A Tennessee General Assembly subcommittee rejected a resolution on Wednesday that would have condemned white nationalism and neo-Nazism.
“I’m in utter disbelief at what just happened,” said State Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a Democrat who sponsored the resolution, according to the Tennessean. “I didn’t think there was anything controversial about this resolution.”
The resolution declined by the House State Government Subcommittee would have asked law enforcement agencies to regard white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups as “domestic terrorist organizations.”
The resolution also called on the House to “strongly denounce and oppose the totalitarian impulses, violent terrorism, xenophobic biases, and bigoted ideologies that are promoted” by the groups.
The effort came after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August. Amid violent clashes at the event, counter-protester Heather Heyer was run over by James Alex Fields, who had connections with white supremacists, as he drove through a crowd. Fields has since been charged with second degree murder and could face a life sentence behind bars.
The report from the Tennessean said white nationalist groups have been holding multiple events in Tennessee in recent days.
Clemmons said that although he was interested in advancing a resolution addressing white nationalists and neo-Nazis, he doubted it would move forward if he tried again because he did not even receive a second motion to discuss his resolution on Wednesday.
“I would love to try to pass a resolution denouncing white nationalists and neo-Nazis, but if I can’t even get a second in a subcommittee, it evidences this Republican supermajority’s refusal to denounce these hate organizations, for what reason I cannot begin to imagine,” he said.
