4 extremist groups that will be part of weekend's White Lives Matter rallies
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White nationalist Matt Heimbach had, “no particular sympathy,” for Heather Heyer’s death after the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville. Anti-defamation League’s Center on Extremism’s Marilyn Mayo says his view is, “very anti-American.”
Mykal McEldowney/IndyStar
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — White nationalists plan to gather in Middle Tennessee this weekend, where they’ll hold White Lives Matter rallies in Shelbyville and Murfreesboro to protest refugee resettlement and immigration.
The organizations bringing members to rally have said they’re doing so as an alliance called Nationalist Front, but what are the groups?
Here’s a primer on each group and their causes. The Southern Poverty Law Center, based in Montgomery, Ala., considers all of them extremist organizations.
Traditionalist Worker Party
Self-described as a political party seeking to “establish an independent white ethno-state in North America†in which immigration is “limited to members of the White European Race,†the Traditionalist Worker Party is a relatively new group. It formed a couple of years ago under the leadership of Matt Parrott and Matthew Heimbach of Indiana after they started the Traditionalist Youth Network.
At Unite the Right and other protests, members have outfitted themselves with shields, wearing masks and often all-black clothing.
â–º Tuesday: Community braces for conflict ahead of White Lives Matter rally
â–º Oct. 19: Richard Spencer speaks at University of Florida. Who is he?
The group opposes capitalism and colonialism, as well as “international Jewry,†calling instead for a “National Socialist government, economy and society for our people,†according to its website.
Unlike some right-wing groups, this one advocates for its ideal government offering a “strong social safety net†for anyone willing to work, free higher education for youth, no prison or bail for nonviolent offenders, environmental conservation and humane treatment of animals.
“The group’s version of ‘traditionalism’ has its roots in the ‘radical traditionalism’ espoused by mid-20th century Italian ‘philosopher’ Julius Evola, a fascist thinker who believed that Jews were to blame for the modern materialism and democracy that he thought subverted the natural order of the world,â€Â according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
â–º Oct. 19: Spencer hoping for violence to build movement
â–º Oct. 18: University of Florida braces for Richard Spencer speech
Following a June 2016 event in Sacramento, Heimbach reported that his organization “got†six anti-Fascist protesters. They were taken to the hospital after “the left started the fight,†according to the SPLC.
In April 2016, Heimbach was charged at a Donald Trump campaign rally in Louisville with pushing a University of Louisville student who was protesting at the event. In July, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
National Socialist Movement
Based in Detroit, the National Socialist Movement has been around for more than two decades.
On its website, the organization is open about equating National Socialism with Nazism, as well as attributing its ideology to that of Adolf Hitler.
“Adolf Hitler and National Socialism pulled Germany and her people out of the depression by creating meaningful jobs for them,†reads an answer to one of this group’s frequently asked questions. “They also went the extra mile and made life a true joy for their people! Hitler loved and cared deeply for the average person.â€
â–º Oct. 11: Across Tennessee, counterprotesters prepare for White Lives Matter rally
â–º Oct. 8: White supremacists say Charlottesville is model for protests across USA
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which considers the organization “one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States,†pegs its start to 1994 when leadership of the group was passed to Jeff Schoep. The organization’s website reports it was founded in 1974.
In the the neo-Nazi group’s list of 25 Points of American National Socialism, it calls for the development of a nation made up of “only those of pure white blood,†in which “no Jew or homosexual may be a member of the nation.â€
The National Socialist Movement demands “that all non-whites currently living in America†be forced to leave the country.
â–º Oct. 7: Far right’s Richard Spencer returns to Charlottesville, tiki torch in hand
â–º Oct. 5: White Lives Matter rally planned Oct. 28 for Tennessee
The group’s political ideology also includes calls for a livable wage; the end of taxes on food, medicine, housing, clothing and other necessities; affordable housing; universal health care for all members of the nation; and government regulation of news media, among other ideas.
Until 2007, group members demonstrated in brown-shirt Nazi uniforms until voting that year to adopt black outfits, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports.
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League of the South
The League of the South classifies League of the South as a neo-Confederate hate group, a label that the league denies in multiple sections of its website.
The organization advocates for the secession of Southern states, an ideology it refers to as Southern nationalism.
â–º Oct. 1: Protesters heckle white supremacist gathering
â–º Sept. 29: White nationalist flyers removed from university campus
Run by President Michael Hill, League of the South is also the group that has led most of the planning of the White Lives Matter protest, including reaching out to city officials and publicizing the rally online.
