Synagogue Shooting

Floor Speech

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Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, the shooting that targeted the Jewish community in the San Diego area this weekend was a heartbreaking reminder of the new challenges facing our country and the world in the 21st century.

In centuries past, purveyors of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism, and other vile forms of hatred employed the ancient tools of whisper and rumor and incitement in the village squares to intoxicate mobs with fear, and fuel violence against those of a different race, a different religion, a different origin, and a different color.

Today, the internet and social media have provided haters with modern tools to do the same incitement. We have seen it in Pittsburgh and in San Diego. We have seen it in Charlottesville; in Christchurch, New Zealand; and in Sri Lanka. We have seen it in the viral images online using anti-Semitic tropes, or painting Muslims as terrorists, or vilifying migrant families.

As a nation, we need to take action to counter these new forms of incitement. We are observing a lesson in how hatred has adapted to the 21st century.

What we learn from that lesson and how we adapt to combat new tools of hatred will determine whether our democracy and commitment to tolerance and pluralism will survive this century.

Mr. Speaker, I pray for the victims of this weekend's shooting, and I say to them and all the others who have been targeted by hate in our day: this House stands against hate and will continue to do its part to promote the vision of our Founders, of a nation where all are created equal, and endowed not by the government or the Constitution, but by their creator with certain unalienable rights, and among these are: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Let us all stand for tolerance, for inclusion, and reject hate. One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

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