There are two permit applications for the September 14th rally. The first was made by Chester Doles on August 1st but withdrawn on August 9th. On the same day that Doles withdrew his permit application, a new application for the same location and time was made by Dahlonega resident Dustin Penner. Chester Doles states that with the new permit application, Doles is no longer “involved […] in any legal capacity” with the September 14 rally. However, Doles’ own social media activity shows that he remains the lead organizer for the upcoming rally. At the time of writing, Doles has organized a “security detail” which is preparing for violence. Doles is also trying to get attendees to bring vehicles, referring to them as good “crowd control” – an apparent reference to vehicular assault.
Dustin Penner
The individual on the new permit, Dustin A. Penner, lives on property beside Chester Doles’ home which is also owned by the Doles family. There is every sign that Dustin Penner is serving as a front for Chester Doles when it comes to interactions with the City. Doles’ initial permit application shows that his rally is an attempt to target a local liberal group, which Doles characterizes as “antifa”. In contrast, Dustin Penner’s permit application lacks any rally specifics apart from approximate numbers, not even including a rally title.
We will post updates around the Dahlonega rally and any local responses to it on our Twitter account, so check there for news. If you have further information on Chester Doles, Dustin Penner or the Dahlonega rally, please get in touch.
Update 9/8/2019: Yesterday evening, the Lumpkin County Republican Party issued a statement which did not formally endorse but also did not condemn the white supremacist rally in Dahlonega.
Update 9/4/2019: After two weeks, Rep. Doug Collins has denounced the white supremacist rally. Still no comment from the Lumpkin County Republican Party.
The initial invitation for the Dahlonega “Trump” event featured antisemitic imagery. A new flyer has now been produced to better mask the nature of the event. Doles has clearly indicated that the Dahlonega rally aims to intimidate his perceived political enemies in North Georgia, in particular liberal activists who Doles portrays as “antifa”. Doles is organizing a “security” team who are readying for violence and has made a special appeal for his old associates from the National Alliance (once the foremost neo-Nazi group in North America) to attend. For further information on the rally and on Chester Doles’ history, see our longer alert here.
Chester Doles, on right, wears shirt with logo of the Nazi SS
The national director of Bikers for Trump, Dale Herndon, has now withdrawn support for the Nazi-organized rally. However, Chester Doles is still attempting to swell his rally’s numbers with Trump Republicans while simultaneously working closely with militant white supremacists.
On Facebook, the Lumpkin County Republican Party appeared to give the Nazi-organized event a nod and a wink, “liking” a comment promoting the rally. The post and the comment have now vanished, but without any clarification from the Republicans.
Doles uses auto-reply email from Rep. Doug Collins to promote September 14th rally. Collins is also listed on an event flyer.
Doles also used the name of Republican Congressman for Georgia’s 9th District, Doug Collins, on the initial flyer for the rally, which stressed that Collins has been “invited” to the event. (Chester Doles mistakenly called Collins a “Senator”.) We informed Rep. Collins of Chester Doles’ past and his neo-Nazi ideology but have received no comment from Collins. Congressman Doug Collins has strongly opposed the characterization of Donald Trump as a “racist”. However, Rep. Collins has not yet denounced a Nazi-organized “Trump” rally in his own Congressional District, a rally which used his name on its advertising.
Silence from local Republicans —
while neo-Nazis and white supremacists use “Trump” to recruit — is
unacceptable. We ask all anti-racists and community members to contact the
Lumpkin County Republican Party, Congressman Doug Collins, and the GOP for
Georgia’s 9th District. Demand that they publicly state their
opposition to the neo-Nazi event in Dahlonega, since silence gives the
impression of support.
We will continue to update about the Dahlonega situation on our Twitter account, so check for news. In the meantime, please spread the word and demand that Republicans publicly clarify their position on the white supremacist-organized Dahlonega rally.
Update 8/21/2019: Bikers for Trump have withdrawn support for the Dalhonega event.
Chester Doles, a longtime neo-Nazi and “fourth-generation” Klansman, is organizing a pro-Trump rally in downtown Dahlonega, Georgia, scheduled to take place on the afternoon of Saturday, September 14. The Dahlonega rally is an attempt by Doles to draw pro-Trump rightists closer to his own neo-Nazi politics, seemingly with some success. The planned rally is also promoted on Stormfront, a white supremacist website which has been linked to almost a hundred murders.
Flyer for Chester Doles’ September 14 rally in Dahlonega, Georgia. Note the caricature Jewish head on the giant spider – classic antisemitic imagery.
Dahlonega is a small city in north Georgia, approximately an hour and a half northeast from Atlanta and home to the University of North Georgia. In 2017, Dahlonega made headlines when a Ku Klux Klan sign was prominently displayed on a building in the downtown area – an attempt by an angry property owner to embarrass the city. Chester Doles – who lives in Dahlonega and has a past as a real Klan leader – was seeminglyin on the 2017 stunt.
Chester J. Doles
Doles has a long history in the white supremacist movement. While in Maryland, Doles led a Klan group. After serving prison time for assaulting a Black man (followed by a burglary conviction for which he got probation), Doles moved to Georgia, where he led the Georgia unit of the National Alliance, which was once the foremost neo-Nazi organization in the United States. In 2003, Doles was arrested for being a felon in possession of firearms. Doles eventually pled guilty and was released in 2008. More recently, Doles organized with Crew 38, which is the supporter group of the violent Hammerskin Nation racist gang. Doles gave a speech at the Hammerskin Nations’ 2016 national gathering at a Klan bar outside Atlanta.
Doles (fourth from left, grey shirt) at a Hammerskin meetup circa 2016/17. On left is Travis Condor, currently facing potential hate crime charges for his role in a racist attack last year.
Doles promotes the September rally as a show of support for the President, decks it in patriotic imagery, and has even secured the support of Bikers for Trump. However, the rally is also a clear reflection of Doles’ neo-Nazi commitments. The event flyer opportunistically highlights the shooting death of a Sheriff’s Deputy in nearby Hall County by “Hispanic gangbangers” — language reminiscent of Doles’ fearmongering when he organized anti-immigrant demonstrations for the National Alliance.
