Nashville residents are showing solidarity for the city’s Jewish community, pushing a message of peace in the face of harassment from neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups descending on the city to spew antisemitic hate.
Multiple instances of these groups gathering and spreading anti-Jewish flyers prompted action from the the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville, leading to hundreds of people gathering Sunday in Nashville’s Bicentennial Park, Deborah Oleshansky said.
“We don’t want to react to them, but we also can’t do nothing,” said Oleshansky, the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville’s director of community relations. “We have to do something, and that was also part of the motivation of yesterday: to do something that was positive and not a direct reaction to them but rather a positive message out of it.”
As early as July 6, a group of Patriot Front members marched down Nashville’s popular Broadway thoroughfare with Confederate flags and chanting a Nazi slogan, according to NBC News affiliate WSMV of Nashville. A week later, another group converged and caused disruptions in and around the city, according to the station.
Law enforcement and local leaders urged residents not to engage with the group, who authorities said was coming in from outside the city. But community members communicated to the Jewish Federation that they were beginning to feel “under siege,” Oleshansky said.
“It was from that that we decided we had to give people something else to feel good about,” Oleshansky said. “Because we know as a city that these groups are coming in from outside … and it felt really important for us as Nashvillians to stand up and say this is not who we are and that we do not welcome them here.”
Multiple hate groups descend on Nashville
The disruptions began when Patriot Front, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a white nationalist hate group, marched down Broadway and gathered at the plaza across from the Tennessee State Capitol.
The Tennessee Democratic Party issued a statement condemning the event, noting that citizens cannot “concede an inclusive and civil society” to “White Supremacists Nazis.” According to the statement, the group’s chants included the phrase “deportation saves the nation,” as well as a victory slogan adopted by Germany’s Nazi Party.
“The hatred and division that white supremacists and right wing groups seek to show should never be acceptable to any citizen,” the Tennessee Democratic Party said in its statement.
On July 14, roughly a week later, another group marched down Broadway and sparked a fight. The group was identified by WSMV as the Goyim Defense League, which is described by the Anti-Defamation League as a “loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism.”
According to the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, a member of a “Neo Nazi protest group” carrying a Nazi flag got into an argument with a local bartender. That man, identified as Canadian citizen Ryan McCann, was seen hitting the bartender “in the face and in the ribs with the flagpole.”
McCann’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday, and jail records show he is not eligible for release due to an order from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The 29-year-old has been charged with felony aggravated assault and disorderly conduct.
Antisemitic instances around Nashville this month
- Patriot Front marching downtown to the state capitol on July 6.
- The Goyim Defense League (GDL) marching down Broadway, sparking a fight on July 14.
- The GDL demonstrating at an Interstate 65 overpass on July 15.
- A city council meeting being disrupted by the GDL on July 16.
- The GDL attempting to demonstrate outside of the West End Synagogue on July 16.
The next day, the same group demonstrated at the Interstate 65 with Nazi flags, WSMV reported. The day after that, the group’s disruption of a Metro Council meeting prompted President Pro Tempore Zulfat Suara to order the gallery cleared.
Suara opened the July 16 meeting with a statement condemning the days of bigotry brought on by outside actors. She noted incidents including antisemitic flyers being spread, an LGBTQ+ mural being destroyed and parades with antisemitic chants being held.
“The people in Nashville are very welcoming,” Suara said. “It is a city where a Muslim councilperson is friends with a Jewish councilperson and an LGBTQ councilperson. It is the city that welcomes immigrants, and it is a city that preaches love for all of us. So you have the right to march, but there’s no room for hate here.”
In a stream of the meeting posted to the council’s YouTube account, some disruptions could be heard, though microphones did not pick up what was said in the gallery. However, the commotion caused Suara to order that the gallery be cleared after the audience members would not stop.
Oleshansky told NBC News that members of the hate group had signed up to speak at the council meeting but were “so disruptive and so rude” that they had been kicked out.
A number of them also attempted to demonstrate outside the West End Synagogue in Nashville that same day but dispersed after about 15 minutes, according to WSMV.
Community deals with a ‘very vexing problem’
Metro Nashville Police Chief John Drake sent a letter to community leaders on Wednesday, after days of incidents caused tension and fear among residents.
He said that he shared their concerns about the neo-Nazi group’s presence and that officers have tried to deter confrontations with them.
“Please resist the temptation to engage with them,” Drake wrote. “The group is equipped with video cameras to further its messaging on Internet platforms.”
He added that police had information that the group was traveling to Nashville from a short-term rental about 65 miles north in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Drake also said that while the group’s actions are “unsettling,” they are permitted under the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment.
Oleshansky said the idea for the solidarity event came together on that same day, as Jewish Federation leadership continued to hear people struggling with what was happening. The goal was to find a way to react to the situation without giving in to the group’s goading for confrontation and potential violence, she added.
It’s a “very vexing problem,” Oleshansky said.
“You want to respect the rights to free speech, but you also want to protect the public,” she said. “And with groups like these, who can be so volatile and who are really goading you into reaction that then brings violence … you need to tread really lightly.”
Hundreds of people across the community showed up for the solidarity event on Sunday, Oleshansky said. Some attendees included Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell, faith leaders from around the city, and Gnash, the Nashville Predators hockey mascot.
The Jewish Federation has heard that the hate group left the area as of Monday, but it is concerned that more may come to Nashville in the coming weeks and months.
Oleshansky urged leaders all over to be careful, warning that these groups can twist rhetoric to suit their needs.
“We need to really be careful in how we use our rhetoric so that we are making it clear that we are not supportive of this sort of harassment and intimidation, and that we want to build a community that is inclusive and respectful,” Oleshansky said.
