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Co sponsors Today, the bill is much better stronger. It's by partisan is by cameras and we're ready to make this long Another things happened during the time that human tragedies have continued to illustrate that much of the country needs to be able to more effectively address and prevent crime We have here today with us. The family of Heather Hire and Colin Bara either who is with us anymore They were good people with mustard contribute until their lives are tragically cut short Murderous acts fueled by hatred their losses illustrates more than anything else that we can say how much pain and suffering the rise and hate crimes has met the folks in the United States and they're not alone We watched countless individuals community centers delicious institutions private property have come under grave danger from threats and crimes motivated by bias Now pastor is one of the latest series of place names synonymous with paint crime violence So we're here to honor the lives of two of those lost today Heather higher tomorrow and to say that we can and we will do better That's why we've introduced the no hate act by Republican friend from the Bill in a number of distinguished centers will be here from in a minute that both improves the ground reporting and approved police response and then the ability to manage crimes as a hate Congress hate crime problem has got the worst ever more important to law enforcement doesn't have the capabilities to respond So we wanna give them the tools to track respond to prevent Let me now turn it over to the lead. Senate sponsor from Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal Thank you Thanks Congressman I wanna thank Congressman Beyer and Congressman Olson for their bipartisan work on this My great colleague And Mark Warner who have been at the lead of this effort on the fight against hate crimes because they move through it. They've seen it and None of us chose to be here We're gonna make it and I admire so much so deeply encourage strength Mommy There brother two years ago three years ago Eight crimes continue to take their toll Despicably Host toward me and traditions time It comes from this Well not a love Not eight is the reason we are here and we are taking this action We are gonna fight in long part necessary to make sure Recording, it's improved the state project our aid program No hate Bell Both sides of the aisles many different parts of the country Everyone is touched by it I'm very pleased to introduce a strong supporter of this measure Congressman Olsen from My name is Pete Olson I'm a Commerce from from the suburb of Houston, Texas Hate crimes are happy all across America Congress acting manner Awful awful product I like to thank my House colleague died buyer This sponsors of the same identical Y'all being here today It's a very simple signal cake bust egg Join with me Hey Y'all hit right on the head of the day of the heart Share the page of villages of Heather and Colleen both taken way too early because of hate These crimes have the places both take a hate crime can happen Town of Charlottesville Virginia the help of mister Mister Jefferson's University University of Virginia We lost heaven I drove my son to College in Kansas three weeks ago passed through Tulsa Oklahoma Gorgeous Gorgeous tab with this great new Park. The best Park in America It is class I saw Catholics Jews Buzz handguns Christians Black White Brown Green orange purple hats that Park How that happened in Tulsa Oklahoma where we lost colleague and back home in Texas 20 - two my We're very diverse first diverse discount America The highest per capita income we have the highest people of education with 60 percent of bar have at least a bachelor's degree and get quiet struck a small church there about five miles away from my House This church was given to former slaves by the sleigh voters in 1860 - nine which one copy of this church Kevin years You can keep it if you worship here or if you have a school year based on faith education, it 2007. All of these historic black churches will be fire bombs all across the South My dish was touched. This church was fire bombed. They have not For 13 years now Hey Thank you and I'm so thrilled that God buyer ask me as Co-sponsor here on this bill as my colleagues mentioned DC is kinda rough now huh Finally we picker lots but this brings us all together to stop stop hate crimes and our bill does a great important thing Our two heroes partner with us their killers were convicted of a hate crime but crime in a federal record as a hand cry No no and that is so wrong Our bill make sure every hate crime is in the National record as a hate crime Oscar's way had a local authorities have trained to recognize a hate crime it right there and then and that's sweeping the rug So thank you. Thank you all for coming one more time Hey must value to collect the great state. The Commonwealth of Virginia Tim Kaine Thank you What an honor to be here with these two families that you are family and Heather Hires mom Susan Was there at the Memorial Service Theater Describe this channel but very firm and tough warrior for social Justice Was he is really a memory and as an inspiring figure and to to just have a chance to get to know Susan and see her passion and advocacy for the causes, her daughter cared so deeply moving and very inspirational Family Thank you also for taking this painful tragedy in your life that Committee Turn it into something that might be positive for others Just say one thing that may have 1950 Decision was involved Virginia Brown versus Board of Education one of the five cases that were wrapped up in the ground case in Virginia case dealing with the clothes Prince Edward County in your farm bill And the opinion by Chief Justice Warren for the unanimous court in Brown was really interesting talked about segregation in schools being so painful but what chief Justice Warren also talked about