When considering the grandiose statements of white supremacists, it is hard to fathom that household dysfunction and Oedipus complexes can bring down entire organizations. Such moments highlight that oppressive, hierarchical organizations’ structure are rotten — and fragile — to the core. With the rottenness that permeates all white supremacist organizations in mind, we provide this communique on the abomination that is the League of the South. (more…)
Category: Exposed
-
Jacob Stephen Von Ott – Still A Fascist, Still Unwelcome In Portland
We are calling on FedEx to fire Jacob Von Ott from their Troutdale processing facility. The community of Troutdale and the employees of FedEx deserve to live and work in places free from the violent influence and propaganda of white supremacist organizers like Ott.
You can contact Ott’s employer at:
Fedex Sorting Center, 2460 NW Sundial Rd, Troutdale, OR 97060
(503) 660-1700
Fedex Human Resources: (503) 660-1827
Senior Manager of Fedex Troutdale – Shane Spannaus
(503) 660-1749 -
The Neo-Nazis Next Door, Alongside Goodwin in Charlottesville
Christopher Michael Pack, a former student Western Carolina University, and Karissa Anne Herbst Pack are former residents of Indiana and current residents of Brasstown, NC and have been flying under the radar lately to avoid the consequences of their choices. Christopher’s decision to stop lurking in the shadows and safety of the internet, and begin organizing at violent white supremacist rallies is why we’re bringing these weasels to the spotlight. Below we will be focusing our attention to Christopher and specify when including Karissa’s involvement in the white power movement. What has over the years evolved from trolling people online through twitter, facebook, gab (a popular social media site amongst the far-right) and discord has since moved on to more violent tactics. A fan of the sub-genre of NSBM, national socialist black metal, he attends larger shows in Atlanta area and lesser known shows at The Georgia Peach Oyster Bar, a bar outside Temple, Georgia that regularly holds white power shows and rallies.
Name: Christopher Michael Pack
Aliases: Ian Moone, seigeresist, Mr. Deplorable, John Smith
Address: 33 Bending Trail, Brasstown, NC 28902
DOB: 04/27/84
Phone number: 219-972-0052
E-mail: [email protected]
Name: Karissa Ann (Herbst) Pack
Aliases: Kcapack, karherbst, frodolover69
Address: 33 bending Trail, Brasstown, NC 28902
DOB: 03/06/90
Phone Number: 828-837-4763 -
Evan James McCarty – From Musical Theatre to Nazi Propaganda
via Rose City Antifa
In collaboration with comrades in Eugene, Rose City Antifa is revealing the identity of “Byron de la Vandal,” a virulent Nazi and hopeful fascist-folk musician, whose real name is Evan James McCarty. A major propagandist for the alt-right, McCarty also has ties to Vanguard America, True Cascadia, Daily Stormer groups, and the “Oregon Aryan” group of fascists that RCA wrote about in the Cascadian Coffee Company Discord log leaks.
-
Harris Media Designer Ariel Gherman Tied to Alt-Right White Supremacists
Via Screwston Antifascist Committee
Summary: Ariel Michelle Gherman is a 24-year-old white supremacist living in Austin, Texas. In August 2017 she participated in the white supremacist “Unite the Right” demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, where fellow white supremacist James Fields murdered anti-racist protester Heather Heyer. She also helped organize logistics for the group of Texas fascists and white supremacists who traveled to the “Unite the Right” demonstrations, and is connected to numerous Texas neo-Nazis and white supremacist organizations on social media. She works at a mainstream conservative graphic design and media strategy firm in Austin called Harris Media LLC.
Ariel Michelle Gherman (aka “Ariel Sherman”)
- DOB: April 12, 1994
- Lives in apartments at 1117 Hollow Creek Dr., Austin, TX 78704
- Drives Green Subaru Outback, Texas plate HHT 9271
- https://www.facebook.com/100000351694808
- Instagram: @earlthegirl94
- Employer: Harris Media LLC
- (512) 900-9439
- 2131 Theo Dr, Austin, TX 78723
- [email protected]
- https://www.facebook.com/pg/HarrisMediaLLC
- Twitter/IG: @harrismediallc
- http://www.harrismediallc.com
-
Lies, Damned Lies, and Cameron Padgett: The Secret Life of the Atlanta-area Racist Who Books Richard Spencer’s Campus Visits
Update 5/1/2018: Padgett’s lawsuit against Penn State has been thrown out. Padgett has also dropped his lawsuit against University of Cincinnati.
