-Caveat Lector-
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/04/06/hate.crimes/
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, April 6) -- President Bill Clinton urged Congress
Tuesday morning to expand the list of hate crimes covered under federal law
to include cases involving sexual orientation.
"The Hate Crimes Prevention Act would be important substantively and
symbolically to send a message to ourselves and to the world that we are
going into the 21st century determined to preach and to practice what is
right," Clinton said during a Roosevelt Room ceremony.
President Clinton spoke Tuesday in favor of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Clinton also directed that colleges be required to report campus hate crimes
each year. The president laid-out a public-private partnership designed to
educate middle school students against intolerance.
In Clinton's proposed hate crimes legislation, current law would be expanded
so the Justice Department could prosecute crimes based on a person's gender,
sexual orientation or disability. Only crimes based on a victim's race or
religion can currently be prosecuted as hate crimes.
The death of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming last year would
have fallen into the new category of federal hate crimes. Yesterday, Russell
Henderson, one of two men charged in Shepard's beating death, changed his
plea to guilty, avoiding the death penalty.
Sponsors of the expanded hate crime law hope that outrage over such highly
publicized killings will fuel support for the measure this time around.
The president drew parallels to what he called the religious and ethnic
persecution ongoing in Kosovo. He said the U.S. had a responsibility to try
to stop the violence there, but American also "must always be working on
ourselves."
"It's very humbling, I think, for those of us who think we (who heck is we?)
have brought the modern world and prosperity and rationality to all of human
affairs, to see what is going on in the Balkans, and to see these terrible
examples of violence here in our own country," Clinton said.
"We should remember that each of us almost (almost??? What does this mean?
We almost wake up everyday?) wakes up every day with the scales of light and
darkness in our own hearts, and we've got to keep them in proper balance
(What is proper balance? Is this something that will be forced?). And we
have to be in the United States absolutely resolute about this. That's why I
think this hate crimes issue is so important."
Last year the president's proposed initiative died in committee in both the
House and Senate. It has been re-introduced by a bipartisan group of
lawmakers that includes Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Arlen
Specter (R-Pennsylvania) and Reps. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Connie
Morella (R-Maryland).
Clinton called for more bipartisan support to pass the measure: "We're not
talking about everybody agreeing with everybody else on every political
issue. We're talking about whether people have a right, if they show up and
work hard and obey the law and are good citizens, to pursue their lives in
dignity ... without fear of being abused. And this should not be a partisan
issue."
The bill is also aimed at making the federal prosecution of hate crimes
easier. Current law limits prosecution to situations where the victim is
targeted for engaging in certain federally protected activities, such as
serving on a jury, voting or attending public school.
More than 40 states have hate crimes laws but only 21 cover sexual
orientation, 22 cover gender and 21 cover disability.
Clinton praised the public-private partnership outreach program for middle
schoolers. The program will "talk about tolerance. Why it is a moral, as
well a practical imperative."
Under the partnership, AT&T, CourtTV, Cable in the Classroom, the National
Middle Schools Association and the Anti-Defamation League will work with the
Departments of Justice and Education to develop curricula to combat
intolerance. (So in other words if you don't have this in your school
cirriculum you risk losing federal funding?)
Under the president's directive, the Justice and Education departments will
require colleges and universities to provide specific information about hate
crimes in the campus crime statistics they provide to law enforcement each
year.
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