John Conyers: “we come here today because the Nation is in crisis, and the symptoms of that crisis have been reflected in these church…”

“we come here today because the Nation is in crisis, and the symptoms of that crisis have been reflected in these church burnings in mostly African American churches. It is to the credit of the Federal Government that we have reacted in a serious and, I think, swift manner, and I want to say that this legislation is the work product of all of us on the committee and that we have held hearings in the Committee on the Judiciary on May 21 in which we had a wide range of witnesses, both in the church and out of the church, in government and out of government, plus the law enforcement agency heads who were dealing with this matter. Mr. Speaker, what we found out, that is to me one of the most single important matters to come out of this tragedy, is the fact that these burnings are not condoned by anyone, no one in the Congress, no one in the Senate. Our law enforcement agencies, both Federal and State, are united in trying to put an end to this scourge. Mr. Speaker, I have been in the South on two occasions in which I saw this at the grassroots level, in which law enforcement officers were working very effectively. In addition, I think we should lift up the name of the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval Patrick for the excellent leadership that he has given and is giving as we move through this nightmare in American history. Yesterday three more African-American churches were torched. It is pathological.…”