2 extremist groups behind Nashville ‘Nazi’ march, ADL says

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Nashville Jewish community is speaking out following a demonstration in downtown Nashville Saturday involving swastika flags and a group of people described by multiple lawmakers as “Nazis.”

News 2 spoke with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Sunday, Feb. 18 to learn more about the group marching and possible affiliations.

Carla Hill, the senior director of investigative research for ADL’s Center on Extremism, believed the group was mostly composed of members of the extremist Blood Tribe group, but also had members of the Vinland Rebels, most likely to bolster numbers. She said the salutes, chants, and marching under swastikas were all signs indicative of the True Blood group. In addition, logos for both groups were reportedly visible.

The march on Saturday, Feb. 17 was just the latest form of hate speech the Nashville Jewish community has experienced in recent history. In 2023, the Sylvan Park community had several homes spray-painted with swastikas. That’s in addition to the antisemitic flyers the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville has seen distributed around the community, as well as rising reports of problems for Jewish children in area schools.

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“Not only Metro Nashville, but also Williamson County, Rutherford County, Sumner County, all of those areas where children are verbally attacked and sometimes even physically attacked for being Jewish,” said Deborah Oleshansky, the community relations director for the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville.

According to the ADL, Tennessee saw 290 hate speech-related incidents last year.

Another concern is the rise of sub-divided extremist groups, such as the Blood Tribe and Goyium Defense League, which the Jewish Federation reported seeing advertised on flyers distributed locally.

“It is new for some of us from a certain generation to suddenly feel threatened in a way that we know our parents and grandparents felt threatened, but which we often really hadn’t felt until fairly recently,” Oleshansky said.

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Local Jewish leaders said social media has largely united and given a voice to these extremist groups and has led to an increase in propaganda spreading. Oleshansky challenged extremists to take a critical look at the messages being shared within these groups.

“We are a tiny minority that could not possibly be in control in the way that they want to think that we are in control, and even if we were, the things we would want to be doing are things that they would probably want also, because our tradition teaches to take care of each other, to build strong community, to be in community, to help each other, to take care of our neighbors,” Oleshansky said.

Oleshansky said the Jewish Federation felt the community’s support following Saturday’s march, but she urged all leaders to be outspoken in opposing the demonstration.

She also encouraged those looking for support to attend one of the Jewish Federation’s upcoming events, including Jewish matchmaker Aleeza Ben Shalom coming to Nashville on Feb. 27, or the JCRC Social Justice Seder event coming up on April 11.

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Acts of hate speech can also be reported online to the Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville and/or the ADL.

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