Congressman Al Green's Statement On House of Representatives Passage of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act

(Washington, DC)--Congressman Al Green (TX-09) released the following statement on the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage by a 249-175 vote of H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act:

“The founders of this great nation recognized in the Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’  Yet, to this day, all too many of our brothers and sisters are denied these rights because they are the victims of hate crimes.

"The FBI has documented over 118,000 hate crimes since 1991.  Those who commit these crimes may be motivated by any of myriad different reasons—be it a victim’s race or gender or religion or sexual orientation or national origin.  Yet, these crimes all have two things in common.  First, they are injurious not just to the direct victim of the attack, but to the whole community.  Second, they are unequivocally wrong and must be stopped.

"This important and bipartisan bill will provide much needed assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies attempting to stop hate crimes and it will ensure that our government can help stop hate crimes committed on the basis of the victim’s sexual orientation or disability.  I was proud to cosponsor and vote in favor of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act because we must ensure equal justice under the law for all Americans.”