League of the South Resorts to Video Stunts as Membership Declines
The League of the South made a 25-second propaganda video over the weekend at the memorial of a civil rights icon in an apparent attempt to attract members to its neo-Confederate ideology.
Eight members of the hate group gathered Saturday in rural Tallahatchie County, Mississippi, at Graball Landing. Historians have said they believe the site is where Emmett Till鈥檚 body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River after his lynching in 1955.
League President Michael Hill, Mississippi chairman Shaun Winkler, Joel Price, William Collier and others gathered to film the video. The 听first broke the story Saturday after a representative from the 听contacted the publication.
The league members, wearing their public uniforms of black polos, bomber jackets and khaki pants, emerged from two vehicles and tripped an alarm installed in October to discourage acts of vandalism that have plagued the memorial to Till, according to 听that the Free Press posted. Video cameras at the site captured the league鈥檚 efforts.
鈥淎ll right, who鈥檚 doing the video? 鈥� Let鈥檚 go!鈥� Hill shouted at his cadre to begin filming as they milled between their vehicles and a sign commemorating the site. 鈥淐an you get 鈥� can you get the sound?鈥�
The group stood in front of the sign, while Hill recited the discredited notion that African Americans have disproportionately 鈥渕urdered, assaulted and raped鈥� whites throughout American history. Within a minute of congregating around the sign, they scurried back to their vehicles.
Saturday鈥檚 incident apparently was intended to provide the league with a propaganda video that could draw recruits in the midst of declining numbers at events and internal squabbles that have left what was once the premier neo-Confederate hate group struggling to find a place in the movement.
The league, one of the most prominent groups during an intense spate of public activism by white nationalists from 2015 to 2018, was at the center of the so-called optics debate. The question was whether violent听white nationalist rhetoric was a more viable recruitment strategy than using coded language and attempting to infiltrate the Republican Party.
Following an August 2018 rally in Johnson City, Tennessee, Hill and a group of league members filmed themselves , 鈥淭he Communist Manifesto鈥� and an Israeli flag, further isolating themselves from those in the movement with more mainstream aspirations.
Subsequent rallies were sparsely attended, and in response, the league鈥檚 鈥淧R chief,鈥� Brad Griffin, announced in 听that it would transition to 鈥渟tealth activism,鈥� with small groups showing up unannounced in a rural location for a photo opportunity before fleeing.
The first instances of this strategy in Livingston, Tennessee; Selma, Alabama; and Little Rock, Arkansas; were better attended than Saturday鈥檚 demonstration in Mississippi, with about 30 people posing for photos at each of those earlier sites.
Hill鈥檚 social media posts provide some insight into the reduced turnout last weekend.
On Sept. 9, roughly a week after the group held its first 鈥渘ational鈥� conference since losing its traditional venue to infighting, Hill shared a post to Russian social media site VK.com lamenting divisions within the league.
One of the constant problems we face in The League is people making assumptions about other LS members without having all the facts. Remember, appearances can be deceiving. There may be more to the story than sometimes meets the eye. Unless you are sure of your facts, it is better to keep quite [sic] and not assume something to be true. We will not help ourselves if we spread false information or gossip, no matter how good our intentions.
Hill didn鈥檛 specify the nature of rumors swirling within the group鈥檚 ranks. The league appears to be wrestling with whether or not it should once again reverse course and attend pre-announced public rallies.
Jessica Reavis, a league officer from Virginia, and a handful of other members see the ongoing protests around a Pittsboro, North Carolina, statue dedicated to the Confederacy as an opportunity to recruit.
The league issued a public call for members to attend a planned rally in Pittsboro after 听with carrying a concealed weapon and a concealed gun at an Oct. 5 protest in the town.
When the morning of Oct. 19 arrived, the league was nowhere to be seen. In a podcast with white nationalist Billy Roper, 听that other Confederate heritage groups had dissuaded league members from attending because they feared being publicly associated with the league.
Nevertheless, Reavis鈥� overtures appear to have netted at least one success. A reported recruit 听that he 鈥淸m]et one of the national officers from Virginia and she was really cool and the organization seemed pretty straight forward so I joined up.鈥�
In a post shared Sunday on the league鈥檚 website titled 鈥淟eague visits Emmett Till memorial 鈥�,鈥� Hill indicated that the group will continue appearing at historically significant civil rights sites for the foreseeable future.
鈥淥ver the last year and a half, we have also done similar operations at the Edmund Pettus [B]ridge in Selma, Alabama, and Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas,鈥� Hill wrote. 鈥淲ho knows where we鈥檒l show up next on our continuing LS Civil Rights Tour?
Photo by AP Images/Brian Bohannon
Editor's note: This article has been updated to clarify that the听League of the South filmed a video at a memorial marker to Emmett Till, not his gravesite.
