Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick: “at the beginning of every Congress, every member of this august body takes an oath to ``defend and protect the…”

“at the beginning of every Congress, every member of this august body takes an oath to ``defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, against all enemies, foreign and domestic.'' It is an oath that I am proud that the majority of the citizens of the 13th Congressional District of Michigan have honored me with their vote for more than 12 years. One of the most important duties that I have as a Member of the United States House of Representatives is to protect and defend its citizens, which is precisely what H.R. 1592, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, introduced by my fellow Michigander and Detroiter, one of the founders of the Congressional Black Caucus, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr. This bill protects all Americans from bias-motivated violence; it provides funds so that local authorities can tackle the tough challenge of hate crimes, and it protects the First Amendment to the Constitution. It does not criminalize speech or thoughts; it does not give some people ``special rights,'' and it is not anti-Christian. As a child and as a proud Christian, the least common denominator of all of the lessons that I learned from my parents and minister is about God's ethic of love. Along that, I learned from the practices of my parents and my minister my divine responsibility to love our neighbors as ourselves.”