Chester Doles fantasizes about liberal activism in Dahlonega being crypto-“Antifa”
The September 14 “Trump” rally flyer also claims that the event will be a chance to “Say […] ‘NO’ to Antifa in Lumpkin County” (where Dahlonega is located). On Facebook, Doles claims that “Antifa” are gaining ground in Dahlonega and he states that his rally will be a “square off” with them. Doles is therefore putting together a team of “men who are used to sparring” to do “security” for his September rally. This is clearly a perfect role for Doles’ violent white supremacist associates. As evidence of an “Antifa” threat in Dahlonega, Doles alludes to some small liberal events in the city. Through an imagined “Antifa” threat — which has little to do with actual antifascist organizing in the area — Doles is creating a pretext for a show of force and intimidation on September 14.
Neo-Nazi Billy Roper promotes Doles’ rally, which is in turn shared by Chester Doles on Facebook.
Doles’ rally in Dahlonega is currently being promoted online by Billy Roper, a white supremacist who has been active since the 1990s and who now heads the racist “Shieldwall Network”. Roper, who earlier this year led a group with Nazi flags to crash a Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Arkansas, praised the Dahlonega event organizers as “extremely trustworthy and veteran leaders of our movement who have years of experience in the field” on the Stormfront site. Chester Doles has circulated an announcement by Roper about the upcoming Dahlonega rally on his own Facebook page.
Doles now claims not to be involved “in any legal capacity” despite initial permit application.
Chester Doles filed the initial permit application for the September rally, and writes that he paid for a pavilion rental at a nearby park. However, Doles recently withdrew his first permit application, with Dahlonega resident Dustin Penner allegedly putting his name to a new, re-filed application. With this move, Chester Doles now states that he is not involved in the September 14 event “in any legal capacity”. However, Doles remains the main person pushing the rally on social media and networking for it. The email address for Doles’ personal training business is the only contact information provided on the September 14 flyer.
Bikers for Trump national coordinator Dale Herndon supports Chester Doles’ rally.
In what may be a bad sign for the 2020 election season, some Right-wing Trump supporters seem enthusiastic about the white supremacist-organized Dahlonega rally. The National Director of Bikers for Trump, Dale Herndon of Rome, Georgia, has told Chester Doles that his group will mobilize for September 14. On the Facebook page for the Lumpkin County Republican Party, the page administrator recently “liked” a post announcing the September 14 rally. While this may not represent an official endorsement of Doles’ rally by local Republicans, it appears to be a nod and a wink to organizers. If this was done out of ignorance, the local GOP should clarify their stance.
Lumpkin County Republican Party “likes” Facebook comment announcing September 14 rally.
Despite the above, it remains to be seen just how much support Doles’ September 14 rally will receive. Much depends on how locals in North Georgia choose to oppose this event, and whether any of those now pledging support for Dole’s rally will have second thoughts about working with Nazis. We are confident that just as Lumpkin County residents rallied against a Klan sign in 2017, they will voice their opposition to a white power rally now.
Our organization is committed to monitoring this situation and sharing information in the weeks ahead, so please check our Twitter account for updates. If you have further information on Doles, his associates, or the September 14 rally, please get in touch.
Todd William Gee of Cleveland, Tennessee is, at first glance, an
average member of his community. He is married with children, a deacon
at the Union Grove Church of Christ, and a practicing criminal defense
attorney. However, this lawyer is also a virulent racist who has a
secret life pushing alt-Right propaganda on Twitter. His prolific
Twitter account acts as a bridge between two reactionary segments: the
core alt-Right represented by such people as Mike Enoch/Peinovich and
the traditionalist Christian right. He has provided legal commentary on
cases of interest and is often looked up to as an advisor along other
racist lawyers such as Augustus Invictus (Archived conversations).
Update 6/27/2019: Your Exterior Pros have removed Charles Robertson’s bio from their website. They are telling callers that Robertson is not employed there. If you have further info on Robertson or others mentioned in this piece, please get in touch.
Introduction
On March 8-10, 2019, the racist “Identitarian” organization Identity Evropa (IE) held its annual conference in Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park in Kentucky. Earlier that week, independent journalism collective Unicorn Riot leaked internal communications from IE, exposing their private conversations for public scrutiny. While IE attempts a clean-cut and respectable image, the organization helped make 2017’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville possible. The organization’s chat logs make their racist and antisemitic agenda unambiguously clear. On the Friday of IE’s 2019 conference, the organization’s third leader, Patrick Casey, announced that the group was now named the “American Identity Movement” (AmIM), rebranding in an attempt to lose some of the organization’s earlier stigma. On the Sunday, IE/AmIM demonstrated at the State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee: their first official action under the new name.
American Identity Movement / Identity Evropa protests in Nashville, Tennessee, March 10, 2019
Atlanta Antifascists have been following Identity Evropa in Georgia for years. We have consistently exposed members of this white nationalist group to their neighbors, coworkers, and classmates, both to warn the broader community and to bring some repercussions for building the racist movement. With this article, we are naming five more members of IE in our state. Most – perhaps all – are also part of the “American Identity Movement” rebranded version of the organization. Three live in or near Savannah, Georgia, while the other two are in metro Atlanta.
Megan Martin and Charles Robertson –
Savannah, Georgia
Megan Martin and Charles Robertson at first protest of “American Identity Movement”, Tennessee State Capitol, March 10, 2019.
Megan Elizabeth Martin, also known as “Rayne”, and Charles Allen Robertson are members of American Identity Movement and were active in the organization when it was still named Identity Evropa. The couple live together in Savannah. According to the website for Robertson’s work, they are engaged.
Charles Robertson and Megan “Rayne” Martin
Megan Martin appears under the name “Rayne” in the leaked logs for the Identity Evropa chat server. Martin is also known as Rayne by those close to her.
