1.1 	A resolution
1.2 	condemning white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations and urging the President and 
1.3 	Congress to recognize criminal elements of these groups as domestic terrorist 
1.4 	organizations.
1.5 	WHEREAS, the tragic events that took place on August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, 
1.6 	prove that white nationalism and neo-Nazism remain very real threats to social and racial progress; 
1.7 	and
1.8 	WHEREAS, throughout the course of our nation's history, white nationalism has promoted 
1.9 	intimidation and violent repression of individuals solely on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, 
1.10 	sexual orientation, and immigration status; and
1.11 	WHEREAS, today, white nationalism has attempted to reinvent itself, self-identifying as the 
1.12 	"Alt-Right," yet their present-day rhetoric and terrorism conjure painful memories of our nation's 
1.13 	past; and
1.14 	WHEREAS, white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups are not protected by the First Amendment's 
1.15 	freedom of speech clause when committing violence or directing others to violence; and
1.16 	WHEREAS, white nationalism and neo-Nazism continue to grow as menaces to social order 
1.17 	that seek to reignite social animosities, reverse improvements in race relations, divide the nation, 
1.18 	and foment hatred, classism, and ethnic eradication; and
1.19 	WHEREAS, the white nationalist and neo-Nazi message of racial and social intolerance has 
1.20 	led to senseless acts of violence that continue to terrorize members of ethnic and religious minority 
1.21 	communities; NOW, THEREFORE,
1.22 	BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that we strongly denounce 
1.23 	and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies 
1.24 	that are promoted by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
2.1 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that we believe 
2.2 	criminal elements of white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations fulfill the federal definition of 
2.3 	terrorism, as they engage in "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to 
2.4 	intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance 
2.5 	of political or social objectives."
2.6 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the 
2.7 	President, the Congress of the United States, and law enforcement to recognize the criminal elements 
2.8 	of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups as domestic terrorist organizations and pursue those 
2.9 	elements in the same manner and with the same fervor used to protect the United States from other 
2.10 	manifestations of terrorism.
2.11 	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed 
2.12 	to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the 
2.13 	President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United 
2.14 	States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, the chair of the 
2.15 	House Committee on Judiciary, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.