NOT IN OUR STATE: TENNESSEE TAKES ON AMERICAN RENAISSANCE

Chased out of DC and North Carolina not even people in Tennessee want this crowd around, and after the Klan rally last week, they now come out to start doing something about them.

One People’s Project

DICKSON, TN – For the second year in a row, American Renaissance (AmRen) held their conference in a state park 45 minutes outside Nashville, but unlike last year, which saw little to no opposition, those participating saw two days of opposition to their hate message from locals fed up with the steady stream of hatemongers using their state to advance their agendas, and activists coming from as far out as Minnesota to participate in conferences and rallies in the same park.

Not In Our State: A Grassroots Effort to Confront White Supremacy and Hate was an outdoor counter conference held at Montgomery Bell State Park, two miles within the park from the Montgomery Bell State Park Inn where AmRen was held. Over 60 participants, some coming as far as Minnesota, attended the event that was billed, according to the program, “to promote equality and foster a culture of respect.” Professors, students and activists from across the state spoke and addressed issues that concerned bigotry against people of color and the LGBT community. Organized by the Radical Sparkle Childcare Collective several local organizations supported this conference such as Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), Austin Peay Students for a Democratic Society, the Nashville chapter of Veterans for Peace, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, Workers’ Power, Middle Tennessee Industrial Workers of the World, Nashville Peace and Justice Center and Concerned Citizens of Dickson County, as well as local businesses such as Lotus Tattoo and the Tater Shack.

In addition to the conference, two rallies were held at the AmRen conference location. While a small group showed up on Friday to protest the event, a much larger group came out after the Not In Our State conference and engaged several AmRen participants. American Renaissance publisher Jared Taylor and others watched from the sidewalk adjacent to the hotel while others such as Matthew Heimbach of the Towson University White Student Union and his friends Scott Terry and John Stortstrom argued with the counter demonstrators. At one point Heimbach challenged one from Maryland to gather a crew of five that would fight his crew of five when they returned home. Eventually, they returned to the hotel, with Terry giving the Nazi salute to the demonstrators before going inside. Ironically, Heimbach and his girlfriend was involved in a fight at a local bar with one of the protesters later that evening.

AmRen has been using this location after having been shut out of venues in the Washington DC area and Charlotte, NC, however the concern that was built from not only the conference but also the Klan rally held in Memphis the weekend prior. In upcoming weeks, activists will speak with the administrators of Montgomery Bell Park to discuss their concerns at length, and they will also use this opportunity to build a statewide anti-racist network to continue building opposition to hatemongers organizing in Tennessee. Another conference, this one sponsored by the hate-site Stormfront, is scheduled for August 10 in East Tennessee.