February 19, 2024, was a beautiful day in Nashville, Tennessee. Sunny and cool. Not a cloud in the sky. But that afternoon, a small group of men rode into town and they made their way to the Capitol plaza. They were dressed in black sweats and red cotton shirts. Some of them wore black hoods on their heads. They all believed in white supremacy, and this band of brothers called themselves “Blood Tribe.”
They are relative newcomers to the neo-Nazi scene, founded three years ago in 2021 by a former Marine named Christopher Polhaus. They came to Music City that day with Swastika flags which they proudly displayed, and did all they could to be generally menacing.
Some people booed. A few people jeered. Most people ignored them and after a while the men went away.
I heard about this the day that it happened. I live an hour and half from Nashville, and at first, I confess, I had the same ho-hum, eyes-glazed-over reaction I’m beginning to have to each new mass shooting.
Then a day or two later a still photo popped up in my Google home feed. Members of Blood Tribe, all in their glory. Black flags held high and a pristine blue sky.
It’s a scary picture. Isis-scary. But they came, they looked scary, they left and went home. Not a big deal, in and of itself. It should be, though. It should be a big deal that wannabe terrorists are becoming the norm, to the point that I’m actively, consciously, choosing which ones will or will not scare the piss out of me.
“In and of itself” is the anglicized version of the Latin “per se." It means “intrinsically.” Without having reference to anything else.
But things don’t exist in and of themselves. They exist in connection to other things. Sometimes in ways that aren’t easily seen.
I was shopping one day at a “This Crap’s A Buck” store, when I happened on something that just stopped me cold. Dog statues. Sexy dog statues. I can't think of a better way to describe them. They were five, maybe six inches high. Collies, German shepherds. Doberman pinschers. All on hind legs, provocatively posed in nurse and flight attendant garb and all of these bosom-y bow-wows were wearing high heels and had pillbox hats that rested between their porcelain ears.
Disturbing enough, in and of themselves. The sexy dog statues took my breath away. Then I got to thinking, as I’m wont to do, that someone designed these preening pup-pups. Someone thought this was a swell idea, and that guy told another guy, and that guy agreed. And that's the guy I'm worried about.
The one who said yes to the SDS mock-up. The guy who approved it and gave it the green light. Who said to the first guy, I like the cut of your jib, and gave a thumbs-up to those curvy canines.
I found them haunting, those sexy dog statues. Like a crime scene in sunlight. Like something laid bare that should never have been. Like those Swastika flags in that clear blue sky.
Blood Tribe, by the by, isn’t open to women. In the B.T. world, women wuz put here fer cookin’ and cleanin’. Birthin’ and rearin’ more little Blood Tribers. And mendin’, of course, but those banners weren’t stitched on some little gal’s Singer sewing machine. Those Swastika flags were made in a shop, run by someone with bills to pay and a bottom line. Who said okey-dokey. Who gave a thumbs up.
According to The Southern Poverty Law Center, in 2023, at a Blood Tribe rally in Madison, Wisconsin, Christopher Polhaus fist-pumped the air and led a chant of "there will be blood." Optics, I'm sure, a certain former reality show host would love.
It’s disturbing enough, in and of itself, that Donald Trump was Commander-in-chief once. That he might be again is just terrifying. But if President Bonespurs goes back to the White House, it won’t be because of his "efforts" alone.
It will happen because Ted Cruz said yes. Because Marco Rubio gave a thumbs up. Because Lindsey Graham said okey-dokey. It will happen because men who rightly and righteously once denounced Trump have pinned themselves to him like seersucker suits left to dry on a line.
If Mr. "You're fired" returns for a season, it will also be due to the number of people there are in this country who truly believe, in their heart of hearts, that Blood Tribe and their ilk have the right idea. That Christopher Polhaus is speaking their language.
In response to Blood Tribe's Nashville "rally", a spokesman for the Tennessee Equality Project said, "When Nazis are openly showing up on the streets during Black History Month, I think you have to look at what's going on in your state."
February 19th was also the day, in 1942, that FDR ordered the detention and internment of all west coast Japanese-Americans. Whether Polhaus was aware of that fact, I can’t say.
But I know what gives rise to white supremacy also gives rise to internment camps. What fills dollar store shelves with sexy dog statues also fills Senate seats and Cabinet positions. Some things are connected in ways we can't see. Things frightening enough, in and of themselves.