City leaders have sent a strong message to hate groups that they are not welcome in Nashville.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — City leaders have sent a strong message to hate groups that they are not welcome in Nashville.
Several times this summer, neo-Nazi groups have shown up and marched through the streets of Nashville.
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Inside the Lobby Community Center, it was a stark difference compared to where some children were just a few months ago. On Tuesday, children packed into the center to play dodgeball as part of ‘Nashville United Against Hate’ Action Day.
“If you remember when Nazis came to town, they actually harassed young Black boys on our streets,” Metro Councilmember Zulfat Suara said. “For a community that faced hate, it’s very good for them to know we stand with them, but more importantly, to empower them, to show them love, to counter that hate.’
The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) released body camera footage showing the interaction, as police moved in to de-escalate and walk the children away from the neo-Nazi group, but not before the children heard insulting language.
“Everytime that you see that something is wrong, you stand up against it, and we have an obligation to do that every time,” Suara added. “Hate comes in different forms — the marching on the street — but there’s so many ways that people are showing hate in our city.”
At least three incidents over the summer unfolded in Nashville, involving hate groups marching through the downtown area.
“We’ve had rallies and different communities stand up,” Suara said. “Everybody’s being so united in our voices saying, ‘No, this is not welcome here.'”
In an effort to cool political tensions, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell introduced a package of legislation focused on public safety. The package include four proposals:
An ordinance to create buffer zones to maintain public safety around public buildings and parking lots
An adjustment to mask-wearing ordinance
An ordinance prohibiting the placement of distracting signs over a highway
An ordinance prohibiting the distribution of handbills on private property before sunrise or after sunset
“I think some people have a lot of relief,” O’Connell said at a press conference earlier this month. “We’ve heard from some of our Jewish leadership that they are very supportive of this and I think other community members as well.”
Further, last week a Texas man was charged after the Department of Justice said that he was “threatening to lynch and kill” Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk. The suspect was allegedly part of an antisemitic hate group that marched through downtown Nashville in mid-July.
In a post online, the suspect reportedly “included a photograph of DA Funk with the caption, “Getting the rope,” and an emoji finger pointed towards Funk’s image,” according to the DOJ.
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“Standing against hate isn’t a one-day thing,” Suara said. “I know after the incidents we had some rallies and all of that, but we wanted to make sure that we let people know that it’s an every day thing. You come across it, you have to do something immediately.”
The mayor’s proposed legislation has already made it through two votes within Metro Council. It has to pass one more time before becoming adopted into city law.