The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday afternoon unanimously passed a resolution that condemns hate crimes and urges the Dept. of Justice to “investigate all credible reports of hate crimes and incidents and threats against minorities.”
The resolution is non-binding and was first introduced in 2017. H. Res. 257 was originally sponsored by Rep. Barbara Comstock, a Republican of Virginia.
The resolution specifically mentions people of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, and Hindu and Sikh Americans, all of whom “have been the target of hate-based violence targeting religious minorities.”
It also notes “there has been an increase in White supremacist activity on college campuses across the United States,” and acknowledges “victims of crimes motivated by their offenders’ anti-Black or anti-African-American bias.”
The resolution does not mention LGBTQ people, who are among the groups most-targeted in bias crimes.
The FBI reports that in 2016, there were 6,063 single-bias incidents reported. Rep. Comstock chose to leave out the anti-LGBT bias crimes which account for about one out of every five of those hate crimes.
The resolution was attacked in 2017 by the far right wing Breitbart website, which suggested that if passed it “could end up landing you in federal court for espousing a politically incorrect opinion,” which is false.
Rep. Comstock in November will face Democratic State Senator Jennifer Wexton. Hillary Clinton won the district in 2016 by 10 points, and it is considered a top race to watch.
Image by Donna & Keith via Flickr and a CC license