Tennessee Lawmakers Kill Resolution Denouncing Neo-Nazis as Domestic Terrorists

The Tennessee House’s State Government Subcommittee refused to advance a resolution denouncing white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups and calling on law enforcement to treat their criminal actions as domestic terrorism.

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Republican lawmakers did not comment to the Tennessean about killing the resolution, which notes that “recent tragic events have proven that white nationalism and neo-Nazism remain very real threats to social and racial progress” and acknowledges that “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, and immigration status.”

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“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,” the resolution continues. “While free speech and assembly are bedrock values for Americans, white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups promote agendas that are in irreconcilable conflict with our nation’s foundational principles of liberty and justice for all.”

“White nationalism and neo-Nazism are continuing to grow as menaces to societal order that seek to reignite social animosities, reverse improvements in race relations, divide the nation, and foment hatred, classism, anti-Semitism, and ethnic eradication… 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, racial, and religious minority communities.”

The resolution states that the Tennessee General Assembly agrees to “strongly denounce and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that are promoted by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.”

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The FBI recognizes white supremacists as domestic extremists, noting they “are motivated by a hatred of other races and religions” and “some try to achieve their political and social goals through violence.”