Senate Approves Resolution Condemning White Supremacist Groups

By Al Jazeera

12 September 17

Senators say Heather Heyer's killing was a 'domestic terrorist attack', calling for measures against hate groups.

he US Senate has approved a resolution condemning white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other hate groups following a white-nationalist rally in Virginia that descended into deadly violence.

Describing Heather Heyer's killing by a neo-Nazi driver in Charlottesville on August 12 as a "domestic terrorist attack", the initiative went through on Monday night with unanimous support.

The resolution urges President Donald Trump and his administration to speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

It also calls on the justice department and other federal agencies to "use all resources available" to improve data collection on hate crimes and "address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States".

Next stop

The resolution will go to the House next, where identical language has been introduced.

If adopted by both chambers, the resolution would go to the president.

Trump has been criticised for his response following the violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville over the city's planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.

He asserted there were good people on "both sides" of the Charlottesville rally and bemoaned rising efforts to remove Confederate monuments as an attack on US "history and culture".

The resolution is supported by a range of civil rights groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the Anti-Defamation League and the NAACP Legal Defence Fund.