is segregation is not just painful, but when it has the stamp of the state on it dramatically accelerates the painful stigma. What segregation means the power of the state and either approving of segregation or disapproving of it to sort of the Part of the case if the state stamp of supporting segregation accelerates a message of hate the state can also put the right steps and put the right stamp on rejecting hated racing love and tolerance and that's what this bill is about We have too much hate that's being empowered and sometimes even being empowered and enabled sort of a bad Pandora's box is being open by those in power but what Congress is action on the No hate Act would be the official word of our legislative branch One branch get that box should be closed and as the congressman said that hate must in we can never underestimate the power of the official proclamation That we are putting that behind us and that's why the the other members are talking That's why I'm so glad to join in this effort The stamp of our laws on a message that's pro loving it my colleague 40 years of my senior senator and my dear friend Mark Warner Thank you Jim May also said to the family Thank you for having the courage To be part of this effort take your personal tragedies Thank all my College but I wanna specially thank Friendly Don Buyer Recognizing this needed to be bipartisan effort Republican colleagues who are part of it There's only one appropriate response Hateful violence And that means we need as leaders to send a clear and unequivocal voice and we don't abide The truth is they're not fine people on each side of a neo-Nazi Truth is they'll never be ruined in our great democracy for those who preach violence against our fellow Americans And we've seen firsthand made mention this another tip Tragedy in El Paso Motivated by somebody who wanted down brutally murdered 20 - Color of their skin That's not who we are and the truth is in today's interconnected We have seen the power of the social media platforms sometimes take these isolated voices of hate and multiply them and connect advocates of hate in ways that are totally unprecedented The truth is we all support this American should be able to live anywhere in this country and not fear for their safety because of their race their religion where they are This is a common sense bill This is a good first step when it comes in also mentioned this The fact that both of these crimes will prosecuted as eight crimes but In the federal registry is a mistake that this bill will rectify We also need to make sure that law enforcement officials have the tools they need to do their job particularly in this area so challenging And all of the cause as you said it's the most important thing we can do at this moment Women things are a little challenging in our day job We can come together as America's representatives and say no matter what we disagree on We absolutely agree that in the United States of America hate has no place Come on forward So now I'm I've returned over two unfortunate reasons here That is Heather's Mom, Susan Tim, seven $3 and could not imagine losing But out of your tragedy Willingness to continue to fight for social Justice Present you Susan So I'll try to look above here That we need in our country and should be by camera and bipartisan We need a basic accounting of what's happening with hate crimes and still will go a long way to doing that if any of you heard me say but I just need to drive this point home You don't take your child to the doctor or your car to the mechanic without the mentalizing symptoms and we don't even know all the symptoms of hate crimes The bottom dollar is we don't even know exactly how many of her because there's such discrepancies in reporting huge gaps it was very much by staff and by Heather Steph not even being reported So I appreciate everyone who came out today I definitely appreciate the bipartisan and by camera support of this Let this be a pattern for future of law making decisions in our country Let us learn to work across party lines. Let us learn to work across House instead of Thank you Many have asked why this bill is necessary in the first place we learned today yet again that both leads and Heather's deaths were not reported this farms All the statistics that flows up to the Fbi last year, they're only 7000 reported Trump's yet when the US Census did its survey of hate to just crime reporting across the country 200000 crimes reported Now that may be an overestimate but if you cut it in half and cut it in half again there's still seven times fewer crimes reported through the system through police departments then actually are happening in real life and then if if like the many of our business are Center of colleagues are our business people also that basic part of management. You can't manage what you don't measure by measuring it. Well, we'll be a much better able to address it So now I'd love to introduce Victoria Bara was their brother Khalid who also like three years ago Have everything written down but really on the on behalf of our entire family, we wanna thank feel like officials of American Institute and advocacy organizations that are here today who have worked so hard on this Three years ago as you know our brother Khalid Jabara was shot to death by her parents next door neighbor in Tulsa College murderer was known to law enforcement for persistent targeting of our family because we are loving these at the time he shot and killed College The same man was out on bond Waiting for trial for running over our mother with his car 11 months prior you know on the first anniversary of palettes death you know as we gathered as a family, we watched I hate to another life with Heather Higher with her You know it feels all too often says that each time we hear behave crime in the news the pain the sadness and anger of quality depth come flooding back to us Since our brother's murder we have maintained that