We are publishing documents from
Atlanta attorney and white power leader Sam Dickson’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
These documents not only give a clear picture of Dickson’s business interests
but also provide details on Dickson’s political activity and associates.
Dickson filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2014 (Case 14-29781-LMI,
Southern District of Florida US Bankruptcy Court). Then, in March 2015, his
“Hickory Hill 1185” company also filed for bankruptcy (Case 15-13854-LMI,
Southern District of Florida). The two bankruptcy cases are now jointly
administered.
Sam Dickson at the 2019 “American Renaissance” white nationalist conference
We have published two earlierarticles highlighting Dickson’s and other white nationalists’ activity on the Atlanta property market. For readers unfamiliar with Dickson, we suggest reading our 2017 article, “Right-Wing Gentrification Gangs”, which explains his method for profiting from tax lien purchases in Black and multiracial working-class neighborhoods. Dickson has a history spanning decades in the white nationalist movement. As a participant in the secretive yet influential Charles Martel Society – where Dickson is listed as a Director – and also as a mentor for younger white nationalists, Dickson continues to influence the white power movement to this day.
Our articles so far have focused on Dickson’s dealings in Atlanta. By publishing Dickson’s bankruptcy filings, we broaden our picture to include information on Dickson’s property in Florida and North Carolina. Dickson’s properties in Atlanta are mostly but not exclusively vacant lots, which make a profit once sold. However, properties such as Dickson’s “Villas Key West” vacation rentals in Key West, Florida, bring in regular income.
Dickson’s bankruptcies are Chapter 11. A Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a debtor to restructure debts while the business typically continues to operate. Dickson had previously built a “multi-million dollar business” from his property dealings. According to filings, the recession hurt both his practice as a real estate lawyer, as well as his Florida vacation rentals. Chapter 11 was Dickson’s best option to hold on to as many of his assets as possible.
These bankruptcy cases represent a gap in our earlier writing on Sam Dickson’s business. Our first article may have overestimated Dickson’s ability to expand his personal business operations in Atlanta, since Dickson is burdened by Chapter 11 restructuring. However, as Dickson’s filings show, he maintains significant assets in Georgia and elsewhere. In addition, other far-Right figures active in the Atlanta property market are not harmed by Dickson’s Chapter 11. Our concerns around the broader Dickson network remain unchanged. For example, Beltem Trust – administered by UK far-Right organizer and Dickson associate Adrian Davies – owns a large collection of property in Atlanta. Sam Dickson has worked as an attorney for the Beltem Trust and is also a source of property for that Trust, with several of Dickson’s properties being sold to Beltem since Dickson filed for Chapter 11. In addition, Dickson protégés such as Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement organizer Evan Thomas Anderson continue to be active on the Atlanta property market.
The Filings
The proximate cause for Dickson’s initial bankruptcy filing in September 2014 appears to be the foreclosure sale of a Key West, Florida property, 522 Margaret. In one of his earliest Chapter 11 filings, Dickson objected to this foreclosure sale, although ultimately to no avail. (Dickson still co-owns neighboring property.) At the very beginning, Dickson’s attorney was listed as Paul Orshan, but he was soon replaced as counsel by Michael D. Seese of Ft Lauderdale who continues representing Dickson in bankruptcy matters to this day.
Dickson’s “Hickory Hill 1185 LLC”
filing for bankruptcy in March 2015 was seemingly to avoid foreclosure on his
115-121 Ridgeland Way property in Atlanta. The Hickory Hill 1185 LLC Chapter 11
is now jointly administered with Dickson’s individual bankruptcy case.
There are currently over 400 filings
for Dickson’s Chapter 11. At the end of this article, we are publishing a
selection, particularly filings which give an overview of Dickson’s various
properties. Remember that if a document is now dated, properties listed as
owned by Dickson could have subsequently sold.
Florida and Georgia Residences
In order to file for bankruptcy in the Southern District of Florida, Dickson had to reside there. In filings, Dickson listed his address as 518 Rear Margaret Street, Apt #2 in Key West, Florida. However, Dickson also spends much of his time in Atlanta. In some recent filings, Dickson provided a PO Box in Atlanta as his address. Dickson’s presence in Atlanta is corroborated by his continued property holdings and legal work here, his TV appearances, and our personal sightings of Dickson around Atlanta. Dickson’s residence in Atlanta is the Ridgeland Way property in Buckhead which we have profiled before.
UK Holocaust-denier David Irving
The property next to 518 Margaret Street in Key West, Florida – 522 Margaret – was previously co-owned by Dickson. In fact, Dickson’s initial Chapter 11 filing allowed him to object to the foreclosure sale of that property (though the sale went through in the end). Interestingly, when UK Holocaust-denier David Irving’s emails were hacked a decade ago, the 522 Margaret address was used by Irving when setting up online payment processing. Irving is known to stay at Dickson’s properties while in the United States. When Irving mentioned this March that he was in Key West, this was almost certainly at one of Dickson’s current properties there.
Business and Politics
$100 donation to Committee to Elect Keith Alexander
Filing for bankruptcy has not stopped Dickson’s efforts for the white nationalist movement. In Dickson’s first Monthly Operating Report (for September 2014) under his Chapter 11, Dickson noted “the heavy expenses of the attorney’s fees and accounting costs related to the Chapter 11.” This did not stop Dickson from making a $100 donation to the Committee to Elect Keith Alexander in this same period. Keith Alexander was running for Property Assessor in Shelby County, Tennessee that year. Alexander co-hosted the white nationalist Political Cesspool podcast and at the time was listed as a Director for the racist Council of Conservative Citizens. Despite these ties to the white power movement, Alexander ran again for the Assessor position in 2018 and got almost 40% of the vote. Like Alexander, Dickson has been involved with the Council of Conservative Citizens.
John C. Hall of Dublin, Georgia
In January 2015, attorney John C. Hall, Jr. was authorized as an accountant for Dickson in the bankruptcy. Hall, who lives in Dublin, Georgia, has his own ties to organized racism. Hall is active in the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Georgia, which purports not to be racist. Hall’s profile on the VKontake (VK) social networking site was connected to the official group for the Southern secessionist/white nationalist League of the South. On VK, Hall has stated “Hitler was right!” and “Hitler was correct in cleaning up Berlin and then Europe.” During the 2018 gubernatorial campaign in Georgia, Hall harassed an event for Stacey Abrams as well as organized against her. When anti-fascists exposed Dickson’s white power hub on Ridgeland Way, Hall traveled to Atlanta with a firearm and fantasies of “Antifa […] being eliminated.”
John C. Hall considers Sam Dickson a friend as well as client.
An operating report for Dickson’s Hickory Hill 1185 LLC filed in September 2016 stated that “at the time of the filing, Mr. Dickson was traveling out of the county.” We are aware that some of Dickson’s overseas travel is for far-Right networking, for example his attendance at the “International Russian Conservative Forum” at St. Petersburg in 2015. We do not however know the destination of Dickson’s 2016 trip, or whether it served a political purpose. We would welcome further information.
Overview of Properties
Dickson’s Chapter 11 filings list
many properties owned by him or his companies. Some of these properties may
have changed title since the time of the filings. The following is a quick
summary of Dickson’s properties in three states, gleaned from the bankruptcy
filings.
