[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2689-2690]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ACT OF 2001

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, 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 law, sending a signal that violence 
of any kind is unacceptable in our society.
  I would like to describe a terrible crime that occurred July 4, 2000, 
in Grant Town, WV. Arthur ``J.R.'' Carl Warren, Jr., 26, an openly gay 
African-American man, was brutally murdered. The two 17-year-old boys 
who killed Warren beat him and repeatedly kicked him with steel-toed 
boots. They threw him in a car and drove across town where they beat 
him further and drove back and forth over his body, ultimately killing 
him. The attackers were known to describe Warren using racial epithets 
and antigay slurs.
  I believe that government's first duty is to defend its citizens, to 
defend them against the harms that come out of hate. The Local Law 
Enforcement Enhancement Act is 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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