you know telling his story our story can spare someone else's life or someone else's family and it's worth it So how we're taste you know turning pain into purpose Really you know the problem is that police murder like Heather a year later would never recorded as you know Indiana. The uniform crime reports as a hate crime even though his murderer like Heather was eventually convicted of a hate crime so you know we always ask ourselves As a country or within our own communities in front hate prevent it from happening if we don't have accurate The truth is we we can't so until all hate crimes are accurately recorded and tracked and an effective response mounted lives like Hollywood and others will continue to be cut short and families like ours and Susan will continue to live with the pain So for every community and every individual targeted by hate we stand with you on We're here on your behalf on pilots behalf and on Heathers we must equip our law enforcement with the information and tools necessary to combat hate crimes with the passage of the drawer higher Senator Ralph to do the work of the people but we'll next year from my executive record 80 -, six the American Institute President and Co founder, Doctor James This was the first in a series of oversight hearings that would demonstrate the need for legislation Understanding crime Policymakers that legislation was the Bipartisan Hate Crime Statistics, Act of 1990 under this act the Fbi publishes statistics on hate crimes, motivated by race ethnicity religion sexual orient The nation's law enforcement agency These statistics while critical Department data suggests that hundreds of thousands of violent crimes go unreported each Congressman Fire It's estimated that we're talking about one percent of actual capri to take place Aware in terms of law We know that there is The evolving Fbi statistics capture is just one percent that occurring high-profile hate crimes also go under reported after A I first discovered the emission We faced the heartbreaking task and informing the families of heaven Were prosecuted crimes in courts and covered his hate crimes in the media Hate crimes and governments Behind every missing data point is a name a family a community We're here today with a solid resolute appeal We say the names we support the Valley the families and we elevate the communities of those targeted by viewers We are indebted to the families of Palin As we are to the members of Congress who we are grateful for what we've done today is coming together but it's 30 years after the hit And I believe that acts accurate data with regard to reporting is one of the most important things that we can do is come together as Republicans and Democrats. This is not a partisan issue This is not a state issue This is about improving the party and I believe that the halogen bar Heather Higher No hate act is to be able to do some great support we're seeing Pologize text with the big tongue Andrea Core become Executive director of the Communication Communities Good afternoon and thank you My name is Angela Packer Mitchell and I'm the director of the Communities against Kate Initiative at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Our coalition some of whom are represented here today and many more are pleased and honored to support the bipartisan Jabara hire a decisive step forward in our nation's fight to combat the forces of hate and White supremacy Thank you to Senator Blumenthal and representatives fire in Oakland for your leadership on this crucial bill I also wanna acknowledge the families of College, Jamari and Heather hire for their incredible strength and activism in the face of senseless tragedy Every person in our country should feel safe while going about their daily life going to worship going to school to the mall instead, pay times and violence continues to escalate And that's why the Jabara Higher no hate act is so important today to fight hate We must first understand and to make meaningful progress towards ending the violence against our communities We must have reliable accurate data among its reforms. This legislation will promote a robust hate crime reporting and data collection as well as provide support for victims and impacted payments Now is the time for action Now is the time for accountability and now is the time for real solutions But we must remember the work of civil and human rights is bigger than anyone, person anyone Organization and anyone community None of us can fight it alone The leadership conference and our coalition are proud to partner with impacted families and communities advocates and lawmakers to address hate and to ensure that every person feel safe in their homes in their community In this time of crisis and spring we call on the world leadership from all members of Congress because the work to fight hate must also be bigger than once a political party Jabara Higher No hate act shows just how much change we can affect what we fight for our collective future to honor Heather Higher hallelujah bara and all victims of hate Congress must pass this legislation and a firm a vision for America as it should be just inclusive and Here from Erica who is our vice President of government Affairs and community engagement for the ADL Good afternoon I'm Eric Martin the vice President for government Relations at Community Radio I wanna first honor the Pushing through their own It's their generosity. They're currently navigate that requires us to top specifically about a problem that needs to be Incomplete data is a problem that needs to be fixed Data drives policy we wanna be able to address violence in America We must know more about the nature and magnitude of the problem And we don't know nearly enough 90 - one. The Fbi is inflecting and reporting hate crime data from 18000 State and local law enforcement agencies across The annual report is now the best Snapchat But it's clearly incomplete for example in 2017 the most recent