In Key West, Florida, four properties still make money for Dickson as part of the “Villas Key West” vacation rentals. On Margaret Street, Dickson co-owns the buildings at 518 and 1124. Further, 512 and 516 Angela Street are part of “Villas Key West”. 512 is owned by the Dickson-managed 512 Angela LLC; 516 is owned by 516 Angela LLC, also managed by Dickson. In addition to these four properties, 1128 Margaret Street is owned by Dickson and used for longer-term rentals, outside of “Villas Key West”.
In Highlands, North Carolina, Dickson owns one building on Hickory Hill Road, which according to bankruptcy filings he rents. The property is owned by Dickson’s Hickory Hill, 1185 LLC. Dickson also owns one lot under his own name next to the building.
In Georgia, Dickson’s properties are concentrated in Atlanta. In addition to vacant lots in areas such as Lakewood Heights, Dickson’s Hickory Hill 1185, LLC owns the 115-121 Ridgeland Way property in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood of Buckhead. According to filings, this building is divided into four spaces, one of which Dickson lives in while in Atlanta and the other three being rented. We have discussed other white power militants based at this building.
Presently, Hickory Hill 1185, LLC is still listed as owning one building on Donnelly Avenue in the Oakland City area of Atlanta. Oakland City is a majority-Black, working class area. The house is currently unoccupied. The Hartford Trust, a Dickson-linked company not mentioned in the bankruptcy filings, owns lots behind and to one side of this building.
Documents
We hope that these documents – a selection of the most relevant filings from Dickson’s bankruptcy – are useful to other anti-fascist researchers. Please get in touch if you have further information on Dickson, his associates, and their business and political ventures.
Sam Dickson bankruptcy case, Case
14-29781-LMI, Southern District of Florida US Bankruptcy Court:
On November 16, 2019, student Charles Robertson posted a video of his class presentation for a writing class at Georgia Southern University in southeast Georgia. The YouTube video, titled “Irreplaceable”, presents the theory that “replacement” immigration from non-white countries is a kind of genocide aimed at destroying white people. The “great replacement” conspiracy theory is a well-known predictor of white supremacist violence and has been cited in mass murder manifestos such as that of the Christchurch shooter.
Charles Robertson
During his presentation, Charles Allen Robertson advertised the organization American Identity Movement (AmIM) by featuring an image of its banner on the screen. AmIM is a white nationalist group formerly known as “Identity Evropa”, and under that name is currently being sued for its role in Unite the Right at Charlottesville, VA, 2017. Afterward, in the comments of the YouTube video, Robertson engaged with commenters, basked in their praise, and gave out information on the racial composition of his class. Commenters began to abuse one of Robertson’s classmates – briefly audible in the video – with racial slurs. The video quickly went viral in multiple far-Right communities, including 4chan’s /pol/ network. The viral video currently has almost three thousand comments and over ninety thousand views.
Robertson displayed an image of an American Identity Movement rally (which he had attended) when discussing “What can you do?”
Many figures active in the far-Right have praised Charles Robertson’s video and his “bravery” in posting it. Patrick Casey, the head of American Identity Movement, promoted Charles Robertson on his Telegram channel. JF Gariépy, a racist and antisemitic podcaster with a history of predatory behavior, hosted Charles Robertson to talk about the video. In the Gariépy interview on November 28, Charles Robertson stated that he was not particularly concerned about being expelled from Georgia Southern because the administration had already shown a willingness to tolerate racism, citing the total lack of consequences for Georgia Southern students who earlier this year harassed a Latina author invited to speak on campus and publicly burned her book.
Book burning at Georgia Southern, October 2019. Robertson cites inaction by school authorities as emboldening him.
Charles Robertson has previously been exposed as a member of the white nationalist American Identity Movement, with anti-fascists highlighting Robertson alongside other members of AmIM earlier this year. While speaking with JF Gariépy about the success of his classroom propaganda stunt, Robertson stated almost word-for-word the plan expressed by user “MercurysCell912” – who antifascists had earlier linked to Robertson – to attend university as part of a “long march” to normalize his ideology.
MercurysCell912 comment on the rightwing Gab social network
While Robertson conceals the most overtly fascistic and antisemitic elements of his politics in the viral video, Robertson’s “MercurysCell912” social media account shows his deep affinity for Holocaust-denial and narratives of a massive Jewish conspiracy against whites. Robertson is not a young, impressionable student: he is a hardened activist in his late twenties who clearly articulates his goals around white nationalist recruitment.
On Twitter, Robertson tells followers to join the white nationalist American Identity Movement.
It is unlikely that Georgia Southern will act regarding Charles Robertson’s use of the classroom for white nationalist recruitment. As Robertson himself points out, the administration does not wish to confront racist activity, and some students are sympathetic. However, Georgia Southern is also a diverse campus by national standards. By his own account, fully half of the students in his classroom at the time of Robertson’s presentation were people of color. Students who are potential targets – students of color, Jewish or LGBTQ+ students, etcetera – deserve to know of active white nationalist recruitment and organizing, since the administration will not protect them. If Charles Robertson continues to appear on white power podcasts and promote Georgia Southern as a “based” university (Right-wing slang for something sympathetic to racism and fascism), then there is the danger that Georgia Southern will become a further magnet for white supremacists.
Neo-Nazi organization National Alliance promotes Robertson’s video on National Vanguard site
We encourage everyone to raise awareness of Charles Robertson and how Georgia Southern enabled the production of white nationalist propaganda on the public’s dime. While we do not wish to contribute to further hype for Robertson’s video, by this stage it has already received wide exposure. We are circulating this information so that Georgia Southern students and staff can have proper context on Robertson’s affiliations and know of his recruitment efforts.
If you have further information on Robertson or other members of the American Identity Movement in our state, please get in touch.
Update 3/27/2020: We have now identified the International Keystone Knights of the KKK supporter discussed in this article as Robert Timothy Dickenson.
Update 12/1/2019: We have also discovered that Doles’ September 14th rally was attended by a convicted child molester, Archie Lee Atwell.
On September 14, white power organizer Chester Doles held an ostensibly pro-Trump “American Patriots” rally in the small city of Dahlonega, north Georgia. Doles’ rally, organized and promoted with other white supremacists, attracted somewhere between three dozen and fifty participants. An anti-racist counter-protest on the other side of the downtown square attracted three times that many.
Anti-racist protest, Dahlonega, 9/14/2019
Over six hundred police from 36 different agencies swamped the area, with multiple cops for every person in the protests. During the rally, Doles blamed “antifa” for driving down numbers for his event.
Mass presence from police and corrections officers, September 14th
A report from the September 14 counter-protest on the IdaVox anti-racist news site provides a good overview of the day. Here, we discuss Dole’s organizing efforts and how they were resisted, beyond just the day of the rally.
Chester Doles’ group – containing several Klansmen and white nationalists – marches in on 9/14
When our organization first issued an alert about Doles’ upcoming rally, we made clear that Doles’ white supremacist ideology was not merely in the past. Doles – a self-described “fourth-generation Klansman” – led the Maryland group of the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan and then later the Georgia state chapter for the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization. In recent years Doles has been active with Crew 38, the feeder club for the white supremacist Hammerskin Nation gang, even speaking at the Hammerskins’ national gathering in Georgia, 2016. In 2017, when a Ku Klux Klan sign was displayed prominently on a building in downtown Dahlonega, Doles appeared to be in on the stunt. [1] Doles’ rally this year was promoted by Arkansas neo-Nazi leader Billy Roper of the ShieldWall Network, as well as on the notorious Stormfront forum.