Summary: Cameron Padgett, who books speaking events for white nationalist leader Richard Spencer on US campuses, has cultivated a media persona as a clean-cut, law-abiding student who cares deeply about free speech and advocacy for white people. In reality, the campus events organized by Padgett for Spencer show military-style coordination with white nationalist groups and predictably lead to racist violence. Contrary to his friendly media face, Padgett is an active participant in the white supremacist movement. Padgett took part in a racist torchlit rally in Charlottesville, Virginia during October – eight weeks after the “Unite the Right” rampage there – and soon after livestreamed himself harassing a working class Latinx community in Atlanta. Padgett frequently rails against the “degeneracy” of the modern age, while being careful to conceal his own history of forgery and drug charges in Chatham County, Georgia. When Padgett received a ticket while driving to the October white power rally in Charlottesville, Padgett gave the address of Safety Net Recovery, a sober living program. Drug use and addiction do not deserve contempt. We condemn Padgett’s racism, his scapegoat politics, and his hypocrisy.
Introduction
Over the last year, Georgia State University student Cameron Cory Padgett has booked three different speaking events for white nationalist leader Richard Spencer on US campuses. At the same time, Padgett has given media interviews and turned himself into a minor figure on far-Right Twitter, gradually building a following of over three thousand for his account. When he first appeared in media stories, Padgett’s persona was of a clean-cut student, who cared deeply about free speech and who considered himself an “Identitarian” rather than a racist or a part of the Alt-Right.
Cameron Padgett Padgett’s media-friendly mask has started to slip. From Alabama, to Florida, and then Michigan, the Richard Spencer speaking events booked by Padgett – made possible either by lawsuits or the threat of litigation – have all led to violence by white nationalists. In the evening after Spencer’s talk at Auburn University in Alabama, members of the Traditionalist Worker Party attempted a charge against students and anti-racist protesters. (The charge did not go well for the racists.) After the Spencer appearance in Gainesville, Florida, a white nationalist fired at an anti-racist. Finally, a Spencer supporter was arrested for pointing a gun at anti-racist protesters on the weekend before Spencer’s appearance at Michigan State University in March. (At the last minute, Padgett decided not to show up in Michigan for the event he had booked.)
Cameron Padgett’s antisemitism, racism, and close association with the white nationalist “Alt-Right” is now evident to any close follower of his Twitter account. Padgett has concealed his politics less in recent interviews. For example, Padgett is now on the record about his desire for racial segregation. Padgett now also admits that the onetime leader of the racist organization Identity Evropa, Nathan Damigo, was central in recruiting Padgett to white “Identitarian” activism.
Still, much of what Padgett presents to the public does not add up. An early media story on Padgett highlighted discrepancies about Padgett’s age and role at GSU, although Padgett claims this was all simple error by his then-attorney Kyle Bristow. Currently, Padgett’s Twitter account goes under the handle @CameronVPadgett, although Padgett’s middle initial is actually “C”.
Padgett Instagram account from before he changed his Twitter handle to @CameronVPadgett. Note the full name of “Cameron Cory Padgett.” This article discusses Cameron Padgett’s politics, his Alt-Right commitments, and his work with neo-Nazis – which all clash with Padgett’s initial media persona. We also discuss Cameron Padgett’s past. Padgett claims that as an “Identitarian,” he is part of a movement that stands for “‘not degeneracy’ basically.” However, Padgett’s past behavior would likely be labeled “degeneracy” by many Alt-Right adherents. Padgett has never been upfront about this personal history. Our article concludes with some notes about Padgett’s attendance at Georgia State University, as well as about the status of his lawsuits for Spencer.
White Power Politics
To the media, Padgett has stated that he does not consider himself to be part of the Alt-Right. Instead, Padgett claims to be an “Identitarian” who believes in “advocating for the interests of white people” but is not racist. Padgett has portrayed himself as a free speech advocate and a “libertarian.” On this account, Padgett’s view seems to be that Richard Spencer’s views should at least be part of the conversation on campus.
