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15 <br /> <br />Chair Rich read the Resolution: <br /> <br /> ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />Resolution Condemning the Ku Klux Klan and Other Similar Groups <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Ku Klux Klan, consisting of numerous independent local groups throughout the <br />United States, is an organization that symbolizes hatred; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, the Ku Klux Klan promotes violence, domestic terrorism and racial terrorism; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, intimidation, discrimination, oppression, and racism threaten American democracy; <br />and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, white supremacists are exploiting bigotry and have weaponized hate targeting <br />African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQ communities, <br />immigrants, Jews, Muslims, and other people of color and of other faiths; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, there is an urgent need to ensure the safety and security of all Orange County <br />residents, and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, Orange County is taking strides to become a more diverse and inclusive open <br />community dedicated to fostering positive human relations, promoting the equal treatment of all <br />individuals, encouraging goodwill, harmony and unity among groups in the County; and <br />protecting residents’ personal dignity so as to make available to the County their full productive <br />and creative capacities; and <br /> <br />WHEREAS, Orange County fully embraces the rights guaranteed in the First Amendment to the <br />Bill of Rights, but equally believes those rights do not give the right to any persons or groups to <br />threaten the existence of others; <br /> <br />NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT we, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, <br />strongly oppose the activities of the Ku Klux Klan, reject white nationalist, white supremacist, <br />neo-Nazis and other hate groups, and urge lawmakers in the State of North Carolina and the <br />Federal Government to denounce threats posed by those groups. <br />This the 3rd day of September 2019. <br /> <br />PUBLIC COMMENT: <br />Anna Richards said she did not know this was on the agenda, and wanted to stay and <br />offer her support. She said 1919 was known as the year of terror in the United States, and <br />there were streams of blood across the country as African Americans were killed in large <br />numbers mostly by the KKK. She said this is a terrorist group, and she is happy to hear the <br />strong denunciation of this group by the Board. She said she attended the vigil on Sunday, and <br />saw a great deal of intimidation occurring. She said she hopes these threats are being taken <br />seriously by law enforcement. <br />Riley Ruske said, as written, this Resolution represents another in a series of County <br />government attacks on the first amendment rights of citizens to speak freely and assemble <br />peaceably. He said it is particularly problematic in its lack of clarity in defining the groups it is <br />attacking. He said the term “other hate groups” is especially dangerous to a free society, and <br />asked if there is a way to define hate or a hate group. He said animosity towards others is a <br />human condition, which no one likes, but it is real. He said the BOCC claims to embrace first