One of Rayne Martin’s tattoos in photo from Identity Evropa social media. October 2018 Helen, Georgia visit.
In October 2018, members of “IE Dixie” – Identity Evropa in Georgia accompanied by North Carolina and South Carolina representatives – hiked Raven Cliff Falls in Georgia. Photos from this gathering were posted on IE’s social media to promote the organization. Both Martin and Robertson are visible in the group photo from Raven Cliff Falls. “Rayne” was also tagged by Identity Evropa member “The Morrígan” (another female member of Identity Evropa) in internal IE chats, stating: “The lovely @Rayne dropped this nice IE stone [a stone painted with the organization’s logo] in Ravencliff falls in Helen, Ga”. In a photograph taken while Identity Evropa members socialized over beers following the hike, one of Martin’s tattoos is clearly visible.
Charles Robertson makes the “okay” sign – which the Alt-Right have tried to co-opt – on Your Exterior Pros website
Martin’s partner Charles Robertson works as a sales representative for Your Exterior Pros, a roofing and exterior company in Savannah, Georgia. The website for Your Exterior Pros includes a brief bio for Charles Robertson, stating: “One of his favorite past times is independent research, studying current and historical events, places and people.” The accompanying photo of Robertson shows him making the “OK” gesture. In 2017, a far-Right campaign attempted to paint this gesture as a white supremacist symbol, with the hope that the liberals and the media would take the bait and look ridiculous. Confusingly, the same gesture has also actually been adopted by the far-Right and organized racists as a way of signaling their affiliations while maintaining plausible deniability. Context is important for evaluating what the gesture means in any given situation. However, when members of a white nationalist organization use the gesture – as Charles Robertson does on his job’s website – the best explanation is this being a low-key signal of far-Right and racist beliefs.
It is likely that Charles Robertson is user “MercurysCell912-GA” in the leaked Identity Evropa chat logs. 912 is the area code for metropolitan Savannah, where only a handful of Identity Evropa members exist. A @MercurysCell912 profile also exists on the Gab social networking site. That profile identifies itself as an “Identity Evropa Activist” and has its name set as “Chuck Roberts” – a strong hint that the account owner is actually Charles Robertson. As well as following Identity Evropa and its leader Patrick Casey, the MercurcysCell912 account on Gab follows the fascist/white supremacist Patriot Front, as well as neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denial accounts such as “COOKINGWITHANNEFRANK” and “Holocaust Lies Exposed”. In IE’s Discord chat server, MercurysCell912-GA proposed flyer designs for the organization and also discussed monitoring Left-wing social media with a fake account. On Gab as well as in IE’s leaked chat logs, MercurysCell912 shared videos from “VFG Productions”, a white power channel on YouTube.
Dalton Millek – Richmond Hill,
Georgia
Dalton Millek
On July 5, 2018, IE posted pictures to social media of “members of Identity Evropa” cleaning a cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. IE used activities such as graffiti removal or cemetery clean-ups as a way to improve their group’s image after 2017’s calamitous “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the July 2018 Savannah pictures, two men are visible. One resembles Charles Robertson while the second is Dalton Richard Millek of Richmond Hill, Georgia.
Identity Evropa photo opportunity: Savannah, GA cemetery clean-up, posted online early July 2018.
Dalton Millek: detail from July 2018 Identity Evropa propaganda photo
Partially visible tattoo in photo posted by Identity Evropa, with Millek’s tattoo for comparison
Dalton Millek shows his white nationalist sympathies elsewhere on the web, for example giving Into the Darkness: Nazi Germany Today by Lothrop Stoddard – which is an American white supremacist’s account of his stay in Nazi Germany – a five-star rating on Goodreads. Millek also recently gave a five-star rating to Bronze Age Mindset, a self-published call for “Purification of the world” by “Bronze Age Pervert”, an Alt-Right personality on Twitter. Dalton Millek’s YouTube account, which was once under his real name but has now been changed to an alias, includes a playlist for “Hail Victory music” – a reference to the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil!” (The only video on that playlist has been deleted by YouTube.) Dalton Millek also shows his political allegiances by following such white nationalist YouTube channels as “Goy Talk”, “Reich Radio” and the National Policy Institute / Radix Journal.
Millek’s fiancée is Sara Lauren Cleland, the Digital Marketing Director for Visit Savannah. We have no evidence that Lauren Cleland supports the white supremacist movement, beyond personal support for her white nationalist fiancé. Dalton Millek currently lives with his daughter and fiancée Cleland at 75 Rice Gate Drive in Richmond Hill, which was purchased by Cleland earlier this year. While Millek appears to be one of the less active Identity Evropa members profiled here, we still encourage Richmond Hill neighbors to keep an eye out for any new signs of racist organizing.
Damian Stanfill – Lilburn, Georgia
Damian Stanfill
Damian James Stanfill, who went by the name “Flint” in leaked IE chat servers, is deeply involved in Identity Evropa, even stating last year that “All my friends are local IE guys now”. Stanfill exposed himself through his abundant posts in Identity Evropa chats, which were leaked in early March just before the organization’s conference.
Excerpt from “Bonestown” propaganda comic by Stanfill
Logo for Damian Stanfill’s “Working Glass Window Cleaning” business: note the similar art and lettering style to “Bonestown”
Damian Stanfill currently lives in Lilburn, Georgia, about half an hour from Atlanta – perhaps closer to the city than he would prefer. Before that, Stanfill and his wife lived in Savannah. His wife’s due date was October 22, 2018 according to their baby registry – three weeks after “Flint” posted the baby picture from an early birth. In 2018, Damian Stanfill launched Working Glass Window Cleaning, a “veteran-owned” window-cleaning business. We have not located Damian Stanfill’s college or graduation history, however there are several private colleges in the Savannah area. (Stanfill’s wife Lydia Stanfill – née Gilleland – worked as a café manager at the Savannah College of Art and Design before their move.) Damian Stanfill was born in 1985 and grew up in Southern California. His brother lived in Alaska. Stanfill’s “Working Glass Window Cleaning” has a hand-drawn logo, with the art style and lettering resembling Flint’s “Bonestown” comics.
