By Ashley Benkarski
NASHVILLE, TN— A banner reading “One Nation Against Invasion” was hung from the Alameda Street pedestrian bridge over I-40 on or around September 9. The banner credited neo-fascist, white nationalist group Patriot Front, and on either side of it were fascist symbols.
A photo of the banner was disseminated on Reddit thread r/nashville, and one commenter, upon seeing it, immediately took it upon himself to tear the banner down. Most commenters enthusiastically supported his action, but the post has since been deleted due to a slew of threats from fascist sympathizers.
When asked for comment, the poster simply replied, “F— Nazis.” He went on to say that groups like Patriot Front are unwelcome in his home city.
Unfortunately, the Southern Poverty Law Center has reported that the number of hate groups is rising in Tennessee. Patriot Front is a splinter organization birthed from neo-Nazi-affiliated Vanguard America after the deadly Unite the Right rally in 2017 that resulted in the death of 32-year-old antiracist activist Heather Heyer. James Alex Fields, Jr., who traveled from Ohio to participate in the rally, was the driver of the car that killed Heyer. Fields was affiliated with Vanguard America.
Originating in Texas, Patriot Front has a penchant for spreading fascistic Americana propaganda in an attempt to distance themselves from the outright Nazi symbology many similar groups use and gain public acceptance. Still, much of their rhetoric, private and public, encompasses racist and anti-Semitic narratives.
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s website reads, “Hatewatch investigations have also revealed how Patriot Front’s national leadership often coordinates the group’s activities, delegating them to local chapter leaders to carry out. Patriot Front’s members also create racist flyers and stencils and drop large banners over highway overpasses bearing slogans promoting their extremist worldview. Patriot Front leverages their public activities to create propaganda videos and generate buzz online.”
Freddie O’Connell, who’s represented the district for the last eight years and has just been elected Nashville’s mayor, said, “Hate has no place in Nashville . . . I stand strongly by this community. We’re going to continue to invest the resources of the city in this community, and I will be a part of pushing back against hate.”
He noted a flare-up of antisemitic propaganda in parts of Nashville, such as swastikas in Sylvan Park. “You can draw a sad and somewhat scary line from Charlottesville to Jacksonville. And we want that line not to be traced through Nashville as much as possible,” O’Connell remarked. “It does mean that we will ask people to be vigilant, but we will also demonstrate that we are standing with all Nashville residents.”
O’Connell expressed concern over recent activity of the Proud Boys, another neofascist group that engages in politically-motivated violence. O’Connell’s opponent in the runoff race, Alice Rolli, faced backlash after it was discovered a top campaign aid had ties to the group. Rolli fired him soon after.
“I was pretty alarmed to see the Proud Boys show up in the mayor’s race, and even more so to see their presence at the gun safety conversations as this community tried to persuade the state to respond more effectively to the needs of not just Covenant families, but all Nashville families that are trying to keep our children safe . . . I don’t know what their hope or intent is in being here, but I will say, given the joyful celebration that we have brought around this campaign in multiple different ways as we start to govern, we’re going to try to demonstrate that this is a Nashville that is welcoming, that this is a Nashville that is inclusive . . . There’s no question that it’s intended to be provocative, but I also look at a surprising number of these groups and you can see so often they prefer to hide their faces. It is astonishing to me that a group that calls themselves the Proud Boys, for instance, is usually masked in some way.”