Flyer for the National Alliance, left on vehicles in March 2019
Doles’ September rally, initially billed as a “Salute to President Trump”, had two aims. First, Doles aimed to intimidate. Doles claimed on the initial flyer for his rally that the event’s purpose was to “say ‘NO’ to Antifa in Lumpkin County” (Dahlonega is in Lumpkin County). Paperwork for Doles’ rally indicated that Doles viewed a local mainstream liberal organization as his “Antifa” enemy in the area. That same organization had flyers for the National Alliance left on their vehicles during their meeting in March. Doles’ second goal was to build alliances between hardcore white nationalists and the broader Right. To explain his thinking, Doles has cited former National Alliance leader William Pierce. Pierce argued that the white power movement required allies “inside the gates” – that is, in positions of establishment power and influence – in addition to revolutionary energy. Doles sees building a broader political front as a first step to acquire allies and resources for his movement. Explicit white nationalists have been increasingly isolated since 2017’s “Unite the Right” disaster, and so this need for allies is felt acutely.
Eight days after his rally, Chester Doles paraphrased National Alliance leader William Pierce (“Dr. P”) on social media to explain his strategy.
When our organization issued an alert about Doles’ rally, we stressed the importance of North Georgia residents responding to Doles’ efforts:
“Much depends on how locals in North Georgia choose to oppose this event […] 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.”
Although a white supremacist-organized rally rightly concerned anti-racists throughout the South, we recognized that North Georgia residents would be most impacted by increased activity from Doles, who would likely continue organizing after his rally. Therefore, anti-racists in the area needed to network and build capacity to respond. Our group saw our role as complimenting responses from North Georgia residents, encouraging others to show up, and continuing to monitor and document as events unfolded. The Socialist Coalition of North Georgia (SCoNG), a multi-tendency leftist group in the region, announced that they would publicly protest Doles’ rally soon after IdaVox/OnePeoplesProject and our organization notified the public.
Bikers for Trump director Dale Herndon explains that supporting 9/14/19 rally would be “bad optic” for organization.
Since Doles was attempting to build alliances with pro-Trump Republicans and the hard Right, we tried to break these potential alliances. Bikers for Trump, who at first endorsed Doles’ rally, withdrew after national director Dale Herndon was provided with documentation. We also began pressuring Republicans in the area to disavow the event, since the Lumpkin County Republican Party had initially given Doles’ event a nod and a wink on social media, and Georgia 9th District Representative Doug Collins was listed on early versions of the rally flyer as “invited” to speak. When the story of Doles’ rally broke in the media early September, Rep. Collins issued a statement to the press that he would “continue to denounce […] hate”. This complicated Doles’ effort to promote his rally as merely a pro-Trump, patriotic event. In contrast, the Republican Party of Lumpkin County refused to officially endorse or condemn the rally.
Republican Party of Lumpkin County does not officially endorse or condemn racist-organized rally.
Doles’ responded to increased scrutiny in three ways. First, Doles attempted to distance himself from his own event, emphasizing that his name was no longer on the permit application for the rally. Dustin Penner, Doles’ next-door neighbor, submitted a new permit application. Doles’ pretense was unconvincing, since Doles remained the primary person networking for and promoting the event. Most of the rally organizing took place through Doles’ Facebook page until Facebook deleted that profile.
Doles’ fearmongering about “Antifa” included speculation about professors at the University of North Georgia. North Georgia College & State University is the former name of the Dahlonega campus.
Second, Doles claimed that
anti-racist mobilization by SCoNG, as well as alerts from our organization, confirmed
all his earlier fantasies. This framing conveniently ignored that anti-racists
were responding to organizing by a longtime neo-Nazi and that Doles had been
harassing locals under the pretext of fighting “antifa” before anti-fascists
said a word.
As the rally approached, Doles supporter Scottie Robinson (“Sugar Bear”) of Rome, Georgia posted this picture of his AR-15 in Facebook discussion. Robinson was not seen on the day.
Finally, Doles and supporters upped their tough talk and veiled threats, perhaps believing this would cause anti-racists to step down. Doles boasted of his burly security team and hinted at vehicular assault against counter-protesters. Our group documented the threats from Doles’ camp while also trying to keep this talk in perspective.
Approximately two and a half weeks from Doles’ rally, the City of Dahlonega gave its first major indication of how it would cope with and facilitate the event. On August 28, the City of Dahlonega issued a public statement about the downtown rally. The City used Doles’ preferred language, describing the event as one by “Conservative Citizens” rallying for the President and not identifying the organizer as an active white supremacist. The City portrayed the situation as one of “different opinions” and issued stern warnings to those who may be “expecting to cause trouble” or considering “civil disobedience or violence”. The statement has now been scrubbed from the City’s website, but screenshots are here.
The Right Voice racist podcast featuring Chester Doles, August 28, 2019
That same evening, Chester Doles appeared on the white nationalist podcast The Right Voice, boasting that Dahlonega City Marshal Jeff Branyon had promised him “zero tolerance” policing of anti-racist protesters. Although Doles may have twisted some of Branyon’s words, Doles’ confidence that authorities would focus their attention on anti-racists was well-founded. Georgia authorities generally consider Newnan in 2018 – where militarized police flooded the area and preemptively attacked anti-Nazi protesters – as a successful model for future mobilization. Nationally, law enforcement has also prioritized cracking down on anti-fascists, although the Pittsburgh and El Paso massacres may have led to some belated reassessment of the threat posed by white supremacists.
Georgia white supremacist Michael Carothers AKA Michael Weaver
Since he was liaising with authorities over the rally, Doles began to drop his unsustainable pose of merely being a supporter and promoter of the event. At roughly the same time, Doles accepted help from another Georgia racist, Michael Carothers AKA Michael Weaver, as a rally spokesperson and publicist. Carothers was previously involved in the notorious World Church of the Creator (now “Creativity”) and was the National Alliance’s “Activist of the Year” in 2008. Carothers/Weaver not only shares with Doles a past in the National Alliance, but also a violent history. He was imprisoned for a 2010 assault against a Black man in Columbus, Georgia – Carothers remains on probation from the incident and is banished from a six-county area until this is completed. Earlier this year, Carothers assisted organizing for the failed “Rock Stone Mountain II” white power rally. Despite spending a couple of weeks helping to organize Doles’ rally, Carothers did not publicly show his face on the day.
Jovanni Valle.Valle speaking in Dahlonega.
With Doles reassured of overwhelming policing for his event, tough talk from Doles and his followers became muted. A September 1st announcement on Weaver/Carothers’ “White Information Network” blog stressed that “Any talk of illegal activity or actions and you’ll be banned from the event” – a change from the posturing of just days earlier. Carothers promoted the upcoming rally more as a “free speech” event than a pro-Trump one. This allowed other speakers to be incorporated into the event, who were a difficult fit for Doles’ pro-Trump framing. Jovanni Valle (“Jovi Val”) of New York was the first to be announced. Valle is a former Trump supporter and Proud Boy who now organizes with white nationalists and celebrates Adolf Hitler, criticizing his old “Alt-lite” associates.