data available 90 - I think it does not report any data to the Fbi That can't be right We cannot address what we are not measuring without comprehensive data Police Department can't charge tens or deescalate community tension or allocate resources effectively And after that the tomorrow higher. No it's far Best practices and data collection initiatives Bill is one of 80 highest legislative priorities Champions, they're excellent staff and many things so Just wanna comment about how our numbers are way off from Houston Texas about to be the third largest city in America Fifth Police Department says hey, crimes are at a 10 year high rental data shows that a 10 year low And that's why here at fixes our next Speaker David Stacey The governor. Fast record from R C Hi, I'm David Stacey, I'm Government Affairs director at the Human Rights Campaign Thank I wanna first thank the family and to the group for their courageous willingness to speak out and continue to work on this putting a face to these problems is so critically important I came to Washington 20 years ago as a staff member on Capitol Hill and the first bill I worked on a bill. I worked on for 10 years was the Matthew Shepherd James Byrd Junior Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one of the pieces of that legislation which took 13 years to pass it was an expansion of the hate crime statistics insure that every community that needed to be collected within that bill but we know that data is incomplete and we know we need to do more if you're not counted you don't count The 2017 hate crimes data we know is an adequate, but we know that there are increases in hate crimes and the LGBTQ community is particularly vulnerable and has been particularly victimized over the last few years a third the third highest category of hate crimes affects the LGBTQ community and sexual orientation third highest category Gender identity is also a category that has continued to see increases but even more importantly we know that there are so many unreported crimes out there And in the United States, we have an epidemic of murders against transwomen, especially the transwomen color Just this year alone 18 Trans women of color transwomen have been killed The majority of those the vast majority of those are black women and women We have a epidemic of violence in this country that we need to address Since the election of Donald Trump and Mike Pence we've seen a rise in crimes and as we know elected officials to change the tone and set the tone and I'm really honored that buyer and Congressman Olson are here to set a different tone and the other sponsors We need them to speak out and continue to speak out and it's really critically important we also know that law enforcement is by and large is our is a Champion for positions, they want to solve these problems in their community that they need to also know what the problem is and so the higher no hate act is a critical piece of legislation to improve the collection of this data It's not gonna be a panacea This isn't gonna solve all the problems but this is a really important step forward It's really important that Congress move forward to pass it and I know that on behalf of the human Rights campaign the all of the groups here work To working hard and at the end of the day this Congress should move forward to address hate crimes This is one way to do it and we hope that that will happen expeditiously And I'm here from Norway he who is senior Legislative and Advocacy Advocacy Council for the ACLU Tonight My name is Mona and I worked with the ACLU I wanna start by thanking the families of College bar For being here to do collagen Heather were killed just one year old tall is at the hands of someone with a long history of an attack Oklahoma and Heather during the White Supremacist 2017 Neither were reported in the federal crime statistics How is that even possible How could such a glaring omission For the ACLU there's no greater indication of the need for improved recordings and the failure to acknowledge College and Heather How can we begin to address the crime if we don't even have an understanding of their scope or impact of the lives that they harm It's no surprise that he crimes are on the rise It's no surprise the White supremacist violence We see this every day feeling People are looking for ways to keep their families in Looking for ways to address this violence We're putting the safety of impact the community first and solutions and promoting legislation that not only helps us get a better handle on the top line but also bring resources in into community safety and protection I also wanna thank the American Institute for their leadership in helping create these solutions but most of all I wanted to thank you family For sharing their stories and their pain and the fight to protect others from similar This bill is about your families and honors honoring the legacy of politics Our final Speaker is Garden of the AJC director of Buzz Jewish Voice it's an honor to stand with courageous selected officials and coalition partners today to call for widespread bipartisan sponsorship at the Swift Passage of the No Hate Act It's especially moving to do so alongside the families of Heather Heyer whose memory is honored by the Bill's name We're here representing American Jewish Committee, but also the Muslim Jewish Advisory Council and Jack and Jack is a partnership between A J C and the Islamic Society of North America and we advocate on A common concern to Muslims and Jews in the United States accurate tape crimes reporting the highest priority as a National coalition with 10 regional affiliates of which one Jack is the co-chair of Representative buyers in DC Virginia We have a region representative Olsen's area as well We are hundreds of Muslims and Jews around the country who represent hundreds of thousands of constituents were Democrats and we are Republicans were business leaders Experts doctors lawyers