Nashville grapples with lingering neo-Nazi presence in tourist town

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Among the crowds of cowboy-clad tourists who flock to downtown Nashville’s famed honky-tonks, a small, disturbing group recently distracted locals and visitors from the neon lights with Nazi salutes and white supremacist rhetoric.

For weeks, neo-Nazis have been livestreaming anti-Semitic antics to shock audiences in Nashville: waving swastika flags in crowded streets, singing hate songs on the steps of the downtown courthouse and even briefly disrupting a city council meeting with boos.

Their continued presence has raised difficult questions about why Music City attracts bands that amplify Nazi beliefs and what, if anything, can help stop them.

“What’s significant is that so many groups feel so emboldened,” said Jon Lewis, a researcher at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. “They’re a symptom of a larger disease that’s becoming more widespread.”

Elsewhere in the country, white supremacist groups have made similar — but often isolated — appearances this year. Some have rallied at the South Dakota Capitol, rented billboards in the Detroit area to celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday and projected a swastika onto a dorm at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

But in Nashville, the groups have persisted, scattering propaganda leaflets in neighborhoods. Dozens of masked white nationalists marched through downtown earlier this month, and Republican Gov. Bill Lee condemned the group for its anti-Semitic views. The surge in activity comes after neo-Nazis also marched through downtown in February.

Rabbi Dan Horwitz, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville, said the city is a great place for the Jewish community, and a unity rally drew hundreds of supporters Sunday. Still, one reason neo-Nazis chose Nashville may simply be its appeal to tourists, he said.

“I’m not surprised that white supremacists are also saying, ‘Hey, this looks like a really fun place to go hang out and honky-tonk at night,’” Horwitz said.

Nashville’s tourist appeal may be a factor, but the state’s adoption of anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-immigrant policies may also play a role, Lewis said.

Tennessee Republican lawmakers have enacted more anti-LGBTQ+ laws than any other state since 2015, including banning gender-affirming care for minors, restricting drag performances in public spaces, and allowing LGBTQ+ children to be placed in foster care by families with anti-LGBTQ+ beliefs.

Tennessee, meanwhile, has fallen in line with other Republican-led states that have given their officials more responsibility for immigration. And a 2023 mayoral candidate in a city near Nashville has made national headlines for her white supremacist supporters, including a couple who have openly signaled their adherence to Nazism.

“When local and state legislators use language that is not inappropriate in discussions of groups that come to town, that will always be a concern,” Lewis said.

The neo-Nazis weren’t very clear when several of them gathered outside the Nashville courthouse last week and a WTVF-TV reporter asked, “Why did you choose Nashville?”

“This is the only place that respects freedom of speech,” said Nicholas Bysheim, a member of the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League.

City leaders are currently considering regulations that could apply to extremist gatherings. Some include restrictions on wearing masks in public to conceal a person’s identity or require permits for larger groups to march through the city. But Mayor Freddie O’Connell has stressed that any enforcement of the ordinances would have to withstand potential legal challenges, with tricky implications for constitutional rights to free speech.

“These groups, obviously, are very aware of the limits of their protections, and we want to make sure that if we challenge their tests of those limits, we pass that test,” O’Connell told reporters.

Nashville police say the newest faction of neo-Nazis came largely from outside Tennessee.

Known for using the public comment period at local meetings to spread messages of anti-Jewish hatred, some signed up to speak at the Nashville council meeting last Wednesday.

“I want to say to all these visitors from outside the city: you are not welcome here,” said Zulfat Suara, a city council member. “You have the right to protest, but there is no room for hatred here.”

Suara’s remarks were met with jeers from neo-Nazis, who made racist and sexually explicit comments before the audience was temporarily removed. When the audience was allowed back in, the neo-Nazis had left the room.

Days earlier, a neo-Nazi was accused of using his flag to attack a downtown bar employee, who was also accused in the altercation.

Roberta Kaplan, who represented the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit that won a $26 million verdict against two dozen white nationalists and organizations during the 2017 protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, said she sees parallels between that city and Nashville.

Kaplan said the Charlottesville protests — where a white supremacist deliberately drove his car into counterprotesters, killing one person and injuring dozens — were preceded by dress rehearsals by various white nationalist groups starting in the spring. Both cities are progressive and surrounded by deeply red countryside, which could further their ultimate goal of provoking violence and starting a “race war,” and draw large groups of visitors, some of whom they hope will be receptive to their views, Kaplan added.

“What’s really scary is that we, as a nation, don’t seem to have learned the lessons of Heather Heyer’s death or my clients’ injuries,” Kaplan said. “Instead, white Christian nationalists now feel emboldened, encouraged by the ‘coded’ or not-so-coded statements of elected officials.”