[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 28 (Monday, July 17, 2000)]
[Page 1627]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Letter to the Speaker of the House
of Representatives on the Proposed ``Hate Crimes Prevention Act''

July 12, 2000

Dear Mr. Speaker:

    I write to urge you to bring the Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA) 
to the floor for a vote before the August recess. Last month, the 
Senate, in a strong bipartisan showing, voted overwhelmingly to pass 
this legislation that would strengthen federal hate crimes law. As the 
Senate vote demonstrates, passing hate crimes legislation is not a 
partisan issue. It is a national concern requiring a national response. 
Now it is time for the House to do its part to ensure that strong hate 
crimes legislation becomes law this year.
    Since this legislation was introduced in November 1997, our country 
has witnessed countless acts of bigotry and hatred. In June 1998, James 
Byrd, Jr., an African-American man, was brutally dragged to his death. 
In October of that year, Mathew Shepard, a gay college student, died 
after being beaten and tied to a fence. In July 1999, Benjamin Smith 
went on a racially motivated shooting spree in Illinois and Indiana. At 
the end of this hate-fueled rampage, Ricky Byrdsong, an African-American 
who was former basketball coach at Northwestern University, and Won-Joon 
Yoon, a Korean graduate student at Indiana University, were killed, and 
eight others were wounded. In August 1999, Joseph Ileto, a native of the 
Philippines and U.S. postal worker, died at the hands of a gunman in Los 
Angeles. This same gunman also injured five persons, including three 
children, at a Jewish community center. Finally, this year there were 
two killing rampages in Pennsylvania. In March, an African-American man 
shot and killed three white men. In April, another man murdered an 
African-American man, a Jewish woman, two Asian-American men, and an 
Indian man. We must take action now to stop these acts of violence.
    This legislation is absolutely necessary because hate crimes are 
fundamentally different from other crimes. Victims are targeted simply 
because of who they are--whether it is race, color, religion, sexual 
orientation, disability, or gender. These acts of violence affect entire 
communities, not just the individual victims. This legislation would 
provide more tools to State and local law enforcement to investigate and 
prosecute hate crimes. It would also expand protection to include hate 
crimes based on sexual orientation, gender, or disability.
    I ask the House of Representatives to follow the bipartisan example 
of the Senate by passing hate crimes legislation before the August 
recess. We must send a message that hate crimes will not be tolerated, 
and that one more hate crime is one too many.
     Sincerely,
                                            William J. Clinton

Note: An original was not available for verification of the content of 
this letter.