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| “ | The South will rise again! | „ |
| ~ Michael Hill |
The League of the South (LS) is a white nationalist, Neo-Confederate, white supremacist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic". The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and Virginia). It claims to be also a religious and social movement, advocating a return to a more traditionally conservative, Christian-oriented Southern culture.
Ideology
The League of the South supports Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, anti-communism, and Homophobia.
The movement and its members are allied with the Alt-Right. The group was part of the neo-Nazi Nationalist Front formely alongside the National Socialist Movement (NSM), the now defunct Traditionalist Youth Network and Vanguard America (VA) since rebranded as Patriot Front. The group participated in the Pikeville rally in Pikeville, Kentucky, the Charlottesville riots/Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and the White Lives Matter rally in Shelbyville, Tennessee as key organizers in all three events. The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated it as a hate group.
The group celebrates the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln and reveres John Wilkes Booth as a hero. They also praised the actions of Dylann Roof in the aftermath of his massacre at Charleston, South Carolina’s Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, in July 2015.
In response to the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting perpetrated by Omar Mateen, leader Michael Hill wrote on the League's website that "In a free & independent South, Islam would be banned, Muslims deported, and all mosques closed down. The ownership of firearms, including military grade, would be encouraged for all Southern citizens in order to protect the public from such incidents as occurred overnight in Orlando, Florida"
History
The organization was formed in 1994 by Michael Hill and others, including attorney Jack Kershaw. The League of the South was named in reference to the League of United Southerners, a group organized in 1858 to shape Southern public opinion and the Lega Nord (Northern League), a very successful populist movement in Northern Italy from which the group took inspiration.
The LOS' first meeting was represented with a group of 40 men, 28 of whom formed an organization then known as The Southern League. The name was changed to The League of the South in 1996 in order to avoid confusion with the Southern League of Minor League Baseball. Among the early members were Southern professors, including president Michael Hill. Hill was a British history professor and specialist in Celtic history at Stillman College, a historically black school in Tuscaloosa. However, Hill has since left his teaching position.
In 2000, the group supported Pat Buchanan and the Reform Party.
Since 2007, The League's main publication has been The Free Magnolia, a quarterly tabloid.