Right Wing Watch can exclusively report that it has identified League of the South’s Arkansas coordinator as a North Arkansas man named Tim Knowles. Prior to our reporting, Knowles was known only as “Masser Tim” on League of the South’s public-facing social media profiles.
The Southern Poverty Law Center identifies League of the South as a neo-Confederate hate group. The group has taken a hard bent toward anti-Semitism in recent years, compounding it with their secessionist and racist ideology. Last year, we reported that organization leaders had blamed “mentally-ill Jews with guns” for a shooting at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, and that group leaders had filmed their co-founder and president burning a copy of the Talmud and an Israeli flag. In 2017, League of the South joined a coalition of neo-Nazi groups led by the National Socialist Movement. The group has been present at events hosted by white nationalists, including the 2017 Unite the Right gathering in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Arkansas is one of the 16 states where League of the South advertises chapters. In 2010, a League of the South member was elected as a representative to the Arkansas state house. In February, the Arkansas League of the South chapter protested the 1957 integration of Little Rock Central High School, where nine black students were prevented from entering the previously segregated school by the National Guard, on the order of then-Gov. Orval Faubus in defiance of the 1954 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which declared segregation in public schools unconstitutional. In the Arkansas chapter's blog post associated with their protest, a writer for the state League of the South chapter wrote that the group sought to “return race relations to [those of] the Jim Crow South.” The group has also staged Confederate flag displays on public sidewalks in Arkansas towns.
Michael Hill, League of the South’s co-founder and president, wrote in an April 7 post on the Russian social media site VK that the group was planning “a big and unique event in Arkansas on Memorial Day weekend.” Hill writes that those interested in attending should contact an Arkansas-based organizer using the display name “Masser Tim” on VK. On Tuesday, Hill commented with an update on his post, referring to “Masser Tim” by his formal title and real name: “Chairman Tim Knowles.”
Further evidence that Knowles is the Arkansas chairman of League of the South can be found on Hill’s Facebook page. A review of the Facebook users that “liked” a profile photo Hill uploaded to the site on November 18, 2017, include a profile by the name of Tim Knowles.
In an exchange on one publicly viewable profile photo, Knowles confirms to another Facebook user that he owns a chimney servicing company.
Right Wing Watch confirmed a chimney servicing company registered to Knowles with the Arkansas Secretary of State office. The business license on file is registered to a post office box in Harrison, a northern Arkansas town that hosts an active white supremacist compound. In 2016, a British tabloid dubbed Harrison “America’s most racist town.”
(Screenshot / Arkansas Secretary of State)
An archived photo from the VK profile associated with the username “Masser Tim” contains a self-portrait of Arkansas League of the South members at the Old State House Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The person in the photo closely matches up to a public profile for a former real estate agent listing for Knowles, and other images available on his Facebook profile.
Right Wing Watch attempted to reach League of the South’s national and Arkansas chapters for comment via email, but did not receive a response prior to the publication of this article.
