White lives may matter to groups, but punctuality doesn’t

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn. — Crowds of protesters began gathering at 8 a.m. on a cold, cloudy Saturday morning. They’d come to see Nazis. But two hours later, there were still no Nazis.

Around 10:30 a.m., one of the organizers of the counterprotest grabbed a microphone and began taunting the handful of rallygoers who had just shown up across the street.

“Some master race,” he snickered. “Can’t even show up on time.”

Such rallies have turned violent, even deadly, in recent months, sparking fears that the Shelbyville gathering could as well. Once the white supremacists showed up — the rally started about an hour late — there was yelling, but no violence.

Rally organizers had anticipated about 175 people, while Tennessee’s racial justice and liberal groups were unsure of how many of their members would attend. Ultimately it appeared that about 300 people attended, about 100 “White Lives Matter” attendees and twice as many counterprotesters.

Organizers included the Nationalist Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group; the Traditionalist Worker Party, which wants a separate white ethno-state; Anti-Communist Action, a right-wing group that believes America is being threatened by “communists”’ and Vanguard America, a white supremacist group that believes America is inherently a white nation that must be preserved. This rally, they said, was specifically about immigration and refugee policies.

The plan was for speakers to address the assembled white supremacists, some of whom carried shields and Confederate flags, before the group would depart to nearby Murfreesboro for another rally.

Local residents spent two weeks preparing their opposition to the rally, holding vigils and prayer services and practicing their chants.

Promptly at 1 p.m., the assembled ralliers bowed their heads in prayer and, after being told that boxed lunches were available on the bus, departed.

In Murfreesboro, about 20 minutes away, a second set of counterprotesters lined the roadway, ready to challenge attendees of the second rally. But the rally didn’t happen; the bus of white supremacists never showed up.