Headline on North Georgia rightwing site FetchYourNews
Before the Dahlonega Nugget and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution published their first articles on the approaching rally – which correctly highlighted Doles’ white supremacist involvement – a rightwing news site attempted to sanitize this rally and spread fear about anti-fascists. FetchYourNews (FYN), a local news site for North Georgia, deemphasized Doles’ Klan and neo-Nazi involvement, choosing instead to stir residents against an alleged invasion by antifa “thugs”. The effect of the FYN story – and a follow-up post stressing Doles’ alleged peaceful intentions – was to give a small boost to the “American Patriots” rally at a time when organizers were struggling to attract numbers. Meanwhile, our group continued with our actual strategy. To maintain pressure on Doles and to complement the counter-rally organizing by SCoNG, we mailed 250 of Dole’s neighbors with a flyer about his white supremacist history just hours before the FYN article went online.
Tex Simmons (Brotherhood of Constitutional Patriots)
As the extent of Doles’ white supremacist commitments became evident, some on the Right grew squeamish and withdrew support for the Dahlonega event. Others saw no issue with supporting the Dahlonega rally despite knowing the main organizer’s ideology. A rightwing “Patriot” group led by William Tex Simmons of Dahlonega – the Brotherhood of Constitutional Patriots (BCP) – advertised the upcoming rally and pledged to attend. When criticized, Simmons insisted he was the target of hate just for being a pro-Constitution patriot. Elsewhere, Simmons admitted that Doles was a white supremacist “as far as I know” but that his group would join Doles because “I won’t set [sic] and watch antifa destroy our town like they do everywhere they go”.
Cindy Border (Confederate Patriot Rebels)
Similarly, a pro-Confederate group named the Confederate Patriot Rebels (CPR) – largely organized by Cindy Faye Border of Cleveland, Georgia – committed to join Doles’ rally. On a Facebook livestream, Border argued that attending a white supremacist-organized rally was not a big deal, since there was probably a member of the Klan at “nine out of ten” events her organization attends. On September 14, Border and others from CPR showed up with a couple of members of the Hiwaymen, another pro-Confederate group that rallies with white supremacists.
Charles Edward Lincoln III in Dahlonega, 9/14/2019
American Freedom Party’s Political Action Committee lists Charles E. Lincoln as Treasurer
“American Patriots” organizing stumbled along. By Sunday the 8th, three more speakers were announced on the “White Information Network” blog. Two of these – David Weikle and William Carter of South Carolina – failed to materialize at the rally. Charles Edward Lincoln III of Louisiana, a disbarred lawyer who serves as Treasurer for the white nationalist American Freedom Party, was the only pre-announced speaker other than Valle to show up on the day. Valle and Lincoln both previously talked at the dismal “Unite the Right II” rally in Washington, DC, 2018.
On Friday the 6th, Doles’ Facebook account was deleted by Facebook for unknown reasons, leaving the “White Information Network” blog and his account on VKontakte as the rally’s main communication platforms. At some point, Doles was also forced to abandon his plans for a post-rally gathering at a nearby park pavilion, which he simply stopped talking about to supporters.
Flyer for anti-racist counter-rally
Meanwhile, the SCoNG built for their counter-rally, reaching out to left-wing organizations, faith groups, and directly to Dahlonega residents. The Coalition hoped to build as broad a counter-rally as possible, highlighting widespread opposition to white supremacists attempting to gain any sort of foothold. In addition, SCoNG aimed to normalize anti-racist protest and to deepen community ties, in case white supremacists stepped up efforts in the aftermath of their rally.
Dahlonega authorities outlined their plans for Doles’ rally and the anti-racist counter-event the week before the rally. As expected, the City would barricade off separate protest areas for both groups, with the center of the downtown square between them and only accessible by police. In order to attend either rally, one would first need to go through a checkpoint and be searched for an extensive list of prohibited items. Such enclosed protest areas have been increasingly common in the South in the aftermath of Unite the Right, 2017 – not only being imposed in Newnan, Georgia but also in Murfreesboro, Tennessee before that. While these areas are often called free speech zones, their imposition discourages participation in protest, by making things as uncomfortable as possible for participants.
Atlanta Antifascists’ final intervention before the rally was releasing information on Doles’ Lumpkin County battery charges to Twitter. These charges stem from a December 2016 brawl in Dahlonega which also involved other members of the white supremacist Hammerskin Nation/Crew 38, though Doles was the only person charged. See here for more extensive documentation. Doles organized his far-Right rally while still completing his probation from the battery plea deal. The Atlanta Journal-Constitutionpicked up the story on the eve of Doles’ rally, likely further souring residents on the event.
Roy Pemberton, who led the Loyal White Knights in Georgia until 2017. Dahlonega protest 9/14/19.
On the day of the rally, Doles assembled with Klansmen before marching in. For information on the SCK-KKK, a Klan group that provided at least four members/supporters at the core of Doles’ rally, see our separate article here. In addition to the SCK Klan group, Roy Pemberton, the former grand dragon for the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia, was also part of the main group that entered with Doles. Pemberton left the Loyal White Knights in 2017 due to an internal mutiny over the behavior of the group’s main leader, but he does not seem to have abandoned the white supremacist movement.
This individual appeared in Doles’ company a month after the rally, wearing International Keystone Knights apparel.
At least one supporter for a third Klan group, the International Keystone Knights of the KKK, also entered and protested with Doles’ group. This individual did not publicly broadcast his IKK affiliations on the 14th, but he appeared in public again with Doles the following month. That time, he boasted an International Keystone Knights sweatshirt. Although Doles may no longer be a formal member of the Klan, at least a half dozen supporters of various Klan factions were at the very center of his protest.
Daniel MartinPaul Lovett
In addition to the Klansmen, members of the Augusta-area Nationalist Liberty Union (NLU) – John Daniel Martin and Paul Michael Lovett – also marched in and rallied with Doles. The Nationalist Liberty Union is a small organization whose “mission is to unify America as a Euro-centric Christian nation”. While the group claims that “We are not for separation as some White Nationalists and Southern Nationalists advocate” but merely opposes “anti-White policies”, these quibbles do not matter in practice. Daniel Martin has a past with the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens – the successor of the segregationist White Citizens’ Councils – and marched at Unite the Right in Charlottesville. Paul Lovett is listed as a contributor to Michael Weavers/Carothers’ “White Information Network” blog. The NLU may have also helped recruit the former campaign chairman for neo-Nazi David Duke, William Carter of South Carolina, to speak at the Dahlonega rally, since the NLU has rallied with Carter before. (Though announced as a speaker, Carter skipped the Dahlonega event.)
Pierce Doles (R) wearing National Alliance – Georgia hoodie. Photo posted online earlier this year.
Doles was also joined by two of his children at the rally. We will not name one due to her age. The other, Pierce Rockwell Doles, is now an adult. In early 2017, Pierce Doles gave an interview to TV news, supporting the KKK sign in downtown Dahlonega. On social media, Pierce Doles flaunts his racism and has been photographed wearing gear for the white supremacist National Alliance. Doles can be seen in our photo galleries from September 14, dressed in an orange t-shirt that day.