However, in a January 2018 video called “Alt Right or Alt Lite,” Padgett talked of “the Alt-Right or the Identitarian movement” as though the two terms were synonymous. Padgett continued by praising the Alt-Right. So much for being “Identitarian” but not “Alt-Right”, then.
Padgett’s Twitter account first used the @AwokenAmerica handle rather than the current @CameronVPadgett, with the account changing at approximately the same time Padgett began speaking with the media and became more of a public figure. An archive of the @AwokenAmerica account from January 2017 shows that the account focused on race, not libertarian themes. Padgett’s @AwokenAmerica bio at the time read: “Proud European American. The Anti-White Agenda pushed by the Media is real. #WakeUpWhitePeople”. @AwokenAmerica retweeted Alt-Right racist leaders such as Nathan Damigo, Bradley Dean Griffin, and of course Richard Spencer. (On the same month Padgett opened his Twitter account as @AwokenAmerica, Padgett also registered medialiesmatter.com and awokenamerica.com to a family address in Sandy Springs/Atlanta – presumably Padgett intended to use these domains for propaganda projects which never got off the ground.)
Padgett’s commitment to First Amendment freedoms is just as far-fetched as his “libertarian” self-description. In a November 2017 tweet, Padgett mocked concern for “muh Constitution.” Padgett included a picture of himself that suggests an earlier racist meme. The original meme alluded to by Padgett, promoted the idea that Constitutional freedoms have little worth if white dominance is lost.
Padgett mocks concern for “muh Constitution” in a Twitter post (left) and the original racist meme Padgett’s post alludes to (right).
Others on the Alt-Right view Padgett’s alleged love of the Constitution as a joke. On Episode Three of “Taking A Stand,” an activism-related podcast from AltRight.com, the comment that “Cameron [Padgett] just really likes the Constitution” is met with snickering from others on the broadcast.
Padgett is a clear organizational part of the racist Alt-Right. He is one of the eight signatories who announced the formation of “Operation Homeland” – a “professional activist movement for the Alt-Right” – in December 2017. Operation Homeland functions as a street/activist version of the AltRight.com project, whereas AltRight.com itself is a broadcasting and publishing platform. (The division of labor between Operation Homeland and AltRight.com is like the one that used to exist between Identity Evropa and the National Policy Institute.)
Three lawyers who have represented Padgett – Kyle Bristow, James E. Kolenich, and Atlanta attorney Sam Dickson – also have clear links to the Alt-Right and white nationalism. (Bristow recently tried to distance himself from his long racist resume, and no longer represents Padgett.)
Relations with Neo-Nazis
As is common on the Alt-Right, Padgett works with neo-Nazis.
On October 19, 2017, Richard Spencer gave a speech at University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville, which was protested both inside and outside. Padgett made the initial booking, threatened UF with a lawsuit if the event was denied, and talked before Spencer at the event. The planning document put together by Spencer’s team for Gainesville is clear that members of the Patriot Front – a white nationalist and neo-Nazi organization – were central to the Alt-Right “task force” for the event. (The racists of Identity Evropa as well as the Alt-Right “Florida Gators” also had organized group presences.) “Individual members” of the Stormer Book Clubs – affiliated with the neo-Nazi TheDailyStormer website – were also part of the Spencer mobilization. Given Padgett’s role in the Gainesville event and his position in Spencer’s circle, it is highly likely that Padgett knew of and approved the plan to work with neo-Nazis for Spencer’s appearance.
Padgett is certainly fine with associating with neo-Nazis in other settings. In February 2018, Padgett posted a picture to Twitter of himself posing with Georgia racist Michael Carothers (AKA “Michael Weaver”). Michael Carothers won the 2008 “activist of the year” award within the National Alliance, which was once the preeminent neo-Nazi organization in the US. Carothers has served prison time for a December 2010 pepper spray assault against a Black man in Columbus, Georgia. More recently, Carothers attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he was visible in white nationalist Bradley Dean Griffin’s livestream.
