August 3, 2018

We made progress in Congress!

We drafted, introduced and passed a resolution with Rep. Barbara Comstock condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, discrimination, or incitement to violence targeting any religious or ethnic minorities in the United States. H.Res. 257 passed the House with bipartisan support. This win follows similar legislation we pushed and passed last year in the Senate (S.Res. 118) in collaboration with Sen. Kamala Harris.

H.Res 257 resolves that the U.S. government does four things to combat hate crimes:

• Investigate reports of hate crimes, incidents and threats against minorities in the U.S., hold perpetrators accountable, and bring them to justice;
• Improve the reporting of hate crimes, and emphasize the importance of law enforcement’s collection and reporting of data pursuant to federal law;
• Develop an interagency task force to collaborate on effective strategies and efforts to detect and deter hate crimes in order to protect minority communities; and
• Assist victims and to enhance security measures and improve preparedness for religious institutions, places of worship, and other institutions that have been targeted because of their affiliation with a particular religious, racial or ethnic minority.

No community should have to live in fear because of their religious beliefs; with the passing of both our resolutions in the House and the Senate, we are one step closer to ensuring America lives up to her ideals of religious freedom and pluralism.

Help us continue this work.

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