Damian Stanfill accepts Venmo payment from Amber Wojcik, fiancée of Identity Evropa’s “Director of Activism”
Finally, there is a clear link between Stanfill and the circles around Identity Evropa in Atlanta. On the Venmo payment app, Stanfill received funds this March from Amber Wojcik (now Amber Peek), who was then the fiancée of Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement “Director of Activism” Justin Wayne Peek. The details of “Flint” and Damian Stanfill match up so closely that there is no plausible explanation except Stanfill being Identity Evropa member “Flint”.
Picture from Macon, Georgia Trump rally for Kemp posted by Stanfill to Identity Evropa chat
The defining aspect of Stanfill’s politics is his rabid antisemitism. Stanfill believes that “the J’s [meaning Jews] control A-Z” in society and that “the JQ [meaning “The Jewish Question”] is the key to unlock the mystery of ‘what on earth is going on around here?’”. Stanfill claims that “J’s are *the* problem” and that antisemitism is a “natural response” to Jewish people. He labels himself a “a J-war vet”. Stanfill wrote that while in college he argued to his class that the Holocaust was “overplayed” and delighted in the effect this had on a Jewish student. Stanfill did not always hate Jewish people; in 2014, he and his fiancée (now wife) were listed in Savannah Jewish News as new members of the Jewish Educational Alliance. It is unclear exactly what led to Stanfill’s shift to extreme antisemitism, although the racist podcasts Stanfill mentions in IE chats may have played some role.
Stanfill believes that universities are sites of feminist indoctrination. From a “Bonestown” comic which was turned into YouTube video.
To coincide with this article, we have mailed 100 flyers to Stanfill’s neighbors in Lilburn, Georgia, alerting them to the active white nationalist in their area. You can download this flyer here.
Mitchel Weaver – Atlanta, Georgia
Mitchel Weaver
Mitchel Ryan Weaver, who according to his LinkedIn profile is employed as a technology analyst at Norfolk Southern, appears in the leaked Identity Evropa logs under the alias “Sherlock”. “Sherlock” also shows up in the logs for an online American Identity Movement “weekly address”, revealing Weaver’s continued affiliation with the racist organization following its rebrand.
Group picture from Identity Evropa trip to Raven Cliff Falls, including Mitchel Weaver in center of group with white flag.
With this article, we have exposed five members of Identity Evropa in Georgia. Three of these five – Megan “Rayne” Martin, Charles Robertson, and Dalton Millek – live in or near Savannah, Georgia, while the other two – Damian Stanfill and Mitchel Weaver – are in metro Atlanta. We have linked Rayne Martin, Charles Robertson and Mitchel Weaver to the “American Identity Movement” rebrand of IE. We expect that Damian Stanfill, who was very well integrated within IE, also remains in the organization under its new name. It is harder to tell the current membership status of Richmond Hill resident Dalton Millek, who we linked to Identity Evropa through photographs rather than a profile in IE’s leaked chats. However, there is no doubt from looking at Millek’s online presence that he is still an Alt-Right white nationalist.
Update 12/12/2019: Matthew Mayo relocated to Reno, Nevada a few months ago.
This is the second of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, EmergencyMedical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our first article, see here.
Matthew Thomas Mayo in front of Asatru Folk Assembly flag
Mayo is a longstanding member of the AFA. According to a 2012 interview, Mayo became a member of the AFA “in the past year” and had been a heathen for many years before. In 2012, Mayo assumed the title of the AFA’s “Military Folkbuilder”, a liaison person for military members and veterans in the whites-only organization. The same interview states that Mayo had been a Marine in the early 1990s. At the time of writing, Mayo is not listed as an AFA “Folkbuilder” on the organization’s website and the AFA’s Military Program appears mostly inactive. Mayo still flaunts his affiliation with the Asatru Folk Assembly on his social media pages and remains active within the organization.
Propaganda image shared on Matthew Mayo’s Facebook account
Matthew Mayo circulates far-Right propaganda. On his Facebook page, Mayo posted an image featuring the slogan “Take back our future” accompanied by the Black Sun/Schwarze Sonne symbol used by neo-Nazis and the far-Right. On Instagram, Mayo has shared propaganda for the white nationalist “Defend Evropa”. Mayo also circulated an image of a Death’s Head/ Totenkopf used by the Nazi SS, modified so that the skull is wearing sunglasses and accompanied by the slogan “Surf the Kali Yuga”. The theme of Kali Yuga – the “age of strife” in the Hindu cyclic conception of time – was adopted by 20th Century far-Right thinkers such as Savitri Devi and Julius Evola. The “Surf the Kali Yuga” design shared by Matthew Mayo on Instagram was popularized by the white supremacist organization American Vanguard/Vanguard America, who sold this image on a t-shirt. In yet another post, Mayo communicated his belief in racial separation when he shared an image of a young white woman, accompanied by the slogan “I’m this pretty because both of my parents are white.”
Matthew Mayo’s profile picture on VK (L) and propaganda poster from the Nazi Party (R)
On the Russia-based VKontakte (VK) social networking site, Mayo uses a profile image originally from a Nazi Party propaganda poster, but altered so that a Confederate battle flag replaces the Nazi flag in the background. On VK, Mayo is also a member of the White Nationalist Alliance, an online group which states that it is “in support of National Socialism and Hitler”. (Mayo’s associate in the AFA, Nazi-sympathizer Trent East, is also part of the “White Nationalist Alliance” group on VK.) The White Nationalist Alliance group on VK recently changed its permissions so that it is private. Due to this change, membership in the group is no longer visible on the public pages of its participants. However, we archived Mayo’s VK page to a third-party website before this change of permissions. Mayo’s membership in the “White Nationalist Alliance” neo-Nazi page is clear from this earlier archive.
