Since IREHR reported last Friday on the “White Lives Matter” marches being promoted on Telegram, two things have come into relief.
First, the event continues to build online momentum. As of this writing, the main page promoting the event, White Lives Matter – 04/11, has grown to 1253 subscribers.
Meanwhile Telegram “channels” have popped up to promote the event in at least 23 states, some states including pages for multiple cities. In addition, 662 members have joined the individual event pages in the U.S., ranging in size from 79 in Philadelphia to just one in Nashville. Additional locations, some tentative, have also been announced for the events (see Table below).
It has also become evident that this White Lives Matter mobilization is being led and shaped by hardcore racists and antisemites, including national socialists. This follows the pattern seen in previous such mobilizations.
In 2017 groups promoting a “White Lives Matter” rally in Tennessee included the National Socialist Movement, the white nationalist League of the South and the now-defunct national socialist groups, the Traditionalist Workers Party and Vanguard America.[1] Meanwhile, the Southern Poverty Law center previously reported that a group it characterizes as neo-Nazi formed in 2015 under the moniker “White Lives Matter” in opposition to Black Lives Matter.[2]
The strong presence of antisemitism, white nationalism and national socialism among event organizers is undeniable. Crass antisemitism and open displays of Nazi symbols have been welcomed by the main event organizers. This is clear in a series of exchanges between White Lives Matter – 04/11 page administrators and individuals commenting on a post promoting the event and declaring that whites are “rapidly facing extinction in ALL the countries WE built.”[3]
In one exchange, “WLM” warns attendees to “Just be ready for ZOG Antifa/BLM/Zionist Supremacy state-run media, Zionist Supremacist ADL=FBI to Prison to pipeline and the intelligence career whores planned response. When you announce dates and times publicly its (sic) likely their mentally ill KGB crew will be in full effect in some form.”
ZOG refers to the “Zionist Occupation Government” that hardcore antisemites, including national socialists, view as a Jewish conspiracy dominating the United States and the world.
Despite the main page telling possible attendees to post “NO HATE SLURS OR SYMBOLS,” White Lives Matter 04/11 responds, “Oh yeah, we had no idea. Thanks for telling us. Will you be there?”[4]
That is, rather than expelling the individual for crass antisemitism, the administrators of the main page offer sarcasm and seek to ensure that this person will attend.
Going even further, a series of discussions indicates that White Lives Matter – 04/11 referred an individual openly displaying Nazi symbols to check out a North Carolina account set up to promote the event, eventually adding a page created by this person as the contact for the official event.
If Ride the Bolts’ SS symbols don’t make their orientation clear, their swastika account image leaves no doubt.
Another participant in main page discussions is using the event to promote the white nationalist and avowedly fascist Patriot Front:[5]
Similarly, White Lives Matter Philadelphia, the official contact that White Lives Matter – 04/11 lists for the event in that city.[6] The group’s page describes that it is “Dedicated to Liberating Philly from Anti-White Jewish Rule giving back the city to the White People whose ancestors built this city and founded our country!”[7]
The official Philadelphia contact also writes admiringly of American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell, posting images of flyers by the group and bemoaning the “brutal and savage treatment of Rockwell’s Stormtroopers and the American Nazi Party in the City of Brotherly Love!” White Lives Matter Philadelphia adds that that “CMDR [Commander] Rockwell dubbed our city ‘Americas (sic) Stalingrad’” (sic) and that “only these American Nazis stood up against the Jews who occupy the birthplace of our Nation.”[8]
Befitting such heroes, White Lives Matter Philadelphia spews anti-black slurs, writing that, “Whites had always had to deal with Ni***rs they flooded Philly since the end of the Civil War…Those Co**s aren’t to be trusted and they are not fit to live in White Western Civilization.”[9]
An exchange on the page for the Virginia/Maryland/Washington D.C. event further demonstrates the participation of self-declared fascists in the event discussions:[10]
Another commenter joins to declare that “proudboys will bet there in plain clothes or not.”[11]
WLM Greensboro, the official contact for the event in that North Carolina city, reposts a crassly antisemitic image from the page of the “Proud Boys channel North Star, Alaska.”[12]
And, the official contact for the Asheville, North Carolina event uses their platform to promote the National Justice Party (NJP), a white nationalist party pocked with national socialists that openly seeks to declare the U.S. an “outpost of Western civilization and a state dedicated to its European-heritage population and their posterity.” NJP also calls for a “two percent ceiling on Jewish employment in vital institutions so that they better represent the ethnic and regional population balance of the country.”[13]
It remains to be seen how this online mobilization will translate into feet on the ground. What we should gain from it is an understanding of the present capacity of national socialists and their fellow travelers to mobilize simultaneous events across multiple cities.
Anti-fascists and concerned people should counter these events and carefully monitor them.
