HF 4217

as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 03/26/2018 02:40pm

A resolution
condemning white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations and urging the President and
Congress to recognize criminal elements of these groups as domestic terrorist
organizations.

WHEREAS, the tragic events that took place on August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia,
prove that white nationalism and neo-Nazism remain very real threats to social and racial progress;
and

WHEREAS, throughout the course of our nation's history, white nationalism has promoted
intimidation and violent repression of individuals solely on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion,
sexual orientation, and immigration status; and

WHEREAS, today, white nationalism has attempted to reinvent itself, self-identifying as the
"Alt-Right," yet their present-day rhetoric and terrorism conjure painful memories of our nation's
past; and

WHEREAS, white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups are not protected by the First Amendment's
freedom of speech clause when committing violence or directing others to violence; and

WHEREAS, white nationalism and neo-Nazism continue to grow as menaces to social order
that seek to reignite social animosities, reverse improvements in race relations, divide the nation,
and foment hatred, classism, and ethnic eradication; and

WHEREAS, the white nationalist and neo-Nazi message of racial and social intolerance has
led to senseless acts of violence that continue to terrorize members of ethnic and religious minority
communities; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that we strongly denounce
and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies
that are promoted by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that we believe
criminal elements of white nationalist and neo-Nazi organizations fulfill the federal definition of
terrorism, as they engage in "the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to
intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance
of political or social objectives."

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the
President, the Congress of the United States, and law enforcement to recognize the criminal elements
of white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups as domestic terrorist organizations and pursue those
elements in the same manner and with the same fervor used to protect the United States from other
manifestations of terrorism.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committee on Judiciary, the chair of the
House Committee on Judiciary, and Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.