Since Mayo is a member of a racist heathen organization, shares white nationalist propaganda, networks with other members of the far-Right, and is part of an online group for neo-Nazis, we believe that Chatham County residents should not be required to trust Mayo with their lives. When white nationalists are allowed to infiltrate crucial positions such as emergency services, this creates opportunities for abuse and places members of marginalized communities at risk. Almost half the population of Chatham County is non-white and every one of these people would be vulnerable in the case of a medical emergency.
Update 12/13/2019: Collins is now no longer an employee of Jasper County Fire-Rescue.
Update 12/12/2019: Jasper Collins is now employed by Jasper County Fire-Rescue in South Carolina. Read our statement here.
This is the first of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, EmergencyMedical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our second article, see here.
Jasper Daniel Alexander Collins – a firefighter with Chatham Emergency Services (CES) – is a supporter of the far-Right and antisemitic organization Legio Christi who openly celebrates Adolf Hitler. Collins also heroizes Corneliu Codreanu, the founder of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania. On social media, Collins rails against Jewish people and sexual minorities. Although Collins is now working as a firefighter, Collins was previously in the Georgia National Guard and may still be a reserve member.
Jasper Collins
Jasper Collins has multiple ties to Legio Christi (LC), a far-Right antisemitic organization purporting to be “traditional Christian”. As we explained in a recent article, LC’s propaganda features typical white nationalist fantasies, for example that Boers in South Africa face “genocide” and that the United States government is controlled by a Jewish conspiracy. LC seemingly involves far-Right racist Catholics as well as Orthodox Christians.
Jasper Collins’ profile on Legio Christi forum, describing his politics as “Legionnaire” (i.e. someone following the ideology of the fascist Iron Guard)
We discussed LC in greater depth in our recent article about Savannah-area white nationalist Arieana Love, a Catholic member of that organization. Jasper Collins may have played some role introducing Arieana Love to LC, since Collins and Love were in a relationshipuntil January 2018. The relationship did notend well.
Jasper Collins’ enlistment ceremony for the Georgia National Guard, April 2016.
As with his ex-girlfriend, white nationalist Arieana Love, Jasper Collins was a member of the Georgia National Guard. An online photo shows that Collins enlisted in April 2016. Collins is not active duty, but since the military requires an eight-year commitment, Collins may still be a reserve member. A picture from December 2018 on the CES Facebook page shows Collins as one of a dozen people who “took their Firefighter Oath […] and became the newest full time members of Chatham Fire”. A March 2019 photo shows Collins in uniform with firefighters from CES’s Islands Division.
Politically, Jasper Collins describes himself as a “Legionnaire”: that is, someone following the ideology of the Iron Guard. The Iron Guard was a 20th Century fascist movement in Romania known for its extreme antisemitism, pogroms, and martyrdom cult among adherents. As well as being a fascist political movement, the Iron Guard was religiously Orthodox. It is worth noting that Jasper Collins, a wannabe Legionnaire, proclaims himself to be Orthodox Christian.
Sharing “Adolf Hitler – Why We Fight” is not Collins’ only endorsement of Hitler and Nazi Germany. On his main Facebook account in his own name, Collins shared a meme suggesting that sympathy toward Hitler is understandable as a natural reaction to queer and trans visibility. On Twitter, Collins suggests that fighting against Hitler was a bad idea:
If the men who fought in WWII could see what became of their countries today they would’ve thrown down their weapons and fought for the Germans.
Collins believes that white people worldwide are facing “genocide”, writing that “Anyone defending white genocide can fuck off”. Collins also hates Jewish people, caricaturing them as pushing “diversity”, homosexuality and Marxism, while they incessantly complain about imaginary persecution. Collins endorses the antisemitic myth that Jewish people secretly manipulate society through banking. He writes:
The only “crime” of a truly sovereign nation, free of Jewish influence, is the casting out of privately owned banks and the use of one nations [sic] own strength and finance.
Collins states that “the public [is] a bitch” and suggests that he has little interest in protecting them.
Given Collins’ racist and fascist politics, it is highly unlikely that he will protect all members of the public equally as a firefighter. Indeed, Collins has posted online that the “public [is] a bitch” and – sharing the “Disaster Girl” meme of a house burning down – suggests that he will not go out of his way to protect most people. Residents of Chatham County should not have to trust their lives to this bigot and Hitler-sympathizer, who jokes about his contempt for the public and his unwillingness to protect them, even as this public pays his salary. A pro-Nazi firefighter cannot be trusted to protect the community of Chatham County (or any community, for that matter).
Update 1/19/2020: According to a new article, Matthew Ryan Burchfield is currently in Ukraine.
Burchfield’s 2019 profile on the Fascist Forge networking site was connected to the profile for Luke Austin Lane, who has now been arrested with other Georgia members of “The Base” for an alleged murder conspiracy.
Introduction
A Savannah-area couple are heavily involved in white nationalist networks, ranging from Christian far-Right organizing to apocalyptic neo-Nazism. Arieana K Love, who is currently studying pre-Medicine at Georgia Southern University and was a member of the Georgia National Guard , and Matthew Ryan Burchfield, who moved to Georgia from Virginia last year, are well-connected in regional and national far-Right channels. Love is a member of Legio Christi, an antisemitic and far-Right “traditional Christian” group, while Burchfield describes himself as an “Esoteric Hitlerite” – someone who couches his devotion to Nazism in mystical terms.
Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love
Both Love and Burchfield are friends with Haralson County jailer Trent East, whose racist involvement and neo-Nazi affinities we recently documented. Online photos show Ryan Burchfield engaging in what appears to be racist paramilitary training with East.
Photo from Brandon Trent East’s Instagram account, March 2019. L-R: Matthew Ryan Burchfield, Arieana Love, Trent East and East’s fiancée Madison French.
Both Arieana Love and Burchfield are connected to internet profiles for Dalton Woodward, Trent East’s associate in the whites-only “Ravensblood Kindred” of the Asatru Folk Assembly. Another figure who was linked to both Love and Burchfield on social media is Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member and ideologue of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group linked to at least five killings.
