Let’s be real: The Proud Boys did more damage to AmRen in 20 minutes what a decade of organizing against it never could. Thanks for playing, ya bums!

BURNS, TN – The organizers of this year’s American Renaissance (AmRen) Conference had to declare on their website that they “deplore all violence and expressions of hate” and that they had no idea the neo-fascist Proud Boys were at the Montgomery Bell State Park fighting with antifascists and claim they are against violence, but the incident last weekend indeed marks a turn in the history of the conference’s appearance there.

In the decade since the AmRen conference has been held in the park after being chased out of venues in Washington, DC and Charlotte, NC in prior years, the only violent actions have come from those whose views would be aligned with the ideals expressed at the conference, most notably in 2017 when an American Renaissance attendee attempted to attack an antifascist and was thrown in the nearby lake. This was the first time the Proud Boys appeared at the conference. The group has spent much of this year attempting to intimidate LGBTQ events across the country as well as leftist events such as protests and has often initiated violence at those events. Few, if any has resulted in any legal action, criminal or otherwise, taken against them and almost all appearances have been met with opposition.

The police presence was particularly downgraded from years past with none present when the Proud Boys appeared. There was a checkpoint where rangers directed vehicles to either the Inn or the protest area depending on credentials.

The small rally held at the Montgomery Bell Park Inn included antifascists from Tennessee, Georgia and New Jersey as well as a pastor from the Cumberland Presbyterian Denomination who denounced the conference in a statement early last week. Community members who had happened to be in the park participated once they realized that such a conference was taking place. It was a quiet vigil for an hour until three vehicles drove down a walkway to the area the protest was being held, despite signs forbidding vehicles from doing so. Eight individuals wearing Proud Boys colors later identified to be local members of the group emerged claiming they were there to have a barbeque. Some of them wore shirts that read “Fuck Antifa” and “Fuck Nazis”, even though one of the vehicles would later be identified as belonging to Robert Donovan, a local White supremacist that has also been a member of the American Guard, the organization founded by neo-Nazi Brien James that is closely associated with the Proud Boys. Words were exchanged and one Proud Boy attacked one person with a retractable baton. One Proud Boys later identified as Ryan Horowitz was especially aggressive and the subject of ridicule particularly because of how in one video he retreated behind his fellow Proud Boys when there was pushback and also because he was wearing a vest with patches of various punk bands that were known for their anti-fascist stances. Things deescalated once park rangers showed but no charges were filed after rangers said there was lack of evidence. After police took their information, they retreated to the parking lot of a nearby Kroger’s grocery store.

The conference itself featured former Rep. Steve King, who’s racism contributed to him being voted out of office after four terms and Laura Loomer a neo-fascist grifter who lost her second bid for Congress earlier this year during the primary season. Despite being Jewish herself, she called for the need of a White Christian ethnostate and when asked about rapper Kanye West and his recent antisemitic remarks declared that he was right about the Jews. American Renaissance has a history of their politics making strange bedfellows, the publication working with both neo-Nazis and some in the Jewish community. Despite being a Black man, West has enjoyed an odd popularity with many White supremacists in the wake of his remarks.

The theme of the this year’s conference focused on how to go forward after the events of the George Floyd protests from two years ago and one of the speakers while using the pseudonym of “Daniel Vinyard” – the name of a character in the movie “American History X” – was later identified as Matthew Bryngelson, who had retired earlier this year from the Boise, Idaho Police Department. Bryngelson’s speech was laden with racist invective, saying at one point that he could always tell a suspect was Black because if the report said they “vaulted over the counter” that meant they were Black. He complained mostly however about how critical race theory – the study of how racism is employed in government institutions that would indeed include law enforcement – had affected his ability to work as a police officer. He cited how he wasn’t allowed to say “black male” anymore for a suspect but had to use other terms like “dark skinned” and especially complained about witnesses making videos of police interactions, which he said hindered not only the effort of officers but also created a work environment so bad that fewer recruits are being seen in police academies. Curiously, the George Floyd murder which was the centrepoint of the conference’s theme, might not have resulted in the convictions of former officer Derek Chauvin and three other officer as well as the city of Minneapolis agreeing to pay $27 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit brought by Floyd’s family.

Bryngelson was one of the more popular speakers there and ironically took a selfie with Jason Kessler who was the primary organizer of the tragic Unite the Right rally five years ago in Charlottesville, VA that resulted in a full scale riot where a White supremacist murdered 34-year-old Heather Heyer when he drove his car into a group of protesters. Kessler, along with White supremacist Richard Spencer promoted the rally at the 2017 AmRen Conference two weeks prior, Spencer saying they expected it to be “traumatic” for Charlottesville.

While there are many conferences organized by White supremacists and neo-fascists across the country, the AmRen Conference is one of the few that publicly announce their location. The State of Tennessee has been criticized for creating such a welcoming climate for them while at the same time attempting to discourage opposition, another such conference briefly making a home at the Montgomery Bell Park just before the pandemic. 2014, the Southern Poverty Law Center referred to Tennessee as a “Hate Tourist Mecca”. There has been opposition to the conference’s presence in Middle Tennessee, an UnConference organized by antifascists taking place in 2014.

Proud Boys have not commented online about this weekend’s events at the time of this posting.