    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 15 (Monday, April 17, 2000)]
    [Page 833]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Signing Legislation Designating the Joseph Ileto Post
    Office

    April 14, 2000

        Today I signed legislation designating the United States Post Office
    located at 14701 Peyton Drive in Chino Hills, California, as the
    ``Joseph Ileto Post Office.'' Joseph Ileto was a Filipino-American
    postal worker who was tragically murdered last year in a crime of hate.
    He was a dedicated public servant, killed simply because he was an
    Asian-American who worked for his country's Government. It is a fitting
    tribute to the life and memory of Mr. Ileto that we name this Post
    Office in his honor.
        During the last year, we have all been shaken by violent acts like
    the murder of
    Joseph Ileto, acts that strike at the very values that define us as a
    nation. Now is the time for us to take strong and decisive action to
    fight hate crimes, and I call on Congress, at long last, to pass strong
    hate crimes legislation. It is time for us all to raise our voices
    against intolerance and to build the one America that our hearts tell us
    we can be.

    Note: H.R. 3189, approved April 14, was assigned Public Law No. 106-184.