Cameron Padgett poses with Michael Carothers Harassment
Padgett does not merely associate with violent neo-Nazis. He takes part in harassment himself.
On October 7, 2017, Padgett participated in the “Charlottesville 3.0” flash rally in Virginia. There, 40-50 white nationalists gathered in the city still reeling from the violence of “Unite the Right” eight weeks before. It is hard to read “Charlottesville 3.0” as anything but an attempt to intimidate. Not only do Alt-Right torchlit rallies like the one of October 7 recall Klan rituals, but “Charlottesville 3.0” more directly alluded to the night before “Unite the Right,” where a torch-wielding crowd surrounded and beat anti-racists, students and community members. By reproducing the aesthetics of August 11, albeit on a smaller scale, “Charlottesville 3.0” participants were highlighting that their movement remained a threat to people of color, sexual minorities, leftists, and whoever else may get in their way.
“Failure to obey highway sign” ticket issued to Cameron Padgett early in the morning of October 7, 2017. This ticket was issued in Dinwiddie County, Virginia as Padgett headed north for “Charlottesville 3.0”. The Smyrna, Georgia address provided by Padgett on the ticket is discussed later in this article. 
Cameron Padgett (center) at “Charlottesville 3.0” white nationalist rally, October 7, 2017 In Atlanta, Padgett made a harassing expedition on October 26, 2017 to apartments on the outskirts of the city. Padgett arrived at a working class Latinx community near the Highland Circle Apartments to livestream what he saw, broadcasting images of people there to his white power audience. In advance of the livestream, Padgett claimed that the residents he would film were “95 percent, maybe 100 percent… all illegal aliens”. Padgett described the aim of his livestream as drawing attention to the “ridiculous amounts of illegals that are just roaming our streets”.
When someone asked Padgett what he was doing recording people without their consent, Padgett replied: “It’s for a school project […] Georgia State […] I’ll show you my ID.” We do not believe that Padgett’s harassment had anything to do with Georgia State requirements.
Footage: Cameron Padgett tries to harass working class Latinx community in Atlanta, October 26, 2017.
Skeletons in the Closet
Parts of Padgett’s life story are inconvenient if Padgett wishes to cultivate a reputation for honesty, or to cast himself as a clean-cut man at odds with “degeneracy” in society.
In Chatham County, Georgia (county seat: Savannah) where Padgett used to live, Padgett entered plea deals in 2012 for three counts of Forgery in the First Degree plus one count of Possession of a Controlled Substance. The charges stemmed from incidents in 2011. For the three Forgery counts, Padgett took a First Offender’s Act plea deal and went to Recovery Place for three months, then having probation for another four years and nine months. For the drug charge, Padgett got two years’ probation, served concurrently with the Forgery probation. At the completion of Padgett’s probation in 2017, Padgett was exonerated of the charges and was not considered to have a criminal conviction. Documents from Padgett’s original Chatham County charges and his plea deal are included at the end of this article.
The Chatham County drug charge claimed that Cameron Padgett along with relative Barry Hunter Padgett, “did possess and attempt to possess” Roxycontin, an opiate-based narcotic. Our problem is not with Padgett having drug issues (or at least a legal issue from drug possession.) What we oppose is Padgett’s hypocrisy. Padgett has written of the “drug epidemic” as a key problem of the modern society, alongside “degenerate media/Hollywood […] and riots in street.” In another Twitter message, Padgett positively contrasts Confederate States Army commander Robert E. Lee to “rappers […] who push drugs, sex and violence”. In the context of such a Tweet, it is easy to view “rappers” as a dog-whistle for Black people or Black culture. It is distasteful for Padgett to promote the politics of scapegoating around drugs, without acknowledging his own past.
Cameron Padgett Twitter messages about drugs and the opioid crisis.
Padgett’s multiple Forgery charges stemmed from checks made “with intent to defraud” on the account of System Garage Doors, Inc., from October to December 2011. System Garage Doors is the Padgett family business. Amateur psychologists may be interested that “fraud” is currently one of Padgett’s favorite insults for political rivals.
