Freedom of speech is protected. We can still shame the neo-Nazis marching in Nashville.

For two weeks in a row, a neo-Nazi group shamelessly marched down Broadway.

On Sunday, July 14, the group wore shirts that read "Pro-White" and "Whites Against Replacement," while carrying swastika flags and harassing pedestrians downtown. The previous weekend, another neo-Nazi group also proudly labeled themselves as white supremacists while touting similar rhetoric.

This is the third time these groups have taken to the streets of Nashville just this year. In February, about a dozen people carrying swastika flags marched downtown. The action was condemned by members of various faiths, and both Democrats and Republicans.

Bigots like the members of these groups have gotten far too comfortable in recent years. It has now become commonplace among conservative media outlets, politicians and on social media with one’s real face and name displayed to be unapologetically hateful. Their words do not die on the TV or phone screen, rather, it empowers others to enact real, tangible harm.

Several mass shooters, such as the perpetrators of the Buffalo and Mother Emanuel Church shootings, have been motivated by their hatred for people of color, religious groups, the LGBTQ+ community and so on. Harmful rhetoric about the LGBTQ+ community has fueled 21 anti-equality laws and counting in Tennessee since 2015, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

In June, the Tennessee Elections Division sent intimidating letters to recently naturalized citizens asking them for proof of citizenship ahead of the Aug. 1 primary election, stating that “illegal voting is a felony.” This is no doubt in part due to a rise in anti-immigration and anti-Latino sentiment. Right here in Nashville, the recently unveiled rainbow crosswalk was vandalized, again likely due to anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

On the national level, hate groups, like the Patriot Front, are on the rise. An annual report from the Southern Poverty Law Center found that in 2023 there was a 33% increase in active white nationalist and anti-LGBTQ+ groups across the country. In Tennessee, the SPLC identified 22 hate groups, 15 anti-government groups and one militia, according to previous Tennessean reporting.

The sad truth is, the neo-Nazi groups that continue to make their (unwanted) appearances operated within their First Amendment rights. A common misconception is that the First Amendment protects against hate speech. It does not.

The First Amendment does not prevent hate speech

The First Amendment restricts Congress from hindering “the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This puts no restrictions on hate speech and the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the people's right to make inflammatory remarks and even Nazis' rights to march in the streets, according to the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.

This is why although Mayor O’Connell sent the police to the scene of the neo-Nazi march on July 6, as it remained “non-violent,” they were powerless to stop it.

You may be surprised to learn that the United States does not have a legal definition of hate speech at the federal level, but the American Library Association defines it as "any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate, or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability, or national origin."

When communication of this nature is of public concern and does not target an individual it is protected by the First Amendment. We saw this in the 2010 case against the Westboro Baptist Church, wherein the Supreme Court sided with the church after they picketed outside of a veteran's funeral with signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "F*gs Doom Nations." This is a prime example of how what is legal is not always just.

We need to bring back shame to stop the haters in their tracks

So what do we do when the highest document in the land will not prevent harmful rhetoric? We bring back public shame. We create an environment where bigots no longer feel comfortable being out in the open. We ostracize those who spew hatred from their communities and successfully strip them of employment and educational opportunities.

Take for example the TikToker who thanked Black people for their role as “puppets” in catapulting her to conservative stardom after she used the N-word in a video. How did we get to a point where your career opportunities can open up after saying a slur on social media? We must stop rewarding these bad actors for their wrong-doings.

If white supremacists like the ones that have accosted Nashvillians over the past two weeks felt they would face real consequences for their actions it would not have happened. We must come together to collectively circumvent this dangerous rise in hate.

Elena Wilson is a summer intern on The Tennessean's opinion and engagement journalism team. She is a rising senior and journalism major at University of Missouri.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville neo Nazi hate speech should be condemned