Conyers Introduces New Version Of Hate Crime Bill

Jet, April 5, 1999

* Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) introduced his own version of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 1999. The crimes have become epidemic, reaching 50,000 cases in the most recent six-year period.

Using his position as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, the veteran Detroit lawmaker told his colleagues, "Our nation has only recently begun the healing process in the aftermath of the tortures and deaths of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas, and Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming."

"Just as the nation's outrage over the treatment of Rosa Parks helped lead to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," Conyers stated, "revulsion over these recent incidents will galvanize the public and lend support for the Hate Crimes legislation."

He noted that current federal hate crimes law only covers crimes motivated by racial, religious or ethnic prejudice. His bill adds violence motivated by prejudice against the victim's sexual orientation, gender or disability.

The legislation will also plug loop holes in state criminal law because 10 states have no hate crime laws on the books and another 21 states fail to specify sexual orientation as a category for prosecution.

Pointing out that at one time "lynchings were commonplace in our nation," Conyers said that "nearly 4,000 African-Americans were tortured and killed between 1880 and 1930."

"Today," he insisted, "Americans are being tortured and killed not only because of their race, but also because of their religion, their disability, their sex and their sexual orientation."