In October 2017, Cameron Padgett was ticketed for failure to obey a highway sign on his way to “Charlottesville 3.0”. Padgett provided an address in Smyrna, Georgia which corresponds to the business offices of Safety Net Recovery, a sober living/recovery program. It is unknown whether Padgett has any relationship to Safety Net beyond using the address — especially since Padgett posts Twitter photos of himself at bars, uses an old friend and current drinking buddy to vouch that Padgett is “not racist” to the media, and has even recorded a white nationalist video while seemingly intoxicated.
Padgett at Georgia State University
Cameron Padgett’s present status at Georgia State University is unclear. Padgett has blocked GSU from releasing information about his presence there, beyond the fact of his enrollment. In a September 2017 interview, Padgett stated that he was in his last semester earning a graduate degree as a Finance major. While the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at GSU offers a PhD in Finance, it seems more likely that Padgett was enrolled in the Master of Science program for Finance, offered at GSU’s Buckhead Center location. In January 2018, Padgett still claimed to be a Finance student at Georgia State, although what was supposed to be his last semester in Finance had passed. In October 2017, Padgett mentioned in an interview that he was considering switching to study law, with Padgett wishing to eventually become an attorney for his movement. It is possible Padgett is now doing preliminary study toward this end, although with Padgett it is difficult to know what to believe. During the Spring 2018 semester, Padgett posted images to his Twitter account from Georgia State’s main downtown location. Students at GSU downtown should therefore be aware of the white nationalist potentially studying there.
Status of Padgett’s Lawsuits
Since Richard Spencer’s event at Michigan State University (MSU) in March – which was met with strong anti-racist opposition and clashes outside – Spencer has declared that campus events are no longer “fun” and that he is thinking of pausing campus events while he figures out a way forward. Kyle Bristow, Cameron Padgett’s lawyer whose legal threats made the MSU event possible, left the Alt-Right movement mere days before the MSU speech and accompanying “Alt-Right” conference (which was also a disaster). James E. Kolenich, who replaced Bristow as a lawyer for Padgett in two suits, has now dropped Padgett’s legal action against Ohio State University for Spencer to speak. Cameron Padgett’s legal action against the University of Cincinnati in Ohio has been modified since Kolenich took over from Bristow, but it is currently scheduled for a jury trial in 2019, by which time Spencer may wish to have campus events again. Nothing has been filed since October in Padgett’s lawsuit against Penn State, but it is conceivable that things could move in the case again. (For the Pennsylvania suit, Padgett has a different lawyer than Kolenich.)
Conclusion
We do not think that Padgett will vanish from the racist scene with the pause in Richard Spencer’s speaking schedule. It is likely that if Padgett has extra time, he will move to other white nationalist endeavors, such as more work with “Operation Homeland.” We hope that with this article, we have exposed Padgett as an ideological racist who works with neo-Nazis and harasses communities. Padgett portrays himself quite differently to his Alt-Right associates than he does to the media. By contrasting Padgett’s rhetoric to his personal history, we have provided reason not to trust his declarations.
Documentation: Cameron C Padgett’s Chatham County court cases. Click here to download .pdf
Have more information on Cameron Padgett or his white power associates? Get in contact!
-
CORRECTION: Jack “Pale Horse” Corbin Previously Falsely ID’d
In October 2017, members and affiliates of the TORCH Network believed we had identified the individual known as Jack “Pale Horse” Corbin in the wake of active post-Charlottesville doxxing campaigns by alt-right trolls, especially on the 8chan /pol/ message board.
The person previously thought to be Corbin (Jake Loubriel), while incorrect, is still an alt-right troll helping to doxx antifascist comrades.
The real “Pale Horse” is Daniel W. McMahon of Brandon, FL as outlined in the original correction by Philly Antifa, which can be read here.
Thanks to the diligence of antifascists, McMahon’s internet activity (specifically doxxing efforts) has decreased significantly according to a recent report on Philly AntiCapitalist, and that McMahon has fled the continent and was summarily assaulted and/or mugged in a European red light district.
