Political Quotes

“I speak today because it is time for Congress to send its own message to those who would perpetrate hate crimes. That message should be that Federal law will no longer tolerate intolerance. Hate crimes are a stain on our national greatness, and it is time to stop that stain from spreading. Fighting hate crimes should not be a partisan issue. This is not about giving preferences to one group of people or another. I am talking about opposing violence. I am talking about opposing brutal crimes. When the fight for a hate crimes law first began in the early 1990s, many Americans questioned whether the problem was serious enough to warrant a specific law. But during the past decade, from one coast of the United States to the other, tragic events have proven that a law is badly needed. These crimes are so unspeakably ugly that the names of the victims are seared in our minds. James Byrd, Jr., dragged to his death because he was black. Matthew Shepard, beaten and left for dead because he was gay. My home State has been wounded by hate crimes, too. Oregonians will not forget Roxanne Ellis and her partner, Michelle Abdill, who were taped up and shot twice in the head in the back of their own pickup truck in Medford, Oregon in December 1995. Or Loni Okaruru, who was found last August bludgeoned to death in a field in Washington County, just outside Portland. Loni was a transsexual planning to undergo surgery. She had been beaten multiple times prior to that night.”