educators law enforcement officers and clergy as religious minorities and as people of faith we know that hate is like a fire set in the Woods when one tree is targeted All are in danger of setting a blaze when Jews were murdered in synagogues and mosques were attacked across the country Freedom of religion for all is under assault Americans of all backgrounds are at risk when race-based hate Increased year after year and when College could be murdered simply for being air of American or Heather higher for exercising her freedom of Assembly with an ethnically diverse group We know that both Republicans and Democrats liberals conservatives and moderates a lot alike are targets of hate This issue affects us all with 80 - Seven percent of law enforcement agencies simply do not report hate crimes. We have a problem With over A hundred thousand residents report zero or simply do not report we have a problem The No hate act will be the strongest step towards understanding the menace of hate crimes since the Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 may data collection of congressional mandate It will empower state law enforcement with trainings will increase their partnership with communities and it will give the victims of hate crimes, the tools to report respond and recover the National Chairs of the Muslim Jewish advisory counselor, Stanley Bergman CEO of Henry Shine and for the CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors They've stated loud and clear that in order for our country to extinguish the conflagration of hate crimes each victim must count and all must be counted Thank you We've been blessed with incredible elephants this afternoon and Pete and I and especially the groups represented here and the families will be happy to take a few questions And if they're not you're very welcome to talk to the groups and their families individuals one more time Hey really quick question Congressman How do they know that those those hate crimes were not reported in the federal in the federal databases are way to check that I guess that would be a question to the specific family to get checked but there are two systems that feed into it There's a summary system and the live horse system which is the Divers around the neighborhood is based reporting system that the better one and the first part of this five -part bill. It's fun this diverse system for all the police departments that don't have it. So we can get much better data coming to the Fbi but then we went to the 200000 that shows up to the that's very different numbers that reported to the Fbi The problem is by long right now These two cases they student found guilty for Oklahoma but DC nothing and so this bill says okay guys enough is enough for these haircuts is an encouragement support them Hey 10 percent in the last decade that confused yet they're down that same number if you look good We have one terrific late Speaker the senior vice President for advocacy and policy for the nation's mister Nelson Anything I could offer is pretty much sit but I like to put it in these terms I worked for the N double, A CP the United States oldest and largest grassroots base civil rights Organization We have 20 -, 200 membership units and we're located in every state in the United States. We were still also our military basis in Germany and Japan, as we take on the issue of hate crimes are there to help address the usual lately We first counter There were those done by posting very much hated those because of their race their gender, their ethnicity their foot of National Origin their religion whatever the various differences are crimes were commit. And as such we knew we needed data to be collected because we also manage a position at the NAACP in order to manage a problem. And this is a problem that needs management a promise which was seen a growth in the number of hate groups a growth in a number of hate crimes In other words we have a problem even as we're collecting data now it seems to be worsening but we also know that the data we're collecting it is is not complete in order for us to manage a problem like this we must first measure it so in essence Look at what's happening across the country and here they are very well. Police Department that will report no hate crimes at all and some were not report at all period even responding to the questionnaire they should go to the Justice Department For those reasons We need to know that no hate act that would help retrain prepare and provide with the resources These police departments need to collect this data It is an atrocity We know this problems are going on and even the families of the victims Crimes are standing here with no indication that they were exactly what they were a hate crime that was committed because of their Association their affiliation their race, their gender or their point of National Origin So in these, the N double, A CP stands by friends Congressman Buyer and Austin of course the members of the Senate that are trying to move this bill through as well It is a travesty and it is outrageous that we're standing here to know that their police departments that do receive federal funding and are not providing this data Let us move To pass this bill to make sure the Senate does with the House is done to make sure we move to see to it that these issues are addressed and these crimes are accounted for and the solutions are finally brought forward Let me just say as my parents said to me on many occasions doing the same thing under the same circumstances as accepting and expecting a different result really is the clinical definition of insanity We've gotta move from this insane point to actually begin solving providing solutions to a real problem that affects so many Americans Throughout our country every day thank you so much and we appreciate working with you on this Thank you
Congressman Don BeyerVideosAs the country’s hate crime problem has gotten worse, it has...