The brazen appearance of white supremacist groups in Nashville left the city grappling with how to confront hateful speech without violating First Amendment protections.

They first arrived at the beginning of July: dozens of masked white supremacists, shuffling out of U-Hauls, to march through Nashville carrying upside-down American flags.

A week later, members of a separate neo-Nazi group, waving giant black flags with red swastikas, paraded along the city’s famed strip of honky-tonks and celebrity-owned bars. The neo-Nazis poured into the historic Metro courthouse to disrupt a City Council meeting, harassed descendants of Holocaust survivors and yelled racist slurs at young Black children performing on a downtown street.

The appearance of white nationalists on the streets of a major American city laid bare the growing brazenness of the two groups, the Patriot Front and the Goyim Defense League. Their provocations enraged and alarmed civic leaders and residents in Nashville, causing the city to grapple with how to confront the groups without violating free speech protections.

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  • cynthorpe
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    4 months ago

    Ikr? Killing Nazis cannot be discussed? I’m pretty sure that’s 100% okay, and a global pastime. My comment was removed for saying it. 🤷‍♂️

    • magic_smoke@links.hackliberty.org
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      4 months ago

      That’s what happens when ya let neoliberals run things.

      its only okay to defend yourself against Nazism AFTER they’ve spread propaganda, recruited, trained, and started putting people in camps.

      I really hoped things would be better when we left reddit.