SF 53

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 01/10/2019 03:54pm

A resolution
condemning "alt-right," 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,
and October 27, 2018, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, prove that the "alt-right," 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, "alt-right," 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, the "alt-right," 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 "alt-right," 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 the "alt-right," white nationalists, and neo-Nazis.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that we believe
criminal elements of "alt-right," 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 "alt-right," 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.