The group held similar, small anti-immigration and anti-refugee resettlement demonstrations in both Shelbyville and Murfreesboro in October 2013.
On its website, League of the South features “country studies†for several Southern states, in which the organization explains how Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas could each exist as independent republics.
â–º Sept. 28: Clergy march for racial justice on anniversary of MLK’s ‘I Have a Dream’
â–º Sept. 14: Trump signs resolution condemning ‘racist violence’ in Charlottesville
In 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported it had uncovered evidence from “leaked internal communications†and “anonymous sources within†the League of the South that the organization was developing a militia, “the Indomitables,†in case secessions occurred.
The group received criticism from left-wing blogs, though not widespread attention, after hosting an event in 2015 to celebrate John Wilkes Booth and the 150th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.
Vanguard America
The group has rebranded and split into new factions multiple times in recent years, previously operating under the name American Vanguard and Reaction America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The Washington-based Anti-Defamation League, a civil rights group that targets anti-Semitism, describes Vanguard America as “a white supremacist group that opposes multiculturalism and believes America is an exclusively white nation,†primarily targeting college-aged men in its recruitment efforts.
► Aug. 31: Birthplace of Nazi movement has less tolerance for neo-Nazis than U.S.
â–º Aug. 25: There are parallels between Polish, U.S. white nationalist movements
The New York Daily News photographed James Fields, charged in the killing of 32-year-old Heather Heyer who died after a car drove into a group of counterprotesters Aug. 12 at the Unite the Right in Charlottesville, Va., earlier that day holding a shield depicting a version of Vanguard’s logo.
Vanguard America confirmed in a statement that Fields was carrying one of its shields and was seen with a group wearing white collared shirts and khaki pants — the organization’s uniform. But officials but denied that Fields was a member or that the shield or uniform denoted membership.
â–º Aug. 24: U.N. committee notes ‘failure’ in U.S. leadership to reject racism
â–º Aug. 22: Protests, right wing rallies extend into second week after Charlottesville
On the blog page of its website, Vanguard America encourages potential supporters to “stop the White Holocaust.”
Anti-Semitic Vanguard America fliers and stickers have been posted twice this year at synagogues in Louisiana and Texas, as well as a banner at a Holocaust memorial in New Jersey, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
Follow Natalie Allison on Twitter:Â @natalie_allison
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From left, Ngoc Loan Tran, 24, Peter Gull Gilbert, 36, and Dante Emmanuel Strobino, 35, leave a courtroom in the Durham County Courthouse after their first court appearance after being arrested Wednesday for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a Monday protest, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, N.C.Â
Dante Emmanuel Strobino, left, chants with Jason Bowers, center, and Kate Bowers, before a protest outside the Durham County Jail where many lined up to “symbolically” turn themselves in for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a Monday protest, but officials at the jail, where the magistrate’s office is located, blocked their entry into the buildings, on Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, N.C. Protesters then supported Strobino, and three others, who then made their first court appearance for being arrested Wednesday for the vandalism.Â
From left, Ngoc Loan Tran, 24, Peter Gull Gilbert, 36, and Dante Emmanuel Strobino, 35, leave a courtroom in the Durham County Courthouse after their first court appearance after being arrested for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a protest on Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, NC.Â
Dante Emmanuel Strobino, left, chants with Jason Bowers, center, and Kate Bowers, before a protest outside the Durham County Jail where many lined up to “symbolically” turn themselves in for the toppling of the Durham County confederate statue during a Monday protest, but officials at the jail, where the magistrate’s office is located, blocked their entry into the buildings on Aug. 17, 2017, in Durham, N.C.Â
Activist Yuleiny Escobar quietly sits on Tuesday during a protest near the statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the late former slave trader, Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan member, early Tuesday morning. Escobar and a small group of protestors were told by Memphis police officers to leave the park because it was closed. “All of our events have been nonviolent, peaceful events and it doesn’t matter if only five of us show up, they send twenty plus police officers,” said Hunter Demster of Coalition of Concerned Citizens.
Last October, the Tennessee Historical Commission denied Memphis City Council’s application to relocate Forrest’s statue. A protest held at Health Sciences Park on Saturday continued the call to have the statue removed. The city is preparing to sue Tennessee to remove Memphis’s two Confederate monuments: Forrest, in Health Sciences Park, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, that is located at Mississippi River Park in Downtown, according to City Attorney Bruce McMullen. This news comes a day after Mayor Jim Strickland condemned white supremacists for the violence in Charlottesville.Â
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