[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14807]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     EXPRESSING OUTRAGE FOR THE MURDER OF OFFICER STEPHEN T. JOHNS

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, as an advisory board member 
of the Holocaust Museum of Houston, I rise with a deep sense of 
sympathy and outrage for the terrible tragic incident that happened, as 
The Washington Post reported, at a monument of sorrow and also a 
standing edifice for peace.
  I offer my deepest sympathy to the family of Security Officer Stephen 
T. Johns. As a believer and an advocate of our Constitution and our 
First Amendment rights, I stand here in outrage to express my 
opposition to the idea that protected speech equals protected violence. 
This was a dastardly act, and we don't know how many other targets this 
hateful-minded person might have been engaged in.
  We must continue to stand against hate. We must continue to promote 
the passage of the hate crimes legislation; but frankly, we must say to 
those who we mourn, by putting forward a Holocaust Museum, many across 
the Nation and in my town of Houston, that we stand with them in 
solidarity.
  To my good friend Peter Berkowitz and Fred Zeidman, who chairs the 
Holocaust Museum here in Washington, a Houstonian, you have my deepest 
sympathy, my respect, and I stand in solidarity with you.

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