IV

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. CON. RES. 186

Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to recent church burnings.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 13, 1996

Mr. WATTS of Oklahoma (for himself, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. HYDE, Mr.

LAUGHLIN, Mr. WICKER, Mr. LARGENT, Mr. BONILLA, Mrs. MYRICK,

Mr. HALL of Texas, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. HEINEMAN, Mr. NORWOOD, Mr. HUTCHINSON, Mr.

CONDIT, Mr. BAESLER, Mr. WAMP. Mr. FIELDS of Texas, Mr. SOUDER,

Mr. HILLEARY, Mr. ARCHER, Mr. TALENT, Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas,

Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. RICHARDSON, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. KING,

Mr. PAYNE of New Jersey, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. WARD, Mr. FRAZIER, Mr.

FORD, Mr. BROWDER, Mr. HILLIARD, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. OWENS, Mr.

HALL of Ohio, Mr. FIELDS of Louisiana, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. FROST, Mr.

HASTINGS of Florida, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. LANTOS, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr.

FRANKS of Connecticut, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. FARR of California, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. GILCHREST,

Ms. NORTON, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. FURSE, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. PALLONE,

Mrs. THURMAN, Mrs. KENNELLY, Mr. SHAYS, Mr. CLAY, Ms. KAPTUR,

Mr. WATT of North Carolina, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. THOMPSON, Mr. MILLER of California, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. WYNN, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. CLEMENT, Mrs. SCHROEDER, Miss

COLLINS of Michigan, Mr. RUSH, Mr. TORRICELLI, Mr. STOKES, Mr.

ROSE, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. HEFNER, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr. FLAKE,

Ms. PRYCE, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. BISHOP, Mr. FATTAH, Ms. SLAUGHTER,

Ms. RIVERS, Mr. NADLER, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Ms.

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Ms. WATERS, Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois, Mr. STARK, Mr.

BARRETT of Wisconsin, Mr. SANFORD, Mr. ARMEY, Mr. ZELIFF, Mr.

BAKER of California, Mr. STOCKMAN, Mr. PAXON, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr.

ENSIGN, and Mr. COBURN) submitted the following concurrent resolution;

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
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CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of Congress with respect to recent

church burnings.

Whereas more than 30 African-American churches have been

burned over the last 18 months;

Whereas arrests have been made in only 5 of the cases currently under investigation;

Whereas the African-American community deserves the full

support of Congress in solving these cases in an expeditious manner and it is important for Congress to speak

out against the recent incidents of arson; and

Whereas several measures which would expedite the investigation into these incidents and assist in the prosecution of

individuals found guilty of involvement in these incidents

are now pending before Congress: Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that—

3 (1) attacks on places of worship because of the

4 race, color, denomination, or ethnicity of the con5 gregation undermine fundamental American ideals;

6 (2) these fires appear to be hate crimes and

7 also implicitly interfere with the First Amendment

8 rights and other civil rights of the victims;

9 (3) the arson of a place of worship is repulsive

10 to us as a society;

11 (4) the Congress condemns, in the strongest

12 possible terms, these abhorrent actions against freely
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1 worshipping American citizens and the African2 American community in particular;

3 (5) the Congress sends its sincere condolences

4 to those individuals who have been affected by these

5 acts of cowardice;

6 (6) the Congress fully supports the activities of

7 local law enforcement officials, the Department of

8 Justice, and the Department of the Treasury in in9 vestigating these incidents;

10 (7) the Congress urges the United States Attor11 ney General and local prosecutors to seek the maxi12 mum penalty available under law to punish the per13 petrators of these craven acts;

14 (8) it is important that Congress enact appro15 priate legislation to ensure that Federal law enforce16 ment has the necessary tools to punish and deter

17 these shameful, vile acts, including the bipartisan

18 legislation introduced by Representatives Hyde and

19 Conyers which would facilitate the prosecution of

20 persons responsible for these acts;

21 (9) the President is urged to make the fullest

22 possible use of all available law enforcement re23 sources to bring the culprits in these crimes to jus24 tice;
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1 (10) Congress encourages the people of the

2 United States to work within their own communities

3 to prevent arson against African-American or any

4 other house of worship; and

5 (11) Congress encourages the American people

6 to use June 16th as a day of prayer concerning

7 these tragedies.

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