In a deep dive into a pro-Confederacy rally in Memphis, designed to call attention to the city's decision to allow the removal of statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a speaker admitted that he is trying to push modern day Confederacy supporters into extremism.
According to Abdul Aziz, of Splinternews, the rally-goers who drove up to Memphis from Mississippi for a rally that never happened because they failed to get a permit, still involved driving through the community with Confederate battle flags flying and impromptu speeches.
In an interview with the reporter, one participant said the rally was not about race, it was about history and the rule of law.
“We’re hoping to bring the African-American community and the white community—you know, all communities together as one,” explained Renee Land as she waited for the drive to Memphis to begin “We don’t want our history removed. If you’re going to remove that statue, then let’s just go all over entire United States to remove every statue we have.”
The supporters were objecting to the Memphis City Council transferring ownership of two public parks to a non-profit organization for $1,000 each, allowing the new owners to take the statues down in the dark of night.
According to protest organizer Billy Sessions, he sees his group as a moderating influence that wants no part of white supremacists who have latched onto the controversy over statues and memorials that honor the Confederacy and that populate the south.
“The Confederacy, the history has been twisted on that, but we’re all Southerners,” Sessions said later. “No matter what color you are, we’re all Southerners. It’s not about racism. It might have been about racism hundreds of years ago when the slave ships come across the Atlantic, but it’s not anymore. The white supremacists have hijacked the Confederate flag and it has been seen as a symbol of hate, but it never intentionally was.”
Another participant, former school teacher Billy Roper -- who the Southern Poverty Law Center has called, "the uncensored voice of violent neo-Nazism" -- said he was there to make sure the more extremist end of white supremacy spectrum was represented.
“My job is to be as extreme as I can be legally,” he told Aziz. “My radical flank works to make Confederate 901 more radical and extreme.”
With Roper and some of his associates unfurling a banner reading, "Diversity = White Genocide,” the white extremist stood by his violent rhetoric.
“Ethnic cleansing is no new concept,” he told listeners. “It’s always been human nature.”
This is not the first time Roper has advocated ethnic cleansing, according to the SPLC.
The ex-teacher once wrote an essay in 2003, bluntly stating: "I'm a biological racist. I'd rather have the entire species become extinct except for one white boy and one white girl who were raised by a pack of wild wolves, than our race go under and the world [be] inherited by Asians and mulattos who can play the classical violin and recite Shakespeare."
You can read the whole report here.
