10/07/2023

White Supremacist Active Clubs Are Breeding on Telegram

A “friendlier” racist extremism recently has spread rapidly across the U.S.

On Monday evening, Gabrielle Hanson, a pro-MAGA mayoral candidate in Tennessee, walked through the parking lot of Franklin City Hall, on her way to debate her opponent, incumbent Ken Moore, in what was meant to be little more than a typical campaign stop in the small city of Franklin just south of Nashville.

What made this scene so different was the fact that Hanson was flanked by members of the Tennessee Active Club, an openly neo-Nazi hate group. One of the men escorting Hanson into the building was Sean Kauffmann, the reported leader of the group whom the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) says has been part of the white supremacist movement for years and was photographed giving a Nazi salute at a Black Lives Matter rally.

The group stood outside the building as the event took place, and they told a local reporter that they were there to provide security for Hanson, claiming that “credible threats” had been made against her. The Franklin Police Department tells WIRED that they have no information about threats against Hanson. Instead, the police department is investigating death threats made against local journalists by Kauffmann’s group in their Telegram channel just hours after the campaign event ended.

Please select this link to read the complete article from WIRED.