Pierce Doles (“Chevy Doles” on Facebook) supports Adolf Hitler
By the time Doles marched in with
his main group of supporters, others had already assembled in the “Patriots”
area, for example Cindy Border and the Confederate Patriot Rebels. Also waiting
was Lucretia Hughes, a Black pro-Trump commentator who had been added as a
surprise speaker by the rally organizers. Hughes insisted that she was at the
Dahlonega rally just to support Trump. Discussing her later on The Right Voice
white nationalist podcast, Chester Doles referred to Hughes as the organizers’
“Trojan horse”. A Trojan horse is, of course, used to mislead about one’s
intentions and to encourage others to let their guard down. While it is
unfortunate that Hughes assisted in this façade, it is unclear that many people
were actually misled by her presence at the rally.
Rightwing / pro-Trump commentator Lucretia Hughes in Dahlonega
Across the downtown square, a much larger anti-racist protest rallied despite highly restrictive conditions. Hundreds of police from dozens of agencies saturated the downtown area, with many deployed in riot gear as a not-so-subtle threat. Interestingly, police allowed firearms in the protest zones, but banned ammunition. Restrictions were applied unequally, with much more focus on controlling anti-racists. When individual “Patriots” entered the anti-racist protest area, police saw no issue; when two anti-racists entered Doles’ protest area and began chanting, they were arrested on riot charges. (A third arrest was mentioned in the media but does not appear directly related to the protests.) Police even stepped in to help Doles with his P.A. system when Doles had difficulties setting it up.
Kynan Dutton, a neo-Nazi operating with the ShieldWall Network, arrives late
After hyping the event for months, Doles’ rally was underwhelming, with even rally speakers noting the low attendance. Having received a permit for fifty to five hundred people, the event probably did not hit the bottom number. One interesting late-comer to the event, Tennessee neo-Nazi Kynan Dutton, arrived wearing a Nazi t-shirt to complement his swastika neck tattoo. Dutton – representing the white supremacist ShieldWall Network – left together with Doles and several Klansmen, presumably to the after-event at Doles’ home.
Although his rally did not attract the numbers he had hoped, Doles has subsequently put on a brave face and described it on a podcast appearance as a “great success”. Any scenario in which he got to rally at all would be described in such terms. While his rally did attract some people – including locals – outside his white supremacist base, he fell extremely short of his ambitions. A much larger group counter-protested. After a few busy weeks of organizing, anti-racists in the region are now far better connected with each other. According to The Dahlonega Nugget, the cost for Doles’ rally and the massive police show of force has hit almost $100,000.
With the rally over, at least two law enforcement agencies issued social media posts tacitly admitting that they were focused on policing “antifa” or framing the demonstrations as patriots versus antifa. The posts were later retracted or qualified, but not before causing a stir online. In Chattooga County – which borders Lumpkin – criticism of the Sheriff’s wording led to four Democrat officials including the Sheriff switching affiliations to the Republican Party. While Doles has bizarrely claimed this as a victory, the switch of rightwing Democrats to the GOP would have likely happened eventually anyway.
“American Patriots USA” float in Dahlonega Gold Rush Days Parade, October 19, 2019. Note Doles’ associate in International Keystone Knights of the KKK sweatshirt – person also at September rally.
Following the rally, Doles has launched “American Patriots USA” as a vehicle for future alliance-building with the broader hard-Right and pro-Trump “patriots”. American Patriots USA had a float in the “Gold Rush Days” community parade in Dahlonega approximately one month after Doles’ rally. In addition to family members, Doles was accompanied by a supporter dressed in an International Keystone Knights sweatshirt – this same person was at Doles’ September rally, though he did not wear obvious Klan gear then.
Twitter account for Brotherhood of Constitutional Patriots organizer Tex Simmons features image from September 14
Despite September 14th mostly falling flat, Doles appears determined to press on with organizing, seeing opportunity in elections next year. Due to intensive organizing against his rally – documentation and outreach by our group but more importantly organizing by North Georgia residents – Doles is not in a strong position, although he could still gain ground. One of the nominally non-racist “patriot” groups that supported Doles’ rally, the Brotherhood of Constitutional Patriots, is sympathetic to further coordination with white nationalists in the rally’s aftermath. On Facebook, the Nationalist Liberty Union advertised an informal BCP event, which NLU was seemingly invited to attend. BCP leader Tex Simmons also features a picture of September 14 as the masthead for his new Twitter account, where he follows Chester Doles.
Chester Doles (behind and to the right of shirtless neo-Nazi) at Unite the Right, Charlottesville, VA, 2017. Image from footage by Unicorn Riot.
For anti-racists, the struggle
against far-Right and white supremacist organizing in North Georgia is far from
over. The large anti-racist counter-rally in Dahlonega – assembled in under a
month – is however a step forward. The organizing done during this time
significantly cut into the success of Doles’ event. Despite earlier veiled
threats from authorities and militarized policing focused on anti-racists during
the day, a large and spirited demonstration took place. We have been told that
even many residents who were earlier inclined to ignore Doles’ rally –
believing this would somehow reduce his power – in retrospect understand the
importance of public opposition. If white nationalists may have gained a few
alliances from their Dahlonega rally, that is a problem. However, anti-racists
in the region are now better connected, better organized, and most importantly
confident. There may be battles ahead, but this is a great start.
If you have information on any of the racist organizers mentioned here, or other white supremacist organizing in our state, please get in contact.
Note
[1] Not only did Doles appear on the scene when residents protested the Klan sign in Dahlonega, but a flyer for Doles’ personal training business was displayed in the window of the same building. Doles’ son Pierce gave an interview to the media describing the KKK signage as just “proud of being white”.
When the Klan sign and flags came down, they were removed by workers from Homer Carver Roofing & Repair – who likely also erected them. Homer Carver is the son of Daniel Carver, who was the grand dragon (highest-ranking member in the state/main state organizer) for the Invisible Empire, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan before that organization folded in 1993. Interestingly, the Invisible Empire, Knights of the KKK is the same organization that Doles led in the state of Maryland.
In November 2017, white supremacist Chester Doles took a plea deal for two charges of battery in Lumpkin County, Georgia. The charges stem from a brawl involving Doles and other white supremacists affiliated with the Hammerskins gang. The incident took place at Johnny B’s restaurant and bar in Doles’ home city of Dahlonega, December 2016. Chester Doles was still on probation from his plea deal when he organized a far-Right rally in Dahlonega this September.
Chester Doles wearing embroidered shorts for “Crew 38 – Georgia” circa 2017. Crew 38 is the support/feeder organization for the violent Hammerskins Nation gang.
The battery case and Doles’ probation status have already been covered by the media. However, we are publishing a police report and case files from this incident for the first time. These documents highlight several key members of the Hammerskin Nation racist gang (and its “Crew 38” support formation) who were active in our region circa 2016.
Police report from brawl at Johnny B’s, Dahlonega, Georgia, December 2016. Click here for .pdf file.
We redacted the police report and
case files published here, since we do not wish to expose anyone we cannot
confidently identify as a Hammerskins affiliate or an ally of Chester Doles. Addresses
in these documents are unverified and may not be current.