Profile for Corwyn Carver, a Satanist and neo-Nazi, linked to both Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love (profile as “Katherine Ludwig” in screen-capture).
Although they have friends and political associates in common, Love and Burchfield also operate in somewhat different spheres. For example, Arieana Love declares herself to be a Catholic rather than a racist heathen (East and Woodward), a neo-Nazi Satanist (Carver), or a Hitler devotee (Ryan Burchfield). This difference does not diminish Love’s racist and far-Right commitments, but it does give her white nationalist activity a slightly different character. We will discuss Catholic antisemite Arieana Love first, then her Hitler-worshipping boyfriend Ryan Burchfield.
Arieana Love is also member of Legio Christi (LC), a virulently antisemitic and far-Right “traditional Christian” organization. According to LC’s mission statement:
We consider Monarchy, whether hereditary or elective, to be the ideal form of government. […] Authoritarian, nationalistic governments represent an acceptable Republican alternative due to their adherence to natural social hierarchy and condemnation of the false notion of equality, promulgated during and after the French Revolution.
With this stance, LC position themselves as ultra-reactionaries, debatably to the political Right of fascism. While the organization states that “National Socialism as developed by Adolf Hitler […] is antithetical to our goals”, LC’s own “official reading list” includes Germany’s Hitler, a pro-Nazi biography of Hitler. That LC favor fascist movements is demonstrated by the inclusion of texts by British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley and Romanian Iron Guard founder Corneliu Codreanu on their reading list.
Legio Christi on YouTube tells followers to “Remove ZOG”. “ZOG” is short for “Zionist Occupation Government”, a white supremacist conspiracy theory.
LC claim to stand for “Faith, Family, and Folk”, with “Folk” in this context being a euphemism for race. The organization propagates themes common to the white nationalist movement, for example the idea that white Boers in South Africa are facing “genocide”, and that “diversity” is to blame for terrorism. However, LC pushes homophobia and hatred of Jewish people to the foreground in its public materials. LC devote an entire section of their website to anti-gay and anti-trans propaganda, which far exceeds Catholic and Orthodox doctrine in its viciousness. LC’s reading list includes antisemitic propaganda by neo-Nazi and former Klansman David Duke. A thread on the LC forum pushes Holocaust-denial memes. Further, a LC broadcast on YouTube calls on supporters to “Remove ZOG”, short for “Zionist Occupation Government” – this term originated in white supremacist movements and contends that the United States government is controlled by a Jewish conspiracy.
Arieana Love, using the name “Katherine Ludwig” on Goodreads, is part of closed online group exclusively for “Legio Christi members”.
Arieana Love “likes” picture of white nationalist Trent East shooting while wearing ski mask. Photo seems to have been taken at weapons training with Love’s boyfriend Ryan Burchfield.
While Arieana Love appears to have created the “Katherine Ludwig” account to keep her most obvious ties to white nationalism hidden from others, she still uses her Facebook account in her own name to keep in touch with far-Right associates. When white nationalist/Haralson County jailer Trent East posted a picture of himself engaging in weapons training while wearing a ski mask, Arieana Love “liked” this image using the Facebook account in her own name. As we will discuss, Love’s boyfriend, neo-Nazi Matthew Ryan Burchfield, appears to have taken part in this racist paramilitary training alongside East.
Ryan Burchfield
According to his Instagram account, Matthew Ryan Burchfield is “future 11bangbang” – military slang for 11B, or infantryman. While at high school in Virginia Beach, Burchfield was part of the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. His grandparents described him as “Cadet Ryan Burchfield” in one 2016 online post. Burchfield moved to Savannah, Georgia last year. In his introductory post on the Fascist Forge forum – more about this forum later – Burchfield states that he is “currently learning in the medical field”. It is unknown where or if Burchfield is presently enlisted in the military, although Burchfield follows a number of military accounts on Instagram. It does not appear that Burchfield is active duty at the time of writing.
Neo-Nazi Satanist Corwyn Carver, who is connected to Burchfield, grew up in Chesapeake, Virginina, approximately half an hour away from Virginia Beach. This may explain Burchfield’s seeming close ties to Carver. For a while, Burchfield used the name “Ryan Torni” on Facebook. Atomwaffen Division neo-Nazi Corwyn Storm Carver is “Sturm Torni” on Facebook. Burchfield and Carver sharing the same last name in their online aliases, suggests a strong bond between these neo-Nazis.
Last month, after we exposed Burchfield’s associate Trent East, Burchfield deleted or deactivated his main two Facebook accounts. The first account, under the name “Matthew Burchfield”, seems to have also been “Ryan Torni” at an earlier date. The second Facebook account, as “Georg Ludwig”, was linked to Arieana Love’s “Katherine Ludwig” white nationalist account. We have retrieved one image from the “Georg Ludwig” account, which shows Burchfield with a semi-automatic rifle, with his face partially obscured by a bandana. Burchfield’s attire and his weapon are the same as in another photo from December 2018, showing Trent East and Burchfield together for paramilitary training. We will discuss this other photo later.
Photo posted by “Georg Ludwig” account in December 2018 shows Ryan Burchfield with face partially covered by bandana
In early May of this year, a 2018 photograph of Burchfield wearing a skull mask disappeared from Burchfield’s main Instagram account. We archived the image before it vanished. The skull mask was adopted as a symbol by Iron March, the now-defunct “global fascist fraternity” which spawned the murderous Atomwaffen Division as well as American Vanguard/Vanguard America, and whose slogan was “Gas the k[*]kes, race war now.” As well as following many US military accounts, Burchfield’s main Instagram account also follows a clearly neo-Nazi account under the name “Lombard1488”. The profile picture for “Lombard1488” also features a skull mask and offers a quote by Joseph Tommasi, an American neo-Nazi who advocated for armed struggle against “the system”. Tommasi is a major ideological inspiration for modern American neo-Nazis who embrace terror tactics, such as Atomwaffen Division.
Ryan Burchfield posted this photo of himself wearing a skull mask in May 2018. At the start of May 2019, the image vanished from Burchfield’s main Instagram account.