But take care in doing so. The history of violence from white nationalists and national socialists is well documented. On top of this, the official contact for the Norfolk, Virginia White Lives Matter march is currently urging attendees to “have some sort of protection such as a knife or a handgun.”[14]
White Lives Matter Event Channels on Telegram
| White Lives Matter Event Chapter | City | State/Country | Location | Telegram Members |
| White Lives Matter – 04/11 (main page) | 1253 | |||
| WLM Alabama | Alabama | 32 | ||
| WLM Anchorage, Alaska | Anchorage | Alaska | 11 | |
| WLMFairbanks | Fairbanks | Alaska | 9 | |
| WLMOrangeCounty | Orange County (Huntington Beach) | Califorina | Huntingon Beach Pier | 77 |
| WLMBAKERSFIELD | Bakersfield | California | 4 | |
| WLMSacramento | Sacramento | California | 3 | |
| WLMDenver | Denver | Colorado | 5 | |
| White Lives Matter – Orlando,FL | Orlando | Florida | Lake Eola | 41 |
| WLMPensacola | Pensacola | Florida | 3 | |
| Wlmchigaco | Chicago | Illinois | 16 | |
| WLMMA | Boston | Massachusetts | 15 | |
| WLMMichigan | Michigan | 19 | ||
| WLMMinneapolis | Minneapolis | Minnesota | 19 | |
| WLM Springfield MO | Springfield | Missouri | 13 | |
| NV | Las Vegas | Nevada | 6 | |
| WLM NYC | New York | New York | 51 | |
| WLM Greensboro | Greensboro | North Carolina | 13 | |
| WLMWNC | Asheville | North Carolina | Vance Monument | 11 |
| WLM Raleigh NC | Raleigh | North Carolina | 12 | |
| WLMND | North Dakota/South Dakota | Fargo near courthouse (tentative) | 4 | |
| WLM Ohio | Ohio | 2 | ||
| Tulsa chat | Tulsa | Oklahoma | 9 | |
| WLM Oregon | Oregon | Salem | 35 | |
| WLM Pittsburgh | Pittsburgh | Pennsylvania | 8 | |
| White Lives Matter Philadelphia | Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | 79 | |
| WLMSouthCarolina | South Carolina | 19 | ||
| WLMMemphis | Memphis | Tennessee | 2 | |
| WLMNASHVILLE | Nashville | Tennessee | 1 | |
| WLMDFW | Dallas/Fort Worth | Texas | Fort Worth City Hall | 20 |
| White Lives Matter Texas | Texas | 23 | ||
| White Lives Matter New Braunfels | New Braunfels | Texas | 2 | |
| WLM Houston | Houston | Texas | 10 | |
| WLMNorfolkVA | Norfolk | Virginia | 4 | |
| WLMDMV | Washington D.C. | Virginia/Maryland | 49 | |
| WLM Seattle | Seattle | Washington | West Lake Park | 35 |
| City | Country | |||
| WLM Manchester | Manchester | England | 7 | |
| WLM Toronto | Toronto, Ontario | Canada | 49 | |
| WLMFrankfurt | Germany | 20 | ||
| WLMWarszawa | Warsaw | Poland | 8 |
NOTES
[1] Allison, Natalie. White Lives Matter rally: Who are the groups involved, and what do they believe. The Tennessean. October 23, 2017. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2017/10/23/white-lives-matter-white-nationalist-groups-rally-tennessee/792726001/
[2] Southern Poverty Law Center. White Lives Matter. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/white-lives-matter
[3]White Lives Matter – 04/11. Telegram. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/whitelivesmattermarch/36
[4] White Lives Matter – 04/11. Telegram. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/whitelivesmattermarch/36; White Lives Matter – 04/11. Telegram. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/whitelivesmattermarch/26
[5] White Lives Matter 04/11 – March 27, 2021. https://t.me/whitelivesmattermarch/41
[6] White Lives Matter – 04/11. March 28, 2021. https://t.me/whitelivesmattermarch/42
[7] White Lives Matter Philadelphia. https://t.me/WLMPhiladelphia1999. Accessed March 29, 2021.
[8 White Lives Matter Philadelphia. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/WLMPhiladelphia1999/65; White Lives Matter Philadelphia. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/WLMPhiladelphia1999/72; White Lives Matter Philadelphia. March 29, 2021. https://t.me/WLMPhiladelphia1999/98
[9] White Lives Matter Philadelphia. March 27, 2021. https://t.me/WLMPhiladelphia1999/64
[10] WLMDMV. March 25, 2021. https://t.me/wlmdmv/4
[11] WLMDMV. March 25, 2021. https://t.me/wlmdmv/4
[12] WLM Greensboro. March 28, 2021. https://t.me/WLMGreensboro/12
[13] WLMWNC. Telegram. March 28, 2021. https://t.me/WLMAsheville/10.; National Justice Party. The Platform of the National Justice Party. https://nationaljusticeparty.com/platform/. Accessed March 29, 2021; Graves, Howard and Michael Edison Hayden. White Nationalist Organization Forms Racist, Antisemitic Political Party. Southern Poverty Law Center. April 21, 2020. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/08/21/white-nationalist-organization-forms-racist-antisemitic-political-party
[14] WLMNorfolkVA. Telegram. March 28, 2021. https://t.me/WLMNorfolk/7
