The leader of the white nationalist Tennessee Active Club, Sean Kauffmann, is a Holocaust denier who idolizes Hitler and has recently escalated his group’s confrontation with their perceived political enemies, a Hatewatch investigation reveals. Sean Kauffmann poses with a modified assault rifle and a gas mask in a photograph posted to Telegram in 2019. Kauffmann, 30, from Linden, Tennessee, has a history of violence, including a 2021 conviction for domestic assault that makes him ineligible to possess firearms. A Hatewatch investigation also discovered Kauffmann has Jewish ancestry on his mother’s side. Despite his Jewish roots, Kauffmann has led the Tennessee Active Club into the streets to chant racist and antisemitic slogans, brandish neo-Nazi imagery and stage demonstrations aimed at intimidating perceived enemies including Jewish and Black people, LGBTQ+ communities and migrants. Kauffmann’s group is part of a larger network of white power “active clubs” that have appeared across the U.S. in recent years. Active clubs train, hold fight club events and promote a type of white nationalist brotherhood that focuses on physical fitness and an aggressive white Christian masculinity that borrows heavily from European far-right groups. Kauffmann leads an active club that is particularly threatening. Under his leadership, the Tennessee Active Club has attempted to intimidate local journalists, activists and politicians, as well as harass participants of LGBTQ+ inclusive events and perceived “anti-white” organizations. Kauffmann’s story mirrors that of the increasingly hostile and aggressive white nationalist movement taking root in active clubs across the country. These groups have grown in number over the past few years and seem increasingly willing to escalate conflict and use violence to achieve their racist political goals.
via splcenter: ‘WE’RE NOT SCARED OF THESE PARASITES’: THE VIOLENT WHITE NATIONALIST LEADER MENACING TENNESSEE