Nashville Govt. Reps Target Resident as Face of ‘the Antifa Organization’

Corey Lemley is indeed a strong, proud antifascist, but c’mon. It’s not about him.

As Donald Trump has continued to spin his anti-antifa narrative and claims that he will label the movement as a “domestic terrorist organization, one Nashville antifascist activist has felt the heat of the ratcheted up rhetoric. 

Nashville, Tenn. Metro Council Member Robert Swope sent an email on May 31 to (the-now-retiring) Chief of Police Steve Anderson, Nashville Mayor John Cooper and five other city officials that reads: “I do believe that the attached documentation (the Facebook page in all its entirety including every response) will prove that Corey Lemey is the Antifa Organization representative from Nashville, and very proud of it.”

Among many errors in Swoope’s email is the misspelling of Lemley’s last name. 

Of course, there is no Antifa Organization and Lemley is not the official Nashville representative of the non-existent organization; however, Lemley does identify as antifa and holds an antifascist philosophy. 

“As a white cis man,” Lemley said, “I do not want to distract attention from the movement and on to myself.” 

However, at the same time Lemley and his family have been put in danger. There have been drive-by and online harassment, and death threats. The dangerous rhetoric that is threatening Lemley and his family is not just coming from Swope, but also from a photo that misidentified another protester as Lemley and was retweeted by Trump, and from constant harassment by right-wing radio host Phil Valentine who riles up his followers to go after anyone who might espouse an antifascist philosophy publicly. 

As an advocate for disbanding the police, Lemley has rejected reporting the harassment and threats to law enforcement and has seen publicly talking about what is being directed against him and his family as the best path forward to protect himself and those he loves. 

The email Council Member Swope sent continued: “I have pulled out one particular email [Lemley] sent at 1:34 Saturday afternoon giving instructions as to how to protest for them. It is entitled Antifa instructions. 

“I am introducing a resolution tomorrow to insist on ending this. In the meantime, let’s do everything in our collective abilities to bring this person to justice.” 

Seeing Lemley “brought to justice” was just the beginning of Swope’s efforts to go after left wing activists from his conspiracy-theory-based perspective. 

A day before he sent the email addressing Lemley specifically, Swope has emailed other council members and the mayor, writing, “… I officially ask you to prepare the following resolutions on my behalf. Here are the broad strokes: 

“The first resolution is demanding a complete and unilateral ban on the recognition, acceptance, or appreciation of the organization Antifa. They will no longer be permitted to address the council, sit on any committee, or even be recognized as an organization … for lobbying, solicitations, or any government funding of any kind. And any member that claims to be so, is subject to arrest under the Homeland Security definitions of a terrorist organization.

“The second is a resolution instructing Metro legal to immediately file a lawsuit against the organization called Antifa, and George Sorros personally, for the blatant destruction of government property …”

Lemley also has a screenshot of a Facebook message with a link to Lemley’s Facebook profile that was sent to Metro Nashville Police stating: “‘This guy is vandalizing buildings, paying people to destroy buildings. It’s on video.” 

No such video exists. 

A response from Metro Nashville Police in the screenshot states: “Seth, thank you for sharing this. We are aware of this person.” 

Who “Seth” is and the sender’s full name are unclear from the screenshot. 

Under pressure from other city council members, Swope was forced to withdraw his resolution. 

It’s worth noting that Swope was on the payroll of Trump’s 2016 campaign as the Tennessee State Director. It’s Swope’s 2016 boss who brought even more pressure to bear on Lemley with his tweet of an unnamed organizer with no known antifa affiliation who others on Twitter claimed to be Lemley. 

The caption on the photo retweeted by Trump states: “White antifa paying black people to riot.” 

There is no evidence the man is rioting or paying anyone in the photo or attached video. Alt-right personalities on Twitter go on to misidentify the man as multiple different activists. 

“They slandered me and him and others who were misidentified,” Lemley said. 

Then enter right-wing radio host Phil Valentine who has made antifa and Lemley in particular his favorite punching bag. 

“It’s cyberbullying on steroids,” Lemley said. “His followers post things about ‘lead injections’ and worse, and it’s all there on his page. He is using his platform to target people.” 

A man named William Fred Scott (Fred Scott) on Facebook sent Lemley pictures of his house along with the message: “If we have to deal with your childish ass, just know this where we will be.” 

Lemley messaged Scot back and Scott claimed he was “just joking.” 

However neighbors warned Lemley that people were driving by his house and taking pictures. There’s constantly people circling the neighborhood with “don’t tread on me” license plates. 

Another misidentification at a Murfreesboro rally recently resulted in a protester who had been identified as Lemley being followed by a drone. Lemley was contacted by a reporter from the Tennessean who asked if he’d been at the rally. He had not. The man misidentified as Lemley was harassed as he rode his bicycle by a drone following him to the point that he went into his house and did not come out until the next day. 

“I believe police are working with right wing groups to intimidate antifascist activists,” Lemley said. 

He said all of it is causing a lot of emotional distress, but not just for him, for his family as well. 

“My dad almost already had a stroke. I don’t really know what to do.”