-
On Blast: Jason Judd, Neo-Nazi Solar Panel Installer
From Antifa Sacramento
**The call-in campaign issued back on 3/27 has come to an end! We got confirmation that Jason Judd’s employment at Sun System Technology has been terminated. Thank you to everyone who participated in and supported our campaign! **
Jason Judd (alias Jason Kale) is a longtime Neo-Nazi and a member of the Golden State Skinheads (GSS). He is also associated with Hell’s Angels, the Traditionalist Worker Party(TWP), and the Hammerskins Nation. He was one of 20 GSS and TWP members who appeared at the 2016 neo-Nazi rally at the State Capitol in Sacramento, a demonstration that was ultimately shut down by a mobilization of 400+ anti-fascist counter-protesters. In the violent brawl that ensued, GSS members attacked counter-protesters with knives and sticks, specifically targeting visibly queer and non-white demonstrators. Judd himself was directly involved in the stabbings that occurred, grabbing a POC protester so that another Neo-Nazi could stab her. That particular antifascist sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized for 4 days.
-
Barnesville, Georgia: Frustrated Fascist Yearns for Violence
On his “Pax Americana” Youtube channel, white nationalist Charles Bradley Tinsley of Barnesville jokes about putting Jews in ovens, expounds his philosophy of “neo-fascism”, talks about his latest guns, and stews in hatred of leftists and people of color. Tinsley is an explicit white nationalist, working towards an all-white ethno-state. He claims that democracy has failed and that it is time for there to be “order and militarism” at the foundation of society. He often ends his rants with the Nazi salute of “Hail Victory,” on occasion adding “keep your guns loaded and your blades sharp.”
Charles Bradley Tinsley 
Tinsley’s now-deleted @AFN_P Twitter account initially used his real name According to his broadcasts, Charles Tinsley studies electrical engineering at a local college. (He once vowed to drop out, but this never happened.) In a Discord chat server linked to “The American Nationalist” Youtube channel (a rebranding of “Surfing the Kali Yuga”) and TheThirdPosition website, Tinsley claimed that he would place posters for white power/fascist organizations the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) and Patriot Front (PF) on a local college campus. Based on Tinsley’s location, we assume this to be Gordon State College, not far from Tinsley’s family home. Tinsley does not appear to be a formal member of the PF or the (now-unravelling) TWP, although Tinsley clearly admires the activity of both organizations. (PF and TWP do not have a history of mutual respect, an indication of Tinsley’s organizing acumen.)
Charles Tinsley, using the alias “Not a FED” on Discord, comments about placing fascist propaganda on a local campus. More disturbing are Tinsley’s recurring bloody fantasies. Frustrated at Twitter and Facebook policies that led to bans on the platforms, Tinsley / “Not a FED” stated on the same Discord server that “somebody needs to take out the f *** k[**]es running these God damn places and Fire Bomb the s[hit] out of the f** Twitter and Facebook offices you start shooting motherfuckers [sic].”
Tinsley / “Not a FED” argues for violence on Discord Tinsley is not any more restrained on Youtube, where he operates the “Pax Americana” channel. Speaking about “narrative-spinning” journalists who do not report on things Tinsley believes should be reported, Tinsley states “they should be hung in my opinion” (2/18/2018 broadcast).
Following the February mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school, Tinsley lost his cool in a broadcast and stated that “I don’t give a fuck about this teenager […] They need to shut the fuck up” in reference to Stoneman Douglas High School students speaking out after the massacre (who Tinsley believed were not giving others enough time to grieve by saying something.) Tinsley referred to survivors as “little teenagers that are indoctrinated by the system” and stated that there is no solution other than “let them get shot at” because “if you try to take preemptive measures they’ll call you a racist, they’ll call you some type of phobic, and they’ll bitch and cry.”
Tinsley believes that the alleged “destruction of the family unit” by the Left is the true cause of school shootings. We believe Tinsley’s words indicate an extremely volatile personality:
“You commie fucks are too weak to have a functioning society because someone’s feels [feelings] might get hurt […] Everybody in this fuckin’ country will have to die before I give up my guns peacefully.”
A Youtube video by Tinsley posted mid-March displays an image for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi organization that has been linked to five murders in less than a year. Tinsley circulating Atomwaffen propaganda further suggests violent inclinations on his part, or at least a willingness to celebrate murder.
