[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 131, 115th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


Public Law 115-58
115th Congress

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--

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(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

[[Page 1151]]

Federal Bureau of Investigation, of hate crime
data by State and local agencies.

Approved September 14, 2017.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY--S.J. Res. 49:
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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 163 (2017):
Sept. 11, considered and passed Senate.
Sept. 12, considered and passed House.
DAILY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS (2017):
Sept. 14, Presidential statement.