Newschannel5: Inside the influential white-supremacist conference that calls Tennessee 'home away from home'

[Dennis Donovan]

Newschannel5 / Nashville - Inside the influential white-supremacist conference that calls Tennessee 'home away from home'

American Renaissance’s job is “presenting research… presenting arguments that people with power can use.... They don’t need to admit that they got it from us," conference speaker says.

Posted 26 minutes ago
By: Phil Williams



BURNS, Tenn. (WTVF) — As the midday sun flickered through red and golden leaves, and water gurgled from a clear stream, the tranquility of a fall afternoon was interrupted by shouts of protest: "Whose park? Our park! Whose park? Our park!"

Here, at Montgomery Bell State Park, 40 miles west of downtown Nashville, about a dozen anti-fascists voiced familiar refrains as they were directed to a designated protest spot.

"No Nazis. No KKK. No fascist USA."

They were here to denounce the return of the white-supremacist American Renaissance Conference, an annual event that has been held here at the park's lodge and conference center since 2012. Organizers said the conference usually draws 200-300 people.

But, instead of white robes and masks, conference attendees come dressed in suits and ties.

The American Renaissance Conference — which calls Montgomery Bell State Park its "home away from home" — provides yet another example of the rise of hate and extremism in Tennessee. It may even offer a clue about why Tennessee appears to have become a magnet for groups such as the Patriot Front and the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League.

Those activities have become the focus of NewsChannel 5's ongoing "Hate Comes to Main Street" investigation.



/snip

Phil Williams does tremendous work exposing the far right in Tennessee.

[SheltieLover]

1. K&R

[Cirsium]

2. This is interesting

Jared Taylor met us at the main entrance, insisting that NewsChannel 5 could come inside only if we agreed not to take video of any of the participants' faces.

“It’s very important,” said Taylor, the 73-year-old conference organizer who speaks with a difficult-to-place patrician accent. “These people can lose their jobs. Their girlfriends could jilt them. I mean, that's the kind of society we live in."

Poor babies. Yes, that is the terrible oppressive society we live in. Why, if your girlfriend finds out that you are a Nazi, she might dump you! Oh, the humanity!

[Solly Mack]

3. People I would never mourn.