Tinsley / “Pax Americana” circulates Atomwaffen Division propaganda online. From what we have seen, Tinsley does not seem to be a particularly dynamic organizer for his cause. However, since Tinsley claims to be spreading propaganda for white power groups in his area and regularly issues disturbing fantasies about violence, we believe that those who live near him or attend college with him should know what is going on. Feel free to contact us if you have more information on Charley Bradley Tinsley and his activity around Barnesville.
-
Georgia Neo-Nazi Organizer is Senior at Whitewater High School (Fayetteville, GA)
Anti-racists have discovered that Donovan Stai – currently a senior at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville, Georgia – worked throughout 2017 as state leader for Vanguard America, a self-proclaimed “fascist” organization whose website rants about “bloodthirsty negroes” and “Jewish puppet masters.” As a state leader for Vanguard America, Stai propagandized via the “Vanguard Georgia” Twitter account, he assisted with the group’s internal organization, and he participated in campaigns of coordinated harassment. Stai has signaled support for violence and even murder on behalf of his neo-Nazi cause. Given the number of murders committed by neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the last year, we believe that Stai’s embrace of racist violence should concern the community.
Donovan Stai Vanguard America
Donovan Stai’s organization, Vanguard America, is notorious as the organization that James Alex Fields, Jr. stood with at the bloody “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. The afternoon of “Unite the Right,” Fields drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist counter-protesters, murdering Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. Vanguard America denies that Fields was a member of their organization, even though Fields stood in formation with Vanguard America members at Charlottesville that day and held a shield featuring a Vanguard America logo. Donovan Stai did not attend the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, although at least one Vanguard America member from Georgia was there. Typing from afar, Stai celebrated the white power violence in Charlottesville, encouraging attendees to “Beat their [anti-racists] shit in” and later posting an image glorifying James Field, Jr.’s murderous attack.
Vanguard America is a white nationalist and self-declared “fascist” organization formed in 2015. The organization promotes a “blood and soil” nationalism similar to the German Nazi worldview. Over the last year, Vanguard America has been increasingly explicit in its neo-Nazism, for example posting Hitler quotes and pictures of its members with Nazi flags to social media. In the aftermath of “Unite the Right,” another organization, Patriot Front, splintered from Vanguard America and pursued more “patriotic” branding.
Vanguard America operates as part of the “Nationalist Front” white power alliance, including other racist groups such as the National Socialist Movement, the Traditionalist Worker Party, and the League of the South.
Donovan Stai’s Neo-Nazi Profiles
Donovan Stai used several different accounts for white power organizing. The first account is Stai’s personal Twitter account @hldisL which was created in March 2015. This account lasted until mid-December 2017, when Twitter removed many Vanguard America accounts. @hldisL used various names on this account, such as “Goebbels Jr” (a reference to the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels), “See Kyle” (which sounds like “Sieg Heil” when said aloud), “Sceneablist”, and earlier in the account’s life “Donovan Hawks” and “Donovan Stai”. In the beginning @hldisL promoted anti-feminist and libertarian themes, but it became increasingly radical and racist as time passed. A backup account, @JosephRedRay / “Col. Raymond” was established in January 2017 – by that time the content was explicitly racist, antisemitic, and Alt-Right (that backup account was also suspended in 2017.)
@hldisL account in June 2015, using the name “Donovan Stai” 
@hldisL account in 2017 featuring Vanguard America logo superimposed on a Confederate battle flag The Twitter account for Vanguard America in Georgia — @gavanguard / “Vanguard Georgia” – was established in March 2017. (An earlier Twitter account for Vanguard Georgia was established in January 2017 — giving its location as Columbus, Georgia — but that account did not last long.) It was clear from its early days that @hldisL was responsible for the Vanguard Georgia organizational account that began in March 2017. First, a masthead image of the Vanguard America logo superimposed on a Confederate battle flag was used by both @hldisL and @gavanguard at various times. Second, @hldisL / “Goebbels Jr.” was one of the first accounts followed by @gavanguard. Finally, in March 2017 @hldisL continually retweeted the @gavanguard account, trying to increase the following for the new Vanguard Georgia account.
