[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 24 (Monday, June 16, 1997)]
[Pages 843-844]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

June 7, 1997

    Good morning. This morning I want to talk about one of America's 
greatest challenges and greatest opportunities: Conquering the forces of 
hatred and division that still exist in our society so that we can move 
forward into the 21st century as one America.
    We are clearly the world's most diverse democracy, bound together 
across all of our differences by a belief in the basic dignity of every 
human being's life and liberty and the right of every American who lives 
by our laws and lives up to his or her responsibilities to share in the 
full promise of the greatest nation on Earth.
    Especially as we move into a new century, with its global economy 
and its global society, our rich diversity is a powerful strength, if we 
respect it. We are clearly stronger as a nation when we use the full 
talents of all of our people, regardless of race or religious faith, 
national origin or sexual orientation, gender or disability. Much of 
America's story is really the stories of wave after wave of citizens 
struggling over our full history for full equality of opportunity and 
dignified treatment.
    We stand today in sharp contrast to the racial, ethnic, tribal, and 
religious conflicts which continue to claim so many lives all around the 
world. But we have still not purged ourselves of all bigotry and 
intolerance. We still have our ugly words and awful violence, our burned 
churches and bombed buildings.
    In a predominantly white suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, last month, an 
African-American couple was greeted with racial epithets as they moved 
into their new home. Just a week later, their home was sprayed with 
gunfire in the middle of the night. In a recent incident right here in 
Washington, DC, three men accosted a gay man in a park, forced him at 
gunpoint to go under a bridge, and beat him viciously while using 
antigay epithets. Last fall in Los Angeles, a Jewish student's dormitory 
room was bombed with a quarter stick of

dynamite, and a swastika was drawn near the door.

    Such hate crimes, committed solely because the victims have a 
different skin color or a different faith or are gays or lesbians, leave 
deep scars not only on the victims but on our larger community. They 
weaken the sense that we are one people with common values and a common 
future. They tear us apart when we should be moving closer together. 
They are acts of violence against America itself. And even a small 
number of Americans who harbor and act upon hatred and intolerance can 
do enormous damage to our efforts to bind together our increasingly 
diverse society into one nation realizing its full promise.
    As part of our preparation for the new century, it is time for us to 
mount an all-out assault on hate crimes, to punish them swiftly and 
severely, and to do more to prevent them from happening in the first 
place. We must begin with a deeper understanding of the problem itself. 
That is why I'm convening a special White House conference on hate 
crimes this November 10th. We'll bring to the White House victims of 
hate crimes and their families to understand why the impact of these 
acts runs so much deeper than the crimes themselves. We'll bring 
together law enforcement experts and leading officials from Congress and 
the Justice Department to take a serious look at the existing laws 
against hate crime and consider ways to improve enforcement and to 
strengthen them. We'll bring together community and religious leaders to 
talk about solutions that are already making a real difference in 
communities all across our Nation.
    In preparation for the conference, Attorney General Reno has begun a 
thorough review of the laws concerning hate crimes and the ways in which 
the Federal Government

[[Page 844]]

can make a difference to help us to build a more vigorous plan of 
action. But of course, the fight against hatred and intolerance must be 
waged not just through our laws but in our hearts as well.
    A newborn child today does not know how to hate or stereotype 
another human being; that behavior must be learned. And intolerance does 
not generally begin with criminal acts. Instead, it begins with quiet 
acts of indignity: the bigoted remark, the African-American who is 
followed around the grocery store by a suspicious clerk, the gay or 
lesbian who is denied a job, the Hispanic or Asian who is targeted 
because of unfair stereotypes. To truly move forward as one community, 
it is just not enough to prevent acts of violence to our bodies, we must 
prevent acts of violence to our spirits.
    By convening the very first White House conference on hate crimes 
this November, America can confront the dark forces of division that 
still exists. We can shine the bright light of justice, humanity, and 
harmony on them. We'll take a serious look at the laws and remedies that 
can make a difference in preventing hate crimes. We'll have the frank 
and open dialog we need to build one America across all difference and 
diversity. And together, we will move closer to the day when acts of 
hatred are no longer a stain on our community or our conscience, closer 
to the day when we can redeem for ourselves and show to the world the 
220-year-old promise of our Founders, that we are ``One Nation under 
God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.''
    Thanks for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 11:47 a.m. on June 5 in the Oval 
Office at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on June 7.