Tina Smith: “in my first act after taking the oath of office for my second term, I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes…”

“in my first act after taking the oath of office for my second term, I rise today to speak about the need for hate crimes legislation. In the last Congress Senator Kennedy and I introduced the Local Law Enforcement Act, a bill that would add new categories to current hate crimes legislation, sending a signal that violence of any kind is unacceptable in our society. Each day we are in session I have taken the opportunity to make sure another example of a hate crime is published in the Record in an effort to sway my colleagues about the need for expanding current hate crimes law to include sexual orientation, gender and disability and to expand the definition of what is a hate crime. Hate crimes legislation will benefit our Nation as a whole, our country is a diverse one, made up of Muslims, Christians, and countless other religious faiths. Our society finds great strength in its Black and Hispanic communities as well as its gay and Jewish communities. Groups such as these represent not divisions but diversity, and that distinction has built a great Nation. However, hate crimes touch all our communities and tear the very fabric that binds our Nation together. Passage of a hate crimes bill will assure all Americans that the violence done by a hate crime will not go unpunished. It will ensure that the violence done to an American because of the color of his or her skin will not go unpunished and will make it easier to punish on the Federal level.”