PUBLIC LAW 115–58—SEPT. 14, 2017 131 STAT. 1149 

Public Law 115–58 

115th Congress 

Joint Resolution 

Condemning the violence and domestic terrorist attack that took place during events 

between August 11 and August 12, 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, recognizing 

the first responders who lost their lives while monitoring the events, offering 

deepest condolences to the families and friends of those individuals who were 

killed and deepest sympathies and support to those individuals who were injured 

by the violence, expressing support for the Charlottesville community, rejecting 

White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, neo-Nazis, and other 

hate groups, and urging the President and the President’s Cabinet to use all 

available resources to address the threats posed by those groups. 

Whereas, on the night of Friday, August 11, 2017, a day before 

a White nationalist demonstration was scheduled to occur in 

Charlottesville, Virginia, hundreds of torch-bearing White 

nationalists, White supremacists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis 

chanted racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant slogans and violently engaged with counter-demonstrators on and around the 

grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville; 

Whereas, on Saturday, August 12, 2017, ahead of the scheduled 

start time of the planned march, protestors and counter-demonstrators gathered at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville; 

Whereas the extremist demonstration turned violent, culminating 

in the death of peaceful counter-demonstrator Heather Heyer 

and injuries to 19 other individuals after a neo-Nazi sympathizer 

allegedly drove a vehicle into a crowd, an act that resulted in 

a charge of second degree murder, 3 counts of malicious wounding, 

and 1 count of hit and run; 

Whereas 2 Virginia State Police officers, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen 

and Trooper Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, died in a helicopter crash 

as they patrolled the events occurring below them; 

Whereas the Charlottesville community is engaged in a healing 

process following this horrific and violent display of bigotry; and 

Whereas White nationalists, White supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan, 

neo-Nazis, and other hate groups reportedly are organizing 

similar events in other cities in the United States and communities everywhere are concerned about the growing and open 

display of hate and violence being perpetrated by those groups: 

Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the

United States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress— 

(1) condemns the racist violence and domestic terrorist 

attack that took place between August 11 and August 12, 

2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia; 

(2) recognizes— 

H. Jay Cullen. 

Berke M.M. 

Bates. 

Heather Heyer. 

Sept. 14, 2017 

[S.J. Res. 49] 

131 STAT. 1150 PUBLIC LAW 115–58—SEPT. 14, 2017 

(A) Heather Heyer, who was killed, and 19 other 

individuals who were injured in the reported domestic terrorist attack; and 

(B) several other individuals who were injured in separate attacks while standing up to hate and intolerance; 

(3) recognizes the public service and heroism of Virginia 

State Police officers Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen and Trooper 

Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, who lost their lives while responding 

to the events from the air; 

(4) offers— 

(A) condolences to the families and friends of Heather 

Heyer, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, and Trooper Pilot Berke 

M.M. Bates; and 

(B) sympathy and support to those individuals who 

are recovering from injuries sustained during the attacks; 

(5) expresses support for the Charlottesville community 

as the community heals following this demonstration of violent 

bigotry; 

(6) rejects White nationalism, White supremacy, and neoNazism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values that define the people of the United States; 

and 

(7) urges— 

(A) the President and his administration to— 

(i) speak out against hate groups that espouse 

racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and 

White supremacy; and 

(ii) use all resources available to the President 

and the President’s Cabinet to address the growing 

prevalence of those hate groups in the United States; 

and 

(B) the Attorney General to work with— 

(i) the Secretary of Homeland Security to investigate thoroughly all acts of violence, intimidation, and 

domestic terrorism by White supremacists, White 

nationalists, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and associated groups in order to determine if any criminal laws 

have been violated and to prevent those groups from 

fomenting and facilitating additional violence; and 

(ii) the heads of other Federal agencies to improve 

the reporting of hate crimes and to emphasize the 

importance of the collection, and the reporting to the 

PUBLIC LAW 115–58—SEPT. 14, 2017 131 STAT. 1151 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY—S.J. Res. 49: 

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 163 (2017): 

Sept. 11, considered and passed Senate. 

Sept. 12, considered and passed House. 

DAILY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS (2017): 

Sept. 14, Presidential statement. 

Æ 

Federal Bureau of Investigation, of hate crime data 

by State and local agencies. 

Approved September 14, 2017.