[Congressional Record: December 5, 2001 (House)]
[Page H8892]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr05de01-113]
PASS HATES CRIMES LEGISLATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Simmons). Under a previous order of the
House, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) is recognized for 5
minutes.
Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Hate Crimes
Prevention Act offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers),
H.R. 1433. I think there is nothing more important that we are doing
here in this session than this Hate Crimes Prevention Act. We are
wasting our time passing junk resolutions, in many cases, and we do not
address an important piece of legislation like this. More than 200
Members have signed on as cosponsors of this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I think that every legal or legislative step that can be
taken to combat hate should be taken. Hate is a strong force in the
world. It is a monster expressing itself in many ways. The hate monster
has us by the neck all over the world, but terrorists that we are
fighting in Afghanistan, bin Laden, the al Qaeda network throughout the
world, is motivated by hate. Hate seems to generate more fervor than
love. People who are pushing love and want to do things differently do
not seem to have the same kind of motivation or energy. The people who
want to destroy our democracy, they hate us because we will not cover
our women in public, they hate us for a thousand different reasons, and
we need to meet that with tactics and with strategies that are as
strong as the hatemongers.
We need to have in every way blanket condemnations of hatred,
intolerance, and we need to be very detailed in this country. In this
country we can get into the details of what is wrong. We need to
condemn intolerance, and we need to specifically condemn intolerance
that relates to sexism or intolerance that relates to race or
disability. There are some people who, some men in particular, who are
very adamant in terms of the workplace, and they cannot stand
intolerance or oppression by the boss or management, but they will
exploit and oppress women.
There are some people in certain races who certainly will speak out
against racial intolerances, and they will also oppress women. There
are some women who will certainly defend the rights of women to be
equal, but they will oppress or be intolerant of people of other races.
All of these things add up to a situation that is very complex. We
cannot stop it by legislation, but legislation plays a key role. We are
the catalytic agent in the process of helping people to deal with hate,
making our society as a whole deal with hate.
Nationality or ethnic origin is certainly unacceptable for
hatemongers, also; and, unfortunately, in our agencies of government,
bureaucracies sometimes express a bit of intolerance and sometimes get
into hate. Under the President's pressures of terrorism, as we mount
our campaign against terrorism, I have seen in my own district
Pakistanis rounded up because they are Muslim, and those Pakistanis
when they were interrogated, they may have some immigration problems,
they have been put in holding pens and jails in New Jersey outside of
New York City. About 200 people in a 2-month period have been rounded
up and held for 2 or 3 weeks merely because they have an infraction
related to immigration but not a serious crime. They asked to go home,
and, instead of being immediately processed out and sent home, they
were held. One man even died there because there is an intolerance in
the FBI bureaucracy under the pressure of the present situation to
combat terrorism.
We should not let our guard down and become intolerant of any
particular group. Immigrants in general are being put on the spot. I
have a large number of people in my district from the Caribbean.
Through World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, they never found a
single Caribbean espionage agent from Haiti or any other Caribbean
nation. Why are they penalizing and putting those people on the spot
and profiling them in the situation that presently exists?
It is intolerant, unreasonable and from our own agencies we should
not tolerate it. Let us take every step possible. H.R. 1433 is an
important step. We do not need more hate in the world. We need in our
official conduct as well as our personal conduct to do everything
possible to combat hate.
____________________
Copyright © 2001 American Immigration LLC, ILW.COM
|
Add to del.icio.us