Across Tennessee, counterprotesters prepare for White Lives Matter rally

Almost as soon as an alliance of white nationalist groups announced it was planning to hold a rally this month in Shelbyville, opposing activists across Tennessee sprang into action.

On the heels of a similar demonstration that turned violent and deadly two months ago in Charlottesville, Va., they’re at work mobilizing counterprotesters to stand in opposition to members of Nationalist Front, which will hold a "White Lives Matter” rally Oct. 28 in Shelbyville, and has applied for a permit to do so later that day in Murfreesboro.

More:After Charlottesville, 'White Lives Matter' rally planned for Tennessee

“I think we can affect the national discourse for this, but I also think in Shelbyville, for the minorities, for the people of color and the Jews, this is going to be a chance to say ‘It’s not the 1950s anymore,’” said Chris Irwin, a Knoxville-based attorney aligned with the Tennessee Anti-Racist Network.

“These guys don’t get to walk the streets unopposed in their robes anymore. These towns belong to us, not them. And I think that’s really exciting.”

Nationalist Front is a loose network of white nationalist groups that were among those involved in the Aug. 12 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, made up of the National Socialist Movement, Traditionalist Worker Party, League of the South, Vanguard America, White Lives Matter and others.

The Southern Poverty Law Center considers each of the organizations to be an extremist group, falling under neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate and white nationalist categories.

More:Southern Poverty Law Center: These are 38 hate groups that operate in Tennessee

Through both public and private social media pages, Irwin said the Tennessee-based anti-racist organization and several other partner groups are assembling counterprotesters to carpool to the rallies from Shelbyville, Murfreesboro, Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

They’re creating fliers to post across the state about the organizations that are rallying.

A group locally in Shelbyville is going door to door to talk to business owners, asking them to take a stand opposing members of Nationalist Front who say they’re coming into town that weekend.

“As I understand it, they’re looking for a community that’s welcoming to them,” said Sharon Edwards, chair of the Bedford County Democratic Party, where Shelbyville is located. “They’re looking for a place where they can recruit people and just sort of feel at home. My hope is that all the businesses participate, and everywhere they drive, they’re faced with the fact that Shelbyville does not want them here.”

More:'White Lives Matter' group planning rallies in Murfreesboro, Shelbyville Oct. 28

Edwards, who said she is working to mobilize people opposed to Nationalist Front without regard for political party, is asking Shelbyville business owners to place bright orange “Boo to hate” fliers in their windows on the day of the rally, as well as change their marquees to reflect similar messages.

“There are only two sides to white supremacy,” Edwards aid. “You’re either with them or against them, and that has nothing to do with Republican or Democrat or any other party.”

White nationalists look for rally cities where police keep back counterprotesters

Brad Griffin, a League of the South member and popular white nationalist blogger known under the alias Hunter Wallace, has repeatedly said he believes Charlottesville resulted in as many violent confrontations as it did because police there didn’t take measures to separate opposing sides.

White nationalists have been critical of far-left, anti-fascist protesters known as Antifa, whom they claim incite violence at protests. Antifa activists are planning to take part Oct. 28.

"The community needs to be ready to defend itself against white nationalists and neo-Nazis," said Corey Lemley, a self-described Antifa activist who plans to be among the resistance showing to the rallies that day in Middle Tennessee.

In Charlottesville, due to violent clashes between pro-Confederate monument demonstrators and counterprotesters, authorities canceled the rally before it was set to officially begin. Afterward, police say, James Alex Fields drove his vehicle into a group of counterprotesters, injuring dozens and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

According to the SPLC, Fields was pictured earlier that morning among the white nationalists participating in Unite the Right.

Griffin told USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee that the Nationalist Front groups expect that law enforcement agencies in Tennessee will keep counterprotesters back, unlike in Charlottesville.

Tennessee also has been the site of a number of white nationalist conferences and meetings in recent years, several of which have been held at state park facilities, where park rangers have kept space between the two sides.

Nationalist Front continues to scout possible locations for additional rallies

The City of Murfreesboro has not yet issued a permit to League of the South, which applied to hold a rally between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Oct. 28 outside the Rutherford County courthouse and to block off the driveway in front of the building.

On the permit application submitted Sept. 20, the event with an estimated 100 attendees is described as “a heritage assembly, paying respect to the fallen of the Civil War,” though plans for the Middle Tennessee White Lives Matter rallies weren’t publicly announced until last week.

The courthouse property is the site of several monuments, including a monument to the Confederacy on the courthouse lawn.

Griffin said last week that the Shelbyville White Lives Matter rally was being held to show opposition to the resettlement of refugees in Middle Tennessee.

The Shelbyville Police Department previously said League of the South organizers indicated they planned to rally on city sidewalks between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. that day, though they weren’t sure where specifically the event will take place in the city.

On Tuesday, Griffin said that “several locations are being looked at besides Shelbyville.”

“We think of this as a Middle Tennessee event,” Griffin said, adding that plans still haven’t been finalized for where else the rallies will take place Oct. 28.

“We’ve considered Murfreesboro and several other nearby cities.”

On Thursday night, Edwards and others in Shelbyville will ask the city council there to adopt a resolution declaring that Shelbyville “rejects the values and ideology of white supremacist hate groups,” according to an online petition that had received more than 430 signatures as of Tuesday evening.

Nancy DeGennaro contributed to this story.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com and on Twitter at @natalie_allison.