NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee Democrats are speaking out after Patriot Front held its annual Independence Day March in Nashville.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said Patriot Front is recognized as a white nationalist hate group that broke off from another far-right group after the deadly "United the Right" rally in August 2017. The nonprofit described them as an "image-obsessed organization that rehabilitated the explicitly fascist agenda" of the group with glaring patriotism.
The nonprofit also said that Patriot Front focuses on "theatrical rhetoric and activism that can be easily distributed as propaganda for its chapters across the country."
According to NBC affiliate WSMV, the group posted videos of the march entering downtown Nashville, crossing the Cumberland River and marching down Broadway before giving a speech at Legislative Plaza across from the Tennessee Capitol.
State Democrats condemned the protests, calling the groups "white supremacists," WSMV said.
"Just two days after celebrating the independence of our nation, white supremacists have taken to the streets of Nashville carrying Confederate flags and chanting ‘deportation saves the nation’ and 'Seig Heil,'" the Tennessee Democratic Party said in a statement. "We condemn these acts of terror in our community and call on Republican leaders of our state to do the same. The hatred and division that white supremacists and right-wing groups seek to sow should never be acceptable to any citizen."
"This comes after a march of neo-Nazis in the Spring and Proud Boys rallying there a year ago," State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville), said in a social media post. "Shame on my Republican colleagues who continue to welcome these hate groups to our state with racist laws and rhetoric."
In February, WSMV also reported a group of Nazis wearing masks marched through downtown Nashville waving flags with large swastikas. Lawmakers also condemned that march, and Jones said then that it was meant to intimidate the community.
"This is what we’re fighting against in Tennessee. This is what we’re fighting against in America,” said Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Hendrell Remus. "While our Republican state leaders sit quietly by, we refuse to let hate filled racists terrorize our community.”
"White Supremacists Nazis marching through the streets of Nashville today is a reminder that our fight has never been more important," the democratic party said in the social media post. "We must never concede an inclusive and civil society to these right wing terrorists."
Soon after the march in Nashville, Mayor Freddie O'Connell said in a release that the community should refuse to allow this to be normalized, according to WSMV.
"I refuse to platform hate actors, so I have no interest in giving any group or member the attention they seek," O’Connell said. "Just because someone is exercising their First Amendment rights does not mean we must accept someone shamelessly identifying as a Nazi as just another American. And in Nashville, we won’t."
According to WSMV, O'Connell said law enforcement were "engaged throughout" the march and said there was no incidents that directly threatened anyone's physical safety.
"Going forward, we’re exploring how we can thoroughly address unlawful activity of the group and prevent it in the future," O’Connell said.
This story was originally reported by WSMV.
