A viral video of neo-Nazis harassing Black children with racist insults in downtown Nashville has sparked outrage from residents and public officials alike. In response, House District 52 Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville) and District 93 Rep. G.A. Hardaway (D-Memphis) are calling for answers from police and legislative action.
The July 13 incident was filmed and posted online by the neo-Nazi group that has been harassing citizens, police and elected officials over the past two weeks. The group has disrupted a Metro Council meeting and a Jewish-led rally standing up to the group, and one member of the group has been charged with physically assaulting a Nashville man.
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The video, which the Scene is not sharing, shows the group harassing several Black children who routinely publicly play bucket drums downtown. Members of the white supremacist group can be seen sporting swastikas and giving the Nazi salute, calling the children the N-word and other slurs. In the video, Metro Nashville police officers can be seen standing between the hate group and the children, with one officer appearing to speak to one child before they walk away from the group.
The 9- to 14-year-old children spoke at a press conference in the Cordell Hull State Office Building on Wednesday, where they said officers walked with them for one block and told them to go home.
“[The hate group] just wanted to mess with Black kids like us and just mess up our day,” 10-year-old Detonio Wilson said at the conference.
From left: Detonio Wilson, Jaquial Forrest, Kamond Williams, Rep. Justin Jones and Rontarius Wilson in the House chambers, July 24, 2024
The children told reporters they are normally met with compliments, tips and people recording their performances over the approximately three years they’ve been playing downtown.
“[Police] did not check on the safety of our babies — that is unacceptable, that is shameful,” Jones said Wednesday. Hardaway called the group's statements and actions “disgusting,” “deplorable,” “despicable” and “terrorism.”
“Unfortunately, I'm not surprised,” Hardaway said. “There's a climate that's been created by the vitriolic dialogue that's gone on in the political arena in particular, and we've got to tone it down.”
“This is about sending a message to the white nationalists who have swastikas, but it's also about sending a message to the white nationalists who wear suits and work in this building,” Jones added. “They have created an environment by using [diversity, equity and inclusion] as a slur, by attacking Black history in our schools. They have welcomed these white nationalists here, and now this is the result.”
Jones said children have been “arrested for playing drums downtown without a permit.” The Scene couldn’t independently verify detentions or arrests of the children, but one child's mother, Ashton Lee, also addressed how she says police have treated the group.
Detonio Wilson and Jaquial Forrest play bucket drums at the Cordell Hull State Office Building while Ashton Lee, Xavior Jackson, Kamond Williams and Rontarius Wilson look on, July 24, 2024
“Every time they go down there, it's either they're thrown out of downtown, taken to juvenile [detention facility], or this incident that just happened to them,” Lee said. “It doesn't make sense at all, and they're going to get justice.” Lee added that she won’t let the children return to performing downtown due to safety concerns.
Lee told reporters that since the video was posted, she's received messages of support. Jones started a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $11,000 for the boys, who performed in the Cordell Hull Building Wednesday.
Police have been present throughout the white supremacist group's numerous weeklong demonstrations, but have repeatedly told citizens and counter-protesters that the neo-Nazis’ actions are largely protected by the First Amendment — despite the content of their speech.
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Jones wrote a letter to MNPD Chief John Drake in which he requested a meeting to “seek greater clarity as to your understanding of this incident, potential failures and gaps in response from your officers, and ways the grievances of these families will be addressed by your department moving forward.”
A request for comment from the MNPD had not yet been returned as of press time.
“The question that we have to ask is why do they feel so comfortable coming to Tennessee and demonstrating that behavior, recruiting in Tennessee — why are they coming here?” Hardaway asked, calling for condemnation of the incident and legislative action from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Last week, Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville CEO Daniel Horowitz argued that some city ordinances that could have prevented some of the group's disruptions and actions have not been enforced.
Jaquial Forrest runs up the interior steps of the Tennessee State Capitol, July 24, 2024
“Those who have used the powers of the First Amendment for the powers of hatred and fear are not entitled to tolerance and acceptance, and we will continue our efforts to ensure that they confront ongoing difficulty when they try,” Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said on July 21.
