Report finds 103 incidents of white supremacist propaganda in Tennessee since 2018

Incidents of white supremacist propaganda distributed across the nation more than doubled between 2018 and last year, making 2019 the second straight year that the circulation of propaganda material has more than doubled.

The incidents include 103 events in Tennessee since the beginning of 2018, according to an Anti-Defamation League's Center on Extremism report released Wednesday.

The report lists 2,713 nationwide cases of circulated propaganda by white supremacist groups, including flyers, posters and banners, compared with 1,214 cases in 2018.

The printed propaganda distributed by white supremacist organizations includes material that directly spreads messages of discrimination against Jews, LGBTQ people and other minority communities — but also items with their prejudice obscured by a focus on gauzier pro-America imagery, according to the report.

There were some high-profile incidents in Tennessee, including a police shootout, two killings and white supremacist rallies at Montgomery Bell State Park. But the majority of events were more subtle — handing out flyers, hanging banners and posting stickers promoting "alt-right" groups.

Tennessee incidents

One reported incident in Tennessee took place on Jan. 1, 2018, in Knoxville when members of the Smoky Mountain Fugitive task force captured prison gang member Ronnie Lucas Wilson. Wilson, a white supremacist, was convicted and sentenced to prison in 2019 for pulling a shotgun and wounding a Knoxville police officer who pulled him over for speeding.

In Memphis, the ADL reported Identity Evropa, an alt-right group, distributed flyers at the University of Memphis that read: "European roots American greatness." They also posted stickers featuring their group logo.

In a separate incident in Memphis, the report continued, several people associated with the Shield Wall Network demonstrated against the removal of Confederate monuments.

Also listed among the Tennessee incidents is the 2018 Antioch shooting in which Travis Reinking allegedly opened fire inside a Waffle House, killing four people and injuring four others. But the ADL noted that despite reports Reinking had claimed to be a so-called sovereign citizen, "the shooting appears to have been non-ideological in nature."

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White supremacist propaganda in the U.S.

The sharp rise made 2019 the second straight year that the circulation of propaganda material more than doubled across the U.S. and followed a jump of more than 180% between 2017, the first year the ADL tracked material distribution, and 2018.

While last year saw cases of propaganda circulated on college campuses nearly double, encompassing 433 separate campuses in all but seven states, researchers found that 90% of campuses only saw one or two rounds of distribution.

Oren Segal, director of the ADL's Center on Extremism, pointed to the prominence of more subtly biased rhetoric in some of the white supremacist material, emphasizing "patriotism," as a sign that the groups are attempting "to make their hate more palatable for a 2020 audience."

By emphasizing language "about empowerment, without some of the blatant racism and hatred," Segal said, white supremacists are employing "a tactic to try to get eyes onto their ideas in a way that's cheap, and that brings it to a new generation of people who are learning how to even make sense out of these messages."

The propaganda incidents tracked for the ADL's report encompass 49 states and occurred most often in 10 states: California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, Washington and Florida.

The Anti-Defamation League's online monitoring of propaganda distribution is distinct from its tracking of white supremacist events and attacks, and that tracking does not include undistributed material such as graffiti, Segal explained.

Elana Schor, with the Associated Press, contributed to this report. Reach Natalie Neysa Alund at nalund@tennessean.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.