Burchfield’s account on Goodreads shows that he is currently reading Making the Corps, a non-fiction book following a Platoon through United States Marine Corps boot camp. Burchfield’s Goodreads account is predictably linked to the “Katherine Ludwig” one for Arieana Love. Burchfield also follows the profile for Dalton Woodward, a white nationalist Georgia National Guard member and close associate of Trent East.
Trent East (L) and Ryan Burchfield (R), picture posted to East’s “Lincoln Baines” account, December 2018
As we revealed in another piece just published on our website, Haralson County jailer/Alabama National Guardsman Trent East – who we first exposed as a white nationalist last month – maintains a separate Facebook account under the alias “Lincoln Baines”. As “Baines”, East is even more blatant about his racism and neo-Nazi affinities. As “Baines”, Trent East published a photo of himself shooting while wearing a ski mask, which we mentioned earlier as being “liked” by Arieana Love. In another picture seemingly from the same day published by “Baines”, Trent East and Ryan Burchfield stand together. Both hold semi-automatic rifles and wear camouflage jackets. East wears a ski mask and Burchfield partially obscures his face with a bandana. The overall appearance is of paramilitary training. In the photo, Burchfield raises his index finger. This gesture, originally signifying the oneness of God (Tawhid) in Islam, has been appropriated by Daesh/ISIS. From there, the gesture has been appropriated yet again, this time by neo-Nazis. By using this gesture, Burchfield is associating himself with the furthest extremes of neo-Nazism.
Profile picture for user “Alpers” on Fascist Forge website (enlarged)
In late April, Matthew Ryan Burchfield registered on the neo-Nazi website Fascist Forge under the name “Alpers”. Burchfield has previously used the handle “Alpers” on the Steam platform for gamers. The profile image used by “Alpers” could be from Burchfield’s paramilitary session with Trent East, since Burchfield’s attire and his weapon seem the same. The image also features a Schwarze Sonne/Black Sun symbol, used by white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
Fascist Forge is modeled after Iron March, a site which served as an incubator for militant fascist and neo-Nazi groups before it went offline in late 2017. The Fascist Forge site aims to recruit, to radicalize, and to facilitate the formation of networks and local groups. Members must pass an exam on the group’s extreme-Right doctrine before accessing the site’s core. Fascist Forge’s members aim for a breakdown of what they see as “the system” – a process which they hope to accelerate with terror attacks. The site shares manuals on guerilla warfare.
While Burchfield has not yet progressed into the inner layer of Fascist Forge, it is clear that he is already well-acquainted with the neo-Nazi underground. In his introductory post, Burchfield/”Alpers” states that he was introduced to the site “through my comrade Lombard” – almost certainly the same person as “Lombard1488”, connected to Ryan Burchfield on Instagram. Burchfield’s “Alpers” account states that he is a “National Socialist” and that religiously he is an “Esoteric Hitlerite”. Esoteric Hitlerism, also known as Esoteric Nazism, frames neo-Nazism in mystical terms. Responding to Burchfield’s introductory post, Fascist Forge user “Italo” vouches for “Alpers”, stating that he is “a good mate whom I’ve spoke with”. User “Italo” is responsible for sharing materials such as an “Al Qaeda Terrorism Manual” and US Army field manuals on the Fascist Forge site.
Conclusion
With this article, we have exposed two active white nationalists in the Savannah, Georgia area. Arieana Love is active in the far-Right antisemitic Legio Christi organization. Love also studies pre-Medicine at Georgia Southern University and is connected to the Georgia National Guard. Her boyfriend, Ryan Burchfield, claims to be “learning in the medical field” and is either currently enlisted in the military or intends to enlist. Burchfield is a radical neo-Nazi, for whom Hitler is a religion. Burchfield has participated in weapons training with Haralson County Deputy Sheriff/Alabama National Guard member Trent East. Burchfield has also signed up on the Fascist Forge website, which encourages neo-Nazi terrorism, and is seemingly also close to Atomwaffen Division ideologue Corwyn Carver
White nationalists Love and Burchfield may be a danger to those around them, especially given their military connections. Please share this documentation widely in the Savannah, Georgia community, and get in touch if you have further information on white supremacists operating in our region.
Update 5/21/2019: Approximately two weeks ago, Trent East was allowed to quit his job as a jailer in Haralson County, to avoid being fired.
Last month, we exposed Haralson County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Trent East as an active white nationalist and as part of the racist “Ravensblood Kindred”, alongside active duty Georgia National Guard member Dalton Russell Woodward. The Ravensblood Kindred is a regional branch of the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a whites-only heathen organization with close ties to organized racism. AFA has been designated as a hate group by the anti-extremist Southern Poverty Law Center.
A few days after we published our documentation on the “Ravensblood Kindred”, independent journalist Nate Thayer exposed Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member, as a member and influential propagandist for Atomwaffen Division (AWD). AWD is a neo-Nazi terrorist organization whose members have committed at least five murders since its formation in 2015. Following Thayer’s expose, we released documentation showing that both Trent East – working as a jailer in Haralson County – as well as Dalton Woodward were connected on social media to AWD white supremacist Carver.
Both Trent East and Dalton Woodward linked to Atomwaffen Division white supremacist Corwyn Carver
Despite this, Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon initially defended his employee Trent East when interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stating in the AJC’s April 17 article that everything “should stand the way it is” with East not facing discipline, because East is not on a Federal Bureau of Investigation watch list. The next day, Mixon backtracked on his support for East, after his initial public stance generated outcry. A new investigation has now been launched. Trent East is receiving paid leave while the investigation proceeds.
In its follow-up article about Trent East and Sheriff Mixon’s reversal, the AJC confirmed that Trent East is a member of the Alabama National Guard as well as a jailer in Haralson County, Georgia. The Alabama National Guard is also investigating East’s ties to the white nationalist movement. The Georgia National Guard has also stated that it is investigating Trent East’s close associate Dalton Woodward. Neither the Georgia nor the Alabama National Guard have yet publicly commented on any outcomes from their investigations.
