[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 147 (Tuesday, September 12, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H7287-H7288]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONDEMNING THE VIOLENCE AND DOMESTIC TERRORIST ATTACK THAT TOOK PLACE
DURING EVENTS BETWEEN AUGUST 11 AND AUGUST 12, 2017, IN
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the
Speaker's table the joint resolution (S.J. Res. 49) condemning the
violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place during events
between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia,
recognizing the
[[Page H7288]]
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, and ask for its
immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the joint resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Virginia?
There was no objection.
The text of the joint resolution is as follows:
S.J. Res. 49
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.
The joint resolution was ordered to be read a third time, was read
the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the
table.
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