Nashville Witnesses Second Weekend of White Supremacist Demonstrations
For the second consecutive weekend, residents in downtown Nashville witnessed disheartening scenes as a white supremacist group took to the streets waving Nazi flags. Approximately 20 men, identifying themselves as part of the Goyim Defense League, staged this lamentable event on the corner of Lower Broadway and 3rd Avenue.
The Goyim Defense League
The Goyim Defense League, as classified by the Anti-Defamation League, is a loosely organized collection of antisemites and white supremacists. They are notoriously renowned for their antisemitic stunts and methods of provocation intended to harass Jewish individuals. For this particular show of intolerance, the group donned shirts captioned, “Whites Against Replacement”, punctuating their discriminatory stance.
Distributing Discriminatory Messages
The group did not stop at wearing offensive attire; they furthered their malign agenda by disseminating white supremacist flyers bearing an anti-DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) message. The flyers fortified their racially biased agenda with statements like, “Diversity means fewer white people. Inclusion means exclusion of white people. Equity means stealing from white people”. During the demonstration, the group chanted “Sieg Heil” and performed the Nazi salute, leaving an indelible imprint of prejudice on the downtown Nashville streets.
Decisive Action From Authorities
The Sunday demonstration resulted in the arrest of two men from the Goyim Defense League after an altercation unfolded. Ryan Scott McCann, from Ontario, Canada, faced felony aggravated assault charges for striking a local bartender using a Nazi flag. The bartender suffered injuries to the face and ribs and was also taken into custody on misdemeanor charges.
Outspoken about the events, Chief John Drake condemned the hate propagated by the white supremacists. Additionally, Tennessee’s governor, Bill Lee, echoed his disapproval, aligning himself with various Democratic legislators to denounce these incidents of hate.
Rising Antisemitism
“Anti-Semitism, sadly, is on the rise all across this country. We should stand against it every time and every place”, the governor commented, expressing his commitment to anti-discrimination.
An Uptick in Hate Group Activity?
These recent incidents follow previous demonstrations involving the public display of swastika flags around the state capitol. Such events signify a worrisome escalation in hate group activities in Nashville and the state. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s reports that track the prevalence of hate groups, there were 28 active hate entities in Tennessee as of 2021.
