounds in a community 
that, like so many others, has seen hate crimes before.
  For Chad Debnam, the shooting was particularly difficult. 23 years 
earlier, his brother, Clarence Debnam, an African American college 
student, was shot through the back by a white sailor. The shooting 
``affected us so deeply, our family was never the same,'' Chad, now 52, 
said. ``And then it comes to visit me again.''
  As Chad and his neighbors understand all too well, hate crimes cause 
harm above and beyond the effects produced by random acts of violence, 
because when such a wrong is perpetrated, the intended victim is not 
just a single person, but an entire community. And it creates within 
that community a sense of alienation, and the very real fear that other 
members may be future targets of similar violence.
  This weekend, Chad Debnam and others will be marching down the 
streets of Northeast Portland in a united front against hate. The 
Federal Government should be there with them. Passing the Local Law 
Enforcement Enhancement Act will demonstrate to our fellow citizens 
that, in the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ``Injustice anywhere 
is a threat to justice everywhere.'' The victims of hate, in Portland 
and elsewhere, need to know that their Federal Government stands with 
them, and will help them create a nationwide community of hope and 
healing, where intolerance has no place. I believe that by passing the 
Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act we will not only change the law, 
but hearts and minds as well.

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