From correspondence with a witness, we know that white supremacists attacked family and friends of an interracial couple at Johnny B’s on the night of December 17-18, 2016. Though some details of what occurred are unclear, by all accounts Chester Doles was on the scene with several members of the Hammerskin Nation (HSN) gang as well as Crew 38 (C38). C38 is the support formation—a kind of booster club—for the Hammerskins. Following a protracted trial period, members of C38 may eventually become full “patched in” members of the HSN gang. At the time of the Johnny B’s brawl, Doles was a prominent C38 member in Georgia. Doles had even given a speech at the Hammerskins’ annual national gathering a couple of months earlier in 2016.
According to a witness, Doles instigated the December 2016 bar fight by making comments about black men dating white women to an interracial couple, the woman’s family, and their friends, who had all gathered at Johnny B’s for a celebration. This varies from the account in the police report, which cites a different flashpoint for the brawl but still identifies Doles as the main antagonist. We are skeptical of the account in the police report, since it states that Jason Reeves was talking with a black woman in the bar, after which point Hammerskins attacked him. However, Reeves was a member of C38 in 2016, and is now a full member of the HSN. It is unlikely that Reeves was merely making casual conversation with a black woman in front of the Hammerskins he was trying to impress. It is possible that the name “Jason Reeves” was confused in the police report with a friend of a bar worker, since this friend’s name also begins with “J”. That person is mentioned as having Hammerskins pulled off him in the next sentence of the police report.
Whatever the exact origins of the
fight, it is clear that Johnny B’s was asking for trouble by permitting patched
members of a white supremacist gang to enter its establishment.
“ChesterDoles” listed as a part of Crew 38 on the C38/HSN forum, September 2016.
Doles was identified in the police report as the leader of the white supremacist group at Johnny B’s. While Doles was technically only a member of C38 and not a full Hammerskin, he had a higher degree of prestige due to his decades as a white supremacist organizer.
We will now discuss other racists
and C38/HSN affiliates listed as witnesses in the police and court
documents.
Photo of C38/HSN Southern meet-up, posted online August 2016, some months before the Dahlonega brawl. Doles in background, fourth from left.
One person with the C38/HSN group at Johnny B’s has since left the white supremacist movement. At the time of the fight, Gabe Brown of Kentucky was a Hammerskin prospect. (Brown is third from left wearing a Crew 38 patch in the photo from the HSN/C38 Southern meet-up displayed above. Brown also showed up with the Traditionalist Worker Party in Auburn, Alabama in April 2017.) As covered in a 2018 NBC documentary, Brown cut ties with the Hammerskins at some point in 2017 and eventually left the white nationalist movement altogether. Brown was one of two out-of-state C38/HSN supporters listed as a witness to the Johnny B’s brawl in court records.
Shawn Christopher Dunson
According to the witness list, Shawn Christopher Dunson, a full member of the Hammerskins in Georgia, was also present. Dunson went by the names “Chris Nunamaker” and “Bubba Nunamaker” during this time, while he was one of the most visible HSN members in our state. Dunson also used the alias “Peaches” on the now-deleted C38 forum, where his Hammerskin profile icon identified him as a full member of the gang. The identity of “Peaches” and Dunson/“Nunamaker” is corroborated by an online donation made under the name “Peaches Nunamaker”, which was sent to the GoFundMe campaign of a West Coast Hammerskin’s girlfriend.
Shawn C. Dunson Facebook profile image for now-deleted “Chris Nunamaker” account, late 2015
“Peaches” listed as a Hammerskin on the C38/HSN forum, September 2016.
Another in the HSN/C38 group at Johnny B’s, Jason Chance Reeves of Georgia, was part of C38 at the time of the brawl, while he attempted to join the Hammerskins as a full “patched in” member. We briefly mentioned Reeves in a 2016 article, when he was involved promoting the Hammerskins’ national “Hammerfest” gathering that took place in Georgia. (Chester Doles gave a speech at that event.) By his own account, Reeves has a long history in the white power movement. In one online post under the name “BloodandHonourGeorgia” on the Stormfront forum, Reeves stated that he played for a hate rock group in the early 2000s, sharing the stage with several larger acts from the white supremacist music scene of the time.
Jason Reeves under his own name as a “Prospect of the [Hammerskin] Nation”, Crew 38 forum, 2016
Reeves is now a full member of the
Hammerskins. In 2018, Reeves posted a picture of his new tattoo on the Russian
VKontakte social networking site. The tattoo was of a Hammerskins logo, which
only members are allowed to receive.
Jason Reeves displays his Hammerskin tattoo, 2018.
Another Hammerskin present at Johnny B’s, Peter Mitchell Gaughenbaugh, appears to have traveled from Florida for the white supremacist get-together. Gaughenbaugh is a key Hammerskin member in Florida and used to maintain the Crew38 website. Gaughenbaugh is also a registered sex offender, with a conviction for possessing material of a sexual performance by a child.
Florida Hammerskin and sex offender Peter Mitchell Gaughenbaugh
In addition to known HSN/C38 members, two of Doles’ family feature in the police list of witnesses. One, Teresa Miller Doles, is Chester Doles’ wife. Teresa Doles supported Doles while he was imprisoned on federal weapons charges. Under her alias as “Treedoles”, Teresa Doles also kept an account on the old C38 forum, demonstrating not just personal support for her husband, but also political support for his white supremacist cause. An eyewitness to the Hammerskin violence at Johnny B’s does not recall seeing Chester Doles’ wife at the time; it is possible Teresa Doles arrived later.
“Treedoles” AKA Teresa Doles listed on HSN/C38 forum, September 2016
Finally, Doles’ son from an earlier relationship, Zane Shawn Doles, was present with his father and the Hammerskins group at Johnny B’s. As of last year, Zane Doles was employed by AllGood Pest Solutions. We would welcome further information on Zane Doles’ ideological commitments.
According to journalist Vegas Tenold, Chester Doles and “Peaches” (Shawn C. Dunson) attended Unite the Right in Charlottesville, VA, 2017.
Originally, Chester Doles faced four charges from his violence in Dahlonega. However, in November 2017, Doles pled no contest to just two charges of battery, receiving time served in jail, two years of probation, 40 hours community service and a fine. A few months before taking this plea deal, Doles traveled with other Hammerskins to Charlottesville, Virginia, where according to journalist Vegas Tenold’s Everything You Love Will Burn, Doles took part in the bloody “Unite the Right” rally. Tenold also named “Peaches” – who we have identified as Georgia Hammerskin Shawn Christopher Dunson – as being part of the Hammerskin group which arrived with Doles in Charlottesville.
Chester Doles is currently downplaying his white supremacist affiliations as he attempts to organize in public. Doles brawls alongside neo-Nazis and organizes with Klansmen; his denials of white supremacy mean nothing.
We are asking any reader with images of Chester Doles and the Hammerskin group at Unite the Right to get in contact. Please also get in touch if you have further information on Doles or the other white supremacists mentioned here. Since Doles has previously cultivated support among law enforcement while doing white supremacist organizing, any information about sympathy or support for Doles within local government would also be appreciated.
In early April, our organization exposed metro Atlanta resident John Lee Clemmer as a member of the white nationalist organization Identity Evropa (IE) and an active racist propagandist operating under the alias “Why Tea”. Clemmer bankrolled an expensive banner action by the white power organization IE on Georgia Tech campus in late 2017. Clemmer also snuck far-Right messages into his science fiction novels and forcefully campaigned against a Black teaching assistant at the University of Georgia.
