Neo-Confederate Group That Was Out In Force In C'ville Embraces Violent Turn

[DonViejo]

By ALLEGRA KIRKLAND Published SEPTEMBER 1, 2017 6:00 AM



The League of the South has been pushing its pro-secession message since the early 1990s, but the Florida chapter of the neo-Confederate group has in recent months taken a notably violent turn.

Photographs and videos from August’s deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia appear to show the league’s chief of staff and Florida chairman, Michael Tubbs (pictured above at right), and his black-clad followers in close proximity to some of the most egregious assaults on counter-protesters, including the brutal beating of a black counter-protester in a covered parking garage. Another one of the chapter’s members was arrested Wednesday after allegedly charging with a flagpole at a group rallying in support of changing Confederate street names in Hollywood, Florida—while ranting about Charlottesville.

Because of its regional focus and lack of a leader with national name recognition, like Vanguard America’s Matthew Heimbach, the League of the South didn’t garner as much attention for its involvement in the “Unite the Right” rally as other groups that participated. But with the urging of Tubbs, a former felon and Ku Klux Klan member, and a fixation on pushing back against the growing movement to remove Confederate monuments, the Florida chapter has adopted violence as a key part of its strategy.

“They have definitely stepped more into the violent realm just in recent months,” Heidi Beirich, head of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, a periodical that tracks hate groups, told TPM.

The Florida chapter has “taken the forefront on all this militarization stuff,” Beirich added, pointing to the “really prominent role” their members played in Charlottesville. “[Tubbs] is recruiting young men into the league and sees himself as the military sergeant in charge of these younger troops.”

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/florida-league-of-south-violent-turn-hollywood-arrest-charlottesville

[underpants]

1. Got to keep up with the other morons

If we believe the stories of the rise in membership for these sad assholes we have to realize a few things. All the new blood wasn't willing to just sit around and talk, they wanted action. Also, this is when people in these groups are making a name for themselves. That's why they were hellbent on attacking in Charlottesville and made gun threats to the marchers yesterday.