Tennessee’s far-right extremists exist today across numerous related groups that grow, die and change shape across the state. Communities on Facebook and Telegram — an encrypted social media app that hides users’ personal information — have become havens for hate speech and organizing hubs for White Lives Matter Tennessee, regional outfits of the Proud Boys and Patriot Front, and smaller, more localized groups like Tennessee Neighbors for Liberty and Tennessee Nationalists.
In these groups, many proudly identify as Nazis (under pseudonyms and screen names) and idolize Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Members refer to themselves and others as “patriots” while openly calling for violence against the government and groups that hold protected identities, like race, religion or gender. It’s also clear that these groups play an important social and political role in their members’ lives, providing validating outlets for hateful thinking and warped understandings of history and current events. Many posts read like the logical extension of adolescent shock humor, where posts trade grown-up Holocaust jokes and fantasize about acts of violence.
The Lewis Country Store brings together far-right culture and politics in a conveniently located gas station on the far-west side of Davidson County. The store is owned by Brad Lewis, brother of well-connected Nashville lawyer Bryan Lewis, both sons of the late Nashville real estate mogul and convicted gambler Jimmy Lewis, who died of COVID in 2020. The Scene reported on an extended drama involving Brad Lewis, former Metro police Maj. Carl Dollarhide, and NewsChannel5’s Phil Williams in 2001. When the Scene visited the store last week, Patty, the general manager, wrote down our request for comment, which was not returned as of press time. Patty did not give her last name.
Lewis Country Store
Lewis’ outpost on the outskirts of Davidson County has been a far-right meeting point for years and a beacon of offensive political material. Interior and exterior decor celebrates guns and former President Donald Trump. A sign on the door mocks COVID safety measures, and the roadside digital marquee cycles between vulgar memes about Hillary Clinton and climate change. The gas is consistently 20 cents cheaper than competitors, generating lines at almost every pump. The “LewisCountryStore” group had more than 400 followers on Telegram until it abruptly disappeared during the reporting of this story. According to screenshots shared by a former member, Lewis uses the space to share more explicitly offensive content. In one post, a shirtless man who appears to be Lewis performs a Nazi salute.Â
These groups are constantly aware that they may be under surveillance by opposition groups or law enforcement. Anna, a mother in Middle Tennessee, got involved in far-right surveillance when she learned that information about her and her family had been shared in a Tennessee “Christian Coalition” Facebook group. She spoke to the Scene on the condition of anonymity out of a concern for her safety and the safety of her foster children.
“I quickly found out that local LGBT people in my community were having their picture taken with their kids in the street, and people were posting it on Facebook,” Anna tells the Scene. She’s one of several Tennesseans who have over the past year built accounts on Facebook and Telegram that have allowed them to monitor far-right groups. From there, she collects information about far-right organizing and tips off their targets, specifically queer spaces and drag events. She expects there to be an uptick in anti-LGBTQ efforts during this month’s Pride events.
“Most of the groups I watch are openly Nazis,” says Anna. “They get shut down after a while, go undercover or start another group. I just got into it because someone else warned me. The last thing you want in Tennessee is to have that target on your back from thousands of Nazis.”
According to Anna’s research, Tennessee’s Patriot Front chapter has 7,000 members, and the Proud Boys chapter has nearly 2,000. She recalls that when she started learning more about the far-right presence in Tennessee, she was struck by their virulent antisemitism, a topic that occupied members’ discussion more than any other identity. Antisemitic incidents have rippled across Nashville this year, including propaganda distribution and vandalism in Sylvan Park, East Nashville and 12South.Â
To earn designation as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization must “vilify others because of their race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender identity.” According to the Alabama civil rights nonprofit, there are 28 hate groups in Tennessee. A few are KKK offshoots and white supremacist gangs, but a formidable strain of Tennessee’s far-right momentum continues to form at the intersection of Christian extremism and LGBTQ hate. Regional religious figures Greg Locke, Steve Berger and Rich Penkoski blend theology and far-right politics, using the “pastor” title to back hate speech. This is the constituency fed by conservative media like Fox News and the Daily Wire and dog-whistled by GOP politicians like Trump, Ron DeSantis, U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles and Gov. Bill Lee. Together they oppose a multiracial, multiethnic society diverse in religion, gender and sexuality — support for that vision is maligned by the right as “woke ideology.” They therefore identify as “anti-woke,” an identity-obsessed banner that has been embraced by politicians and anonymous posters in their shared mission to preserve a Christian society defined by white supremacy and patriarchy, uniting these actors under another label: “alt-right.”
Across all of Tennessee’s hate groups, members share and construct their own understanding of history and current events. They cherish martyrs and draw from a vast bank of symbols and ciphers. A recent fundraiser at the Lewis Country Store raised $1,100 for two “J6” families, presumably now facing legal consequences for attempting to violently overthrow the federal government on Jan. 6, 2021. The Gadsden Flag — a historical U.S. flag, yellow with a snake and the warning “DONT TREAD ON ME” — featured prominently that day in D.C. Once a Revolutionary War symbol aimed at the British monarchy, that snake has become a catch-all symbol for resistance, co-opted by several different entities on the American political margins but most recently associated with the right’s resistance to taxes and COVID safety measures. It’s also more widely socially accepted — unlike a swastika or Confederate flag. In 2017, Tennessee’s Gadsden Flag license plate was outside the year’s top 10 specialty plates as reported by the Tennessee Department of Revenue. But last year, Gadsden was No. 1, with 28,616 plates issued. While the additional plate fees have raised more than $476,000 for East Tennessee’s Sycamore Shoals State Park, the plate’s connotations to the right are widely understood, if vague.
These groups feed on the state’s long lineage of white supremacy. The Confederacy, specifically, remains a key bloodline for today’s movements, and legitimizing gestures — like stated support for (or failures to condemn) the far right from lawmakers — matter a great deal to their ranks. Tennessee lawmakers reaffirmed April as Confederate History Month this year, days after they expelled two Black lawmakers from their body for joining protests against gun violence.
Given oxygen and nourishment, these groups will grow stronger. Intimidation will continue to sprout violence. Or, with sustained opposition, they shrink into nothing, like a cancer.
Examining the history of white supremacy in Nashville, modern far-right hate groups, and Williamson County as a seat of right-wing politics