John Lee Clemmer
We identified “Why Tea” as John Lee Clemmer via leaked discussion logs from IE, which were published by the Unicorn Riot independent media collective. Identity Evropa has now rebranded as the “American Identity Movement” (AmIM). At the time, we did not know whether Clemmer had stuck with the white power organization after its name change, but new evidence establishes that Clemmer has remained in IE/AmIM.
With the publication of our article on Clemmer, we alerted Clemmer’s employers at International Business Machines (IBM), where he was working as a managing consultant for Cloud Identity Services. We also mailed flyers to Clemmer’s neighbors in Smyrna, Georgia, informing them of the racist propagandist in their midst. In response, Clemmer lied and insisted that he had been misidentified.
In May, we updated our article to state that “We have received multiple indications that John L. Clemmer is no longer working for IBM”. We pointedly did not write that Clemmer had been fired.
Now, Unicorn Riot has published a new set of leaked messages from AmIM, providing discussion from that group’s “Dox Support” channel. This channel was established so that members of the racist organization who had been publicly identified could discuss how best to respond. John Lee Clemmer appears in this channel as “Humanbiodiversity”: a scientific-sounding euphemism for racism. In one message, “Humanbiodiversity” discusses “when antifa sent flyers to all my neighbors” and the neighbors’ responses. Due to the timing and details of what occurred, this could only refer to the mailing of John Lee Clemmer’s neighborhood. Elsewhere, “Humanbiodiversity” clumsily switches from writing about his experience in the first person to referring to John Lee Clemmer in the third person. Since Clemmer shared his thoughts in a closed chat exclusively for AmIM members, it is clear that Clemmer stuck with the white nationalist organization IE after it rebranded as AmIM.
In the “Dox Support” discussion, Clemmer/“Humanbiodiversity” revealed on April 20th that his employer had decided not to fire him and had ruled – despite mountains of evidence to the contrary – that there was nothing to link Clemmer to the racist propagandist “Why Tea”. By the time that Clemmer made this comment, our organization had even noted that John Lee Clemmer maintained a playlist of racist propaganda under his own name in addition to his materials as “Why Tea”.
John Lee Clemmer as “Humanbiodiversity” in leaked AmIM chats, April 20, 2019
On April 26, Clemmer/“Humanbiodiversity” stated that he was doing the “deny deny deny thing” to the public. In another comment from May 5, Clemmer disclosed his strategy for the future: “It’s disinformation about reality for me from now on”. Clemmer then joked that he was actually an electrician (rather than an IBM employee).
John Lee Clemmer/“Humanbiodiversity” admits to widespread lying.
Finally, on May 14, Clemmer/“Humanbiodiversity” gloated that “Antifa is now 0 for 2 with me”, having neither got him fired for what he admits were fire-able breaches of his workplace’s code of conduct, nor preventing him from getting a new job. It appears that Clemmer left IBM having received new employment after the company had botched its investigation.
John Lee Clemmer gloats, May 14, 2019
John Lee Clemmer as “Why Tea” on Twitter. Note the date of Clemmer’s all-caps post, which corresponds to Clemmer’s gloating in AmIM “Dox Support”.
With his comments to the “Dox Support” channel, Clemmer revealed just how badly IBM mishandled its internal investigation. While investigating, IBM made no effort to follow up with our organization, for example asking questions about our research or requesting further documentation. Predictably, IBM are now keeping quiet about their clearing of an active racist propagandist.
Now that this sad chapter has concluded, all we can do is publish evidence of IBM mishandling its investigation, and of John Lee Clemmer’s “deny deny deny” strategy about his white power involvement.
If you have further information on Clemmer, his current employment, the American Identity Movement, or other white nationalists in our region, please get in touch.
Update 2/14/2020: This article discusses a nighttime photo of people giving Klan salutes, that was posted online in 2018. One of the individuals in the photo was unidentified when we first published our article. He is Douglas Leroy Savage of Cleveland, Georgia.
Doug Savage, photo posted online 2019
Savage (L) & Robert McDuffie (R), posted by McDuffie in 2014
Introduction
On September 14, 2019, a “Patriots”/Trump rally took place in Dahlonega, Georgia. The main organizer for the rally was Chester Doles, a neo-Nazi and self-described “fourth-generation Klansman”. Although organizers claimed their rally was not white supremacist, and the speaker lineup even included Black conservative commentator Lucretia Hughes in addition to white nationalistspeakers, one of the main organized groups at the rally was from a North Georgia-based Ku Klux Klan faction, the SCKKKK. Here, we identify several members or supporters of this Klan group, discuss their role in the September 14 Dahlonega rally, and provide some background on their organization.
Dahlonega
On the day of Doles’ rally, a group of approximately twenty people marched with Doles into their designated rally area. Doles’ supporters had initially met up in a nearby parking lot. A picture from this lot shows that two KKK members, Jonathan Keith Miller and Robert C. McDuffie, were among the first to meet up with Doles.
Jonathan Miller and Robert McDuffie meet up with Chester Doles in parking lot before rally. Original image from reporter Doug Richards’ Twitter.
By the time Doles’ group marched in, three others formed a small group with McDuffie and Miller. The five stuck together throughout the event. Two of the others, Robert Craig Korom and Cody Steven Cantrell, are Klan supporters and likely members. We have not identified the fifth member of the group, and therefore cannot establish whether he is a Ku Klux Klan member or merely tagged along with the Klan group for Doles’ rally.
Ku Klux Klan group in Dahlonega, September 14, 2019. Still from News2Share footage.
In photos from mid-2018, Robert
McDuffie appears with four others, posing with firearms and giving left-armed
Klan salutes.
Photo posted by Kevin McDuffie, July 2018. L-R: Cody Cantrell, Robert McDuffie, Kevin McDuffie, Christopher Jones and Jonathan Miller.
Photo posted by Jonathan Keith Miller as “JJ Miller”. Added to Facebook on September 2018, but presumably from same day as above photo. L-R: Cody Cantrell, Robert McDuffie, Christopher Jones, Kevin McDuffie and Jonathan Miller.
Note that three of those pictured giving Klan salutes — Robert McDuffie, Jonathan Miller and Cody Cantrell — were in Dahlonega for Chester Doles’ “Patriots” rally on September 14.
Kevin David McDuffie, who appears in the 2018 daytime pictures, is a brother of Robert McDuffie and also goes by the name “Kraker”. Kevin McDuffie has a lengthy criminal record which includes the distribution of methamphetamine. His most recent arrest was in August 2018.
Another image of a group giving Klan
salutes — this time shot at night — was published by Kevin McDuffie some weeks
before he shared the daytime photo (and before his most recent bust for carrying
meth). Robert and Kevin McDuffie are visible, as are Christopher D Jones and
Jonathan Keith Miller, who appeared in the daytime group photos.
Photo posted by Kevin McDuffie to Facebook, July 1, 2018. L-R: Jonathan Miller, Christopher Jones, Kevin McDuffie, unidentified individual and Robert McDuffie.
One individual in the nighttime
photo has yet to be identified. This person also appears in a photo with Kevin
McDuffie, seemingly from the same evening. A photo from 2014 shows the same
person posing with Robert McDuffie. Robert McDuffie calls him the “truest
brother I ever had”.
2018 photo with Kevin McDuffie.
2014 pic with Robert McDuffie.
Jonathan Keith Miller (AKA “Jonnathan Miller” and “JJ Miller”), who features in the 2018 photos and also showed up in Dahlonega, identifies himself as a Klansman. In a comment accompanying one of the above photos, Jonathan Miller (“JJ Miller”) writes to Robert McDuffie (profile as “Reb White”): “AKIA NON SILBA SED ANTHAR”. “AKIA” is an acronym for “A Klansman I Am”. The rest of Miller’s comment is a Ku Klux Klan slogan.
Jonathan Miller giving Klan salute, 2018. Posted by Kevin McDuffie, likely from the same evening as nighttime group photo.
It is unclear whether Cody Cantrell of Cleveland, Georgia — included in the daytime Klan group photos — is a full member of the SCKKKK, or if he merely enjoys giving Klan salutes alongside self-identified KKK members and attending a recent rally with them. Cantrell is linked on social media to severalsupportersof the Klangroup as well as to Dawsonville white supremacist Justin Dean Maddox (see below).
Cody Cantrell linked to open white supremacist Justin Maddox. More info on Maddox below.
Finally, Robert Craig Korom of
Cumming, Georgia — who was at the Dahlonega rally with the SCKKKK group — is
not pictured giving Klan salutes in any photographs we have found. However,
Korom clearly signals his support for the Klan. In one Facebook comment from
2014, Korom states that he is “proud of this organization [the KKK]” which he
believes is standing up for “the white community”.
Robert Korom writes about the KKK on Facebook page of an unfortunately named musical act, 2014.
In 2015, Korom “liked” a Klan recruitment image posted by “Jimmy Maddog” (Justin Maddox, see below). More recently, Korom “liked” an image of two clasped white hands in front of a Celtic Cross, a symbol used by white nationalists. The image was posted by SCKKKK organizer Robert McDuffie’s account as “Reb White”. Robert Korom is linkedon social mediato othersupporters of the SCKKKK.
Images “liked” on Facebook by Robert Korom.
On Instagram, Korom displays the hat he wore to Chester Doles’ 9/14/2019 rally in Dahlonega
Group Name and Background
We noted that Robert McDuffie, an
apparent leader of the Klan group we are discussing, identifies his
organization as the “SCKKKK”. However, the meaning of these initials remains
mysterious.
One Facebook profile for Robert McDuffie mentions “SCKKKK”
We know of two Klan groups that operated in Georgia and used the initials “SCK”. The first, the Southern Confederate Knights of the KKK, existed in the early 1990s and was based in Rome, Georgia, which is about two hours’ drive from Cleveland, Georgia, where the current SCKKKK is centered. The second group, the Silent Circle Knights of the KKK, held events in a few states. One such event was an April 2012 picnic and cross-burning in Clarkesville, Georgia which was co-organized by the larger Loyal White Knights. That “SCK” Klan group has been silent for over half a decade.
Gayle Hathcock Maddox and Justin Dean Maddox, image posted May 2017
Clarkesville, where the 2012 picnic occurred, is not far from Cleveland, Georgia, where the current “SCKKKK” is based. However, the present group likely has a different origin. In recent years, a married couple based in Dawsonville, Georgia — Justin Dean Maddox and Gayle Hathcock Maddox — maintained a number of Facebook pages where they boasted about their Ku Klux Klan affiliations. For example, on the “Intro” section to one of his Facebook profiles, Justin Maddox wrote: “Join the Klan. Let us know.” Maddox’s posts with KKK symbols date from 2015 to 2017. Between his profiles in his own name and those under the alias “Jimmy Maddog”, Justin Maddox was linked on social media to Robert McDuffie, Robert Korom and Cody Cantrell.
2017 discussion between Robert McDuffie (as “Bob White”, yet another alias) and Robert Korom mentioning “Maddog” (Justin Maddox). Note that Korom and McDuffie spell “OK” as “OKKK”.
In August 2015, Justin Maddox shared
the web address for the “Christian Southern Knight [sic] of Georgia KKK”, an
obscure Klan group. The website is no longer online and is not archived on
third-party websites. Since several people linked to Justin Maddox are members
or supporters of the “SCKKKK”, it appears that the present group is a direct or
indirect descendant of the “Christian Southern Knight” KKK publicized by
Maddox. Our best guess is that the word order was simply changed, with “SCKKKK”
now standing for “Southern Christian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan”. We would
welcome any additional information or documentation on this matter.
2015: “Christian Southern Knight of the Georgia KKK” website link
Conclusion
In Dahlonega, members/supporters of the SCKKKK marched in with Chester Doles for his September rally in Dahlonega. The Klan group was one of the largest organized contingents at Doles’ rally. This further contradicts Doles’ claim that his event was not about white supremacy.
As an organization, the SCKKKK is small. Even watchdog organizations that usually monitor the Klan have failed to note its activity. Other than the supporters we have named here, the SCKKKK likely has only a few other participants. We do not wish to exaggerate the group’s importance by writing about them. However, from Kevin McDuffie’s involvement in the methamphetamine trade to the blotchy prison-style tattoos displayed by some other supporters, there are indications that this Klan outfit may overlap with regional white power gang culture. This, combined with seeming leader Robert McDuffie’s celebration of Bruce Pierce — a white supremacist terrorist — suggests that the Klan group cannot entirely be written off as a threat. Now that this group is organizing side-by-side with longtime racist leader Chester Doles, we think they deserve some scrutiny and that those living nearby should be informed.
If you have further information about the Klan supporters pictured here, or about other white supremacist activity in our region, please get in contact.
Note: We did our best not to include photos of journalists and curiosity-seekers in this album, but due to the nature of event, there may be one or two pictured. Don’t jump to conclusions.
Chester Doles’ son Pierce Rockwell Doles in orange shirt.
Kynan Dutton of the ShieldWall Network
Chester Doles departs on motorbike, with his son Pierce Doles following in black truck.
Confederate Patriot Rebels and Hiwaymen group photo after rally.
Note: We did our best not to include photos of journalists and curiosity-seekers in this album, but due to the nature of event, there may be one or two pictured. Don’t jump to conclusions.
On Tuesday, September 3rd, Atlanta Antifascists mailed 250 flyers to Dahlonega, north Georgia residents, warning them about “fourth-generation Klansman” and active neo-Nazi Chester James Doles, Jr.
North Georgia residents and Southern anti-racists are organizing against the September 14 far-Right rally. We hope that by warning Doles’ neighbors about his history as a violent Klansman and his continued neo-Nazi activity, we impair Doles’ ability to organize.
Flyer about Chester Doles (click here to download .pdf)
Follow our Twitter account for updates on the Dahlonega rally. If you have information on Doles or any of his associates, please get in touch.
After their downtown rally, participants are moving to Yahoola Creek Park to continue their event. Although Doles got a neighbor to place his name on the most recent permit application for the downtown rally, it was Chester Doles who rented the pavilion at Yahoola Creek Park for later in the day.
Receipt for Chester Doles’ pavilion rental.
Following their downtown rally and then gathering at Yahoola Creek Park, Doles has announced that there will be an “after party” that night.
