Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker joined with Democratic leaders to sign a resolution Thursday denouncing neo-Nazism and white nationalism.
The resolution states that white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups "promote a message that is the antithesis of Massachusetts' dedication to civil rights for all." The resolution goes on to say such groups "are continuing to grow as menaces to societal order as they seek to re-ignite social animosities, reverse improvements in race relations, divide the nation, and foment hatred, classism, and ethnic eradication."
Baker joined with Senate President Stan Rosenberg and House Speaker Robert DeLeo at the Statehouse to read the document.
The action came just days after President Donald Trump appeared to equate protesters at a white nationalist rally Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia -which included neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members - with counter-protesters opposed to the groups.
One woman was killed when a car drove into a crowd of counter-protesters.
The resolution goes on to reject what it describes as the overtly racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant views embraced by the nationalist groups.
"These poisonous ideologies continue to promote hatred, bigotry, and violence specifically against individuals solely on the basis of their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and immigration status," the resolution continued.
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Copies of the resolution will be sent to Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer, Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, both Democrats, and Trump.
Rosenberg said the resolution was intended to send a message to Trump, who has come under criticism for not speaking out forcefully enough and sending mixed messages after the Virginia rally.
"Mr. President where do you stand? Are you with the majority of the American people who do not believe in hate and bigotry and do not want to see hundreds of years of progress in this country turned back?" Rosenberg told reporters after the signing.
The resolution also comes just days before a planned rally on Boston Common on Saturday that organizers are calling a free speech rally but that some people fear is actually a white nationalist rally similar to the one in Virginia.
DeLeo said the resolution also was meant to send a message ahead of the event.
"Massachusetts is a place where we value everyone, no matter their color, their religion." DeLeo said. "For us to get that message out today especially two days before the so-called rally is very important."
The resolution follows an attack on the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston just days ago. A 17-year-old boy was charged with smashing a glass panel. It was the second such attack this summer.
In June, another individual was charged with using a rock to shatter a roughly 9-foot-tall glass panel on one of the memorial's six 54-foot-high towers.
The six glass towers are etched with millions of numbers that represent tattoos on the arms of many Jews sent to Nazi death camps.
