“We do not have tails. We’re not monsters.”
Republicans in the Indiana state Senate on Tuesday gutted a hate crimes bill by literally removing five pages and any mention of minority groups that need protections. Instead, the GOP Senators decided the word “bias” was “more inclusive.”
Stripped from the bill, as local news station WISH reports, are the words “race,” “religion,” “color,” “sex,” “gender identity,” “disability,” “national origin,” “ancestry,” “sexual orientation,” and “age.” (Video below.)
The Amendment authored by Republican Sen. Aaron Freeman (photo, right) gutting the hate crimes bill passed 33-16. Seven Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with Democrats but it was still not enough to stop the attack. And no Republican rose to speak against gutting the bill.
“The bottom line is there are lots of different groups of people and associations … that aren’t on that list,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray, a Republican, said, according to the Tribune Star “So, yeah, this is more inclusive in that respect.”
Democrats fervently protested, and later walked out.
“We’ve done everything that’s possible I can think of including die,” Democratic Sen. Lonnie Randolph, president of the Indiana Black Legislative Caucus, said on the Senate floor. “At the round of a noose. Shot. Gunned down, beat up. Talked about, criticized, disputed, spat on, everything, throughout history. What do we have to do? You tell me. I don’t know. I’m through.”
Randolph also told Republicans, “the history of this country is intertwined with black folks,” and reminded them they can’t get rid of them, the Tribune Star notes. “Give us some kind of dignity. I’ve got a family just like you do. … Please, all I ask is for you to treat me as a human being. … We do not have tails. We’re not monsters.”
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Indiana’s Republican governor Eric Holcomb made clear he is not pleased with the Senate’s move, and has not said if he will sign it.
Watch WISH’s report: