Dear Daniel,
As we note the historic passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, we remember the lives of these and countless other victims of hate violence:
Angie Zapata, beaten to death because she was transgender. Her murderer referred to her as "it." She was twenty years old.
Balbir Singh Sodhi, age 52. A Sikh American, he was shot to death by a man who, thinking that he was of Arab descent, took private revenge for the attacks of 9/11.
Jose Sucuzhanay, murdered at age 31 by men who saw him walking arm in arm with his brother and assumed that he was gay. The assailants added anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs to the violence they inflicted on him.
Matthew Shepard, age 21, was taken to a remote area by two men and was severely beaten, then tied to a fence and left to die because he was gay.
James Byrd, Jr. was chained to the back of a pick-up truck and dragged for three miles. His killers left evidence inscribed with "KKK" to show their intent. Byrd was 49 years old.
We mourn their loss, celebrate their lives, and share their friends' and families' grief.
Passing this legislation honors the lives of these good people whom we lost too soon. But we must not mistake it for a monument to them, or a plaque commemorating distant history. The hate crimes law is necessary because the scourge of hate violence that took these lives has not ended.
Dr. King often quoted the Book of Amos, saying that we must not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream."
In passing this bill, Congress has unleashed the power of justice to combat hate. And it has done more.
Senator Edward Kennedy once said that this legislation sends "a message about freedom and equality that will resonate around the world." This marks the first time that we have as a nation expressed—explicitly, and with teeth—that LGBT people are to be protected. And this law sends a loud message that perpetrators of hate violence against anyone will be brought to justice.
This message, and this powerful tool in combating hate crimes, will erode the very foundations of the hatred that has taken so many lives already. From the justice that this Act provides—the righteousness, and the end of violence, will necessarily flow.
Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese
President, Human Rights Campaign
Visit www.loveconquershate.org to learn more about the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
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