A Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville event, which responded to five antisemitic protests in the city, drew about 400 people, the Tennessean reported.
Attendees told JNS that a wide range of faith traditions were represented at the event. “What was so heartening to me was the number of non-Jewish Nashvillians who came to support our community,” Judy Saks, a former editor of the Nashville Jewish Observer, told JNS.
“The women next to me were Catholics. Another from a Baptist church,” added Saks, who is part of the progressive group Nashville Jewish Social Justice Roundtable. “I felt surrounded and supported by Nashville neighbors, who believe hate has no home here.”
Ellen Levitt, who is very involved in the Nashville Jewish community, also attended the event and was encouraged that “citizens of all religious backgrounds” rejected the bigotry of neo-Nazis.
“Our community was absolutely united in our message that people of all faiths and beliefs are welcome to live openly and free in our city,” she told JNS. “It was especially gratifying to watch the Nazis leave the event once it was clear that their efforts to disrupt our show of unity were unsuccessful.”
Freddie O’Connell, the Nashville mayor, attended the Sunday rally.
“As someone who stands here before you today because some of my ancestors escaped the Holocaust in Poland—and not all of them—I defiantly tell you, while shocked that I even have to, that Nashville stands strong against Nazis, and those who share their hateful ideology,” O’Connell said, per the Tennessean. (The mayor has said that he is of Jewish ancestry.)
“Over the past few weeks, we have seen clown cars of a circus of fear and hatred bring their tour to Nashville in rented box trucks,” he added at the rally. “Those who abuse the powers of the First Amendment for the powers of hatred and fear are not entitled to tolerance and acceptance. We will continue our efforts to ensure they confront ongoing difficulty when they try.”
The rally responded to several recent neo-Nazi demonstrations, in which members of the Goyim Defense League waved swastika flags. Antisemites marched in the city on July 6 and held a July 14 protest, during which someone was arrested for alleged assault.
They also took over a bridge on July 15 and sought to take over a city council meeting on July 16 and were unsuccessful in trying to demonstrate at a synagogue in the city.
“In the face of this darkness, it is time for all of us, Jews and non-Jews, to stand together and say ‘enough,’” Leslie Kirby, the president of the Nashville Federation, said at the rally.
Rabbi Dan Horwitz, CEO of the Nashville Federation, advocated for stricter enforcement of the law to curtail future antisemitic demonstrations.
“These groups have violated several city ordinances,” Horwitz said at a July 16 meeting of the city council. “But the laws that you all passed are not being enforced.”
The neo-Nazi demonstrators did not follow the law because they concealed their identities with masks, he said.
Wes Scoggins, owner of the Jewish Cowboy food truck, spent the event cooking for the participants and laughing at the absurdity of the antisemitic insults thrown his way by the bigoted protesters.
“They are another group of losers on a long list of people that have tried to hurt the Jews and now no longer exist,” Scoggins told the Tennessean. “They are losers and they are a dying breed, and that’s what they are.”
