'White Lives Matter' Rallies Planned For Shelbyville, Murfreesboro

SHELBYVILLE, TN — White nationalists plan back-to-back rallies in two Middle Tennessee cities later this month and counter-protesters are gearing up to face them down.

Nationalist Front, a sort of transitory affiliation of various white supremacist, neo-Confederate and neo-Nazi groups, organized the "White Lives Matter" rallies for Shelbyville and Murfreesboro October 28. Many of the groups which use the Nationalist Front as a nexus marched at the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville, Va. which turned deadly for one counter-protester.

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Brad Griffin, a member of the neo-Confederate group League of the South who blogs about white nationalist topics under the alias Hunter Wallace, told The Tennessean that white nationalist groups believe that police departments in Tennessee will keep better separation between the white supremacists and those who oppose them. White nationalist groups blame the violence at their rally on far-left protesters and police who fail to keep them at a safe distance from the far-right marchers. In Charlottesville, counter-protester Heather Heyer died when she was hit by a car driven by James Alex Fields who had been marching with the Unite The Right groups.

Griffin said the protest in Shelbyville is a statement against refugee resettlement, while in Murfreesboro, the focus is on the removal of Confederate monuments. The lawn of the Rutherford County Courthouse on the square in Murfreesboro contains several statues, including a general Confederate memorial, similar to many other county seats in Tennessee.

The League of the South also said they are protesting "the recent black-on-white church shooting in Antioch." While the accused shooter in the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, Emanuel Samson, was born in Sudan, the church has a fairly diverse membership.

The march is permitted in Shelbyville, while the application is under review in Murfreesboro. Leaders of the Tennessee Anti-Racist Network and Antifa told The Tennessean they are organizing counter-protests in both cities, with transportation from throughout Middle Tennessee.

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