[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 49 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        S.J.Res.49

                     One Hundred Fifteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
          the third day of January, two thousand and seventeen


                            Joint Resolution


 
 Condemning the violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place 
during events between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, 
 Virginia, recognizing the first responders who lost their lives while 
monitoring the events, offering deepest condolences to the families and 
friends of those individuals who were killed and deepest sympathies and 
     support to those individuals who were injured by the violence, 
 expressing support for the Charlottesville community, rejecting White 
nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other 
hate groups, and urging the President and the President's Cabinet to use 
  all available resources to address the threats posed by those groups.

Whereas, on the night of Friday, August 11, 2017, a day before a White 
  nationalist demonstration was scheduled to occur in Charlottesville, 
  Virginia, hundreds of torch-bearing White nationalists, White 
  supremacists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis chanted racist, anti-Semitic, 
  and anti-immigrant slogans and violently engaged with counter-
  demonstrators on and around the grounds of the University of Virginia 
  in Charlottesville;

Whereas, on Saturday, August 12, 2017, ahead of the scheduled start 
  time of the planned march, protestors and counter-demonstrators 
  gathered at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville;

Whereas the extremist demonstration turned violent, culminating in the 
  death of peaceful counter-demonstrator Heather Heyer and injuries to 
  19 other individuals after a neo-Nazi sympathizer allegedly drove a 
  vehicle into a crowd, an act that resulted in a charge of second 
  degree murder, 3 counts of malicious wounding, and 1 count of hit and 
  run;

Whereas 2 Virginia State Police officers, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen and 
  Trooper Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, died in a helicopter crash as they 
  patrolled the events occurring below them;

Whereas the Charlottesville community is engaged in a healing process 
  following this horrific and violent display of bigotry; and

Whereas White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-
  Nazis, and other hate groups reportedly are organizing similar events 
  in other cities in the United States and communities everywhere are 
  concerned about the growing and open display of hate and violence 
  being perpetrated by those groups: Now, therefore, be it

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress--
        (1) condemns the racist violence and domestic terrorist attack 
    that took place between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in 
    Charlottesville, Virginia;
        (2) recognizes--
            (A) Heather Heyer, who was killed, and 19 other individuals 
        who were injured in the reported domestic terrorist attack; and
            (B) several other individuals who were injured in separate 
        attacks while standing up to hate and intolerance;
        (3) recognizes the public service and heroism of Virginia State 
    Police officers Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen and Trooper Pilot Berke 
    M.M. Bates, who lost their lives while responding to the events 
    from the air;
        (4) offers--
            (A) condolences to the families and friends of Heather 
        Heyer, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, and Trooper Pilot Berke M.M. 
        Bates; and
            (B) sympathy and support to those individuals who are 
        recovering from injuries sustained during the attacks;
        (5) expresses support for the Charlottesville community as the 
    community heals following this demonstration of violent bigotry;
        (6) rejects White nationalism, White supremacy, and neo-Nazism 
    as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the 
    values that define the people of the United States; and
        (7) urges--
            (A) the President and his administration to--
                (i) speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, 
            extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy; 
            and
                (ii) use all resources available to the President and 
            the President's Cabinet to address the growing prevalence 
            of those hate groups in the United States; and
            (B) the Attorney General to work with--
                (i) the Secretary of Homeland Security to investigate 
            thoroughly all acts of violence, intimidation, and domestic 
            terrorism by White supremacists, White nationalists, neo-
            Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and associated groups in order to 
            determine if any criminal laws have been violated and to 
            prevent those groups from fomenting and facilitating 
            additional violence; and
                (ii) the heads of other Federal agencies to improve the 
            reporting of hate crimes and to emphasize the importance of 
            the collection, and the reporting to the Federal Bureau of 
            Investigation, of hate crime data by State and local 
            agencies.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.