Trent East on VKontakte social networking site: supports White Nationalist Alliance and follows “Miss Hitler 2019 Contest”
Another person connected to the “Baines” account is white nationalist Arieana Love of Savannah, Georgia, who is also friends with Trent East in real life. Arieana Love’s boyfriend, self-described “Esoteric Hitlerite” Matthew Ryan Burchfield, is shown in one picture on the “Baines” profile. In the photo, Ryan Burchfield wears a bandana to partially obscure his face, holds a semi-automatic rifle and stands beside East, who wears a ski mask and is also armed. The photo appears to be from a weapons training session. The “Lincoln Baines” picture of East opening fire is seemingly from the same day.
Trent East (left, in ski mask) posing with “Esoteric Hitlerite”/neo-Nazi Matthew Ryan Burchfield (right), December 2018
We discuss Trent East’s associates Arieana Love and Ryan Burchfield in greater depth in another article, also published today.
Complaining about his “main account” getting a temporary ban on Facebook, “Lincoln Baines” exposes that he is Trent East.
Our initial article on Trent East and Dalton Woodward already provided ample documentation of East and Woodward’s involvement in white nationalism. Since we published that article, more evidence has surfaced linking both individuals but especially Trent East to the most militant, neo-Nazi sectors of the white power movement. It is unclear whether this makes any difference to the National Guard or Haralson County Sheriff’s Office investigations, but we will update this post as we receive news.
Over the course of two years, Ethan Edward Jones of Cartersville, Georgia has gone from posting racist memes on the internet and fantasizing about the Confederacy, to membership in the white nationalist League of the South (LOS) and writing regularly for racist Southern secessionist websites. Jones is currently in his final year at Woodland High School in Cartersville. He is not only a prolific propagandist, urging others to join LOS, but he celebrates violence by white supremacists. Since Jones is now an adult and is deeply entrenched within the white nationalist movement, we are publishing this information to alert those around him.
Ethan Edward Jones
Ethan Jones operates under a number of online aliases. For example, on Facebook he is “Richard Ewell” – a reference to the Confederate general Richard S. Ewell – while on Twitter, Jones is “Georgia Nationalist”/@RichardEwell4. Jones’ accounts on various social media platforms have similar friendship circles, imagery, and propaganda style. Often, Jones uses images of white supremacist politicians for his profile pictures: Eugene Talmadge, a three-term governor of Georgia, is a favorite.
One of Ethan Jones’ Instagram accounts promotes Vanguard America / American Vanguard, 2017
While Jones was posting “Redshirts” content in 2017, he was not very savvy about what he shared online. Eventually, some of the photos Jones posted of himself on private accounts began circulating more broadly. As recently as 2018, Ethan Jones’ “Georgia Nationalist” Twitter account followed a number of Woodland High School (WHS) students, often members of the Class of ’19 – this further supports the identification of “Georgia Nationalist” and related accounts as WHS student Jones. Further, one old Instagram from his cluster of accounts included the phrase “Bartow County Redshirts” in its bio. We discovered that years earlier as a young teenager, Ethan Jones had a fantasy life based around an imaginary gang called the Bartow New Confederates, the Bartow Yankee Killers, or the Bartow Communist Killers – this was clearly the same person responsible for “Georgia Redshirts” a few years later. Sadly, Jones is now completely immersed within the white supremacist scene, and his activity can no longer be written off as playacting.
In late 2017 – just as his “Redshirts” period was drawing to a close – Ethan Jones joined the League of the South, a white nationalist and Southern secessionist organization whose ideology is increasingly close to neo-Nazism. Jones joined LOS only a few months after the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where the LOS was at the forefront of street violence. It is clear that Jones is impressed by the LOS as a potential fighting force, even though in reality LOS’s capacity has diminished since Unite the Right. In his April 11, 2019 recruitment article for the League of the South, “Put on the Blackshirt”, Jones celebrated the “gallant men” of the League of the South, who took on the “Communist hordes” in Charlottesville. In an October 2018 post on the Vkontakte social network – written as Jones’ one-year anniversary with the LOS approached – Jones stated that he was “committed to advocate and promote the League and it’s [sic] mission.” The post was accompanied by a photo of graffiti stating: “Be a man among men – League of the South” and including a Southern nationalist Cushman flag. Jones may have left this graffiti in or near Cartersville.
Beyond his LOS membership and social media activity, Jones’ main contribution to the racist movement is submitting articles to two websites that combine Southern secession and white nationalism, “Identity Dixie” and “Southern Revivalism”. Jones began contributing articles to Identity Dixie in March 2018, beginning with a series celebrating Eugene Talmadge. Since then, Jones has been a regular contributor to Identity Dixie, submitting articles on topics such as race-mixing “white harlots” during Spring Break, or lauding the “united Southern resistance to integration.” In one article published by Identity Dixie in August 2018, Jones advocated for a “mass [white nationalist] event at Stone Mountain using only Southern styled optics”, claiming that “Antifa will be much less of a problem due to the anti-mask laws.” A few months later, “Rock Stone Mountain” white supremacists called for a racist rally at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta, but their efforts collapsed entirely with the denial of a rally permit by the Park and due to determined anti-racist organizing. It is unclear whether Jones’ article partially inspired the “Rock Stone Mountain II” debacle, or whether Jones was merely putting forward a proposal that had been circulating more broadly in the white nationalist scene.
Ethan Jones defends white supremacist murderer James Alex Fields Jr. after Fields’ Viginia conviction, December 2018. (Post from Gab website, popular with racists and far-Right.)
Jones’ constant white nationalist and Southern secessionist propaganda, as well as his glorification of racist violence and his membership in the League of the South, should concern those around him. We have mailed two hundred flyers to Jones’ neighbors, informing them of the militant racist in their area.
Flyer distributed to Ethan Jones’ neighbors in Cartersville. Click here for .pdf
If you have further information on Ethan Jones, the League of the South, or other white nationalists in our region, please get in touch.
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