Vanguard Georgia profile operated by Donovan Stai For a .pdf archive from Donovan Stai’s @hldisL, @JosephRedRay, and @GaVanguard accounts on Twitter, click here (or follow the link at the end of this article).
In November 2017, the Unicorn Riot journalism collective leaked logs from the “Southern Front” Discord server. Discord is a messaging system used by video gamers, which has also been adopted by more tech-savvy portions of the extreme-Right. The “Southern Front” server facilitated communication between Vanguard America members located in the US South. A user named “The Don GA” is identified in the leaked Vanguard America chats as a “SL,” which in context appears to stand for “state leader.” (In addition to being part of Vanguard America, “The Don GA” also showed up in leaked chats from the far-Right group Anti-Communist Action.) On six different occasions “The Don GA” posted URLs for posts by the @gavanguard Twitter account within the “Southern Front” Discord server. The leaked Southern Front chats cut off shortly after “Unite the Right,” at the time Patriot Front splintered off from Vanguard America.
While “The Don GA” Discord user was clearly connected to the @gavanguard Twitter account, the @gavanguard Twitter account was linked to the @hldisL personal one, and @hldisL initially used the real name “Donovan Stai,” some readers may still question that Donovan Stai was behind all these accounts. For these skeptical readers, we will point out that “The Don GA” posted an image of dogs to the “Southern Front” server, which includes a Stai family pet. “The Don GA” also commented about starting a Wisconsin chapter for Vanguard America, which corresponds with Donovan Stai having lived in Wisconsin earlier in life. (Both Donovan Stai and the @hldisL Twitter account are also Green Bay Packers fans.) Atlanta Antifascists possess a screenshot from the @hldisL Twitter account providing a birthday of February 3; this is also Donovan Stai’s birthday. A photo posted to the @hldisL account in August 2016 has its face almost entirely covered but is consistent with Stai’s appearance.
In August 2016, @hldisL posted this self-portrait to his account. While the face is obscured, it is consistent with Donovan Stai’s appearance. Although both Stai’s personal @hldisL twitter as well the Vanguard Georgia account were removed by Twitter in December 2017, there is no sign that Stai has distanced himself from Vanguard America or the white power movement since that time. We now examine some of Donovan Stai’s activity more closely.
Glorifying Intimidation and Murder
Chatting with his Vanguard America peers in the “Southern Front” Discord server, Donovan Stai made a series of posts laughing about and endorsing racial intimidation and murder. In a May 17, 2017, post, “The Don GA” / Stai shared an image celebrating Dylan M. Mahone, who had been arrested the month prior for vandalizing a Jewish Community Center and nearby church in Fairfax County, Virginia with graffiti including a swastika. (Mahone also placed antisemitic flyers for the “Aryan Underground” at a Northern Virginia Community College campus in March 2017.) Following on from his image celebrating Dylan Mahone’s actions, Donovan Stai wrote: “As apart [sic] of our new vetting process [for Vanguard America] we shall make everyone burn down a synagogue.”
Earlier on May 17, Donovan Stai proposed an image of Dylann Roof – the white supremacist murderer behind the Charleston Emanuel AME Church massacre – as the insignia for the “South District” of Vanguard America.
While the arson proposal and the Dylann Roof insignia comment from Stai may not have been meant literally, they nevertheless communicated a clear message to his peers: attacks on synagogues and the murder of Black churchgoers are all funny, and these acts may be something to emulate. When diehard racists rile each other up with these sorts of comments, the result is that further acts of violence become more likely.
On the same server, Donovan Stai celebrated white supremacist violence at the “Unite the Right” rally. While Stai did not attend the rally, his comments on the Discord server that day are gleeful. In a post time-stamped the next day, Stai shared an image to the Discord server celebrating James Alex Fields, Jr.’s vehicular murder of Heather Heyer.
Image posted by Donovan Stai / “The Don GA” celebrating white supremacist murder in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 2017 Active Harassment
At times, Donovan Stai moved from celebrating racist intimidation and violence, to actively participating in harassment. For example, the Vanguard Georgia Twitter account circulated the personal information of (or “doxxed”) Georgetown University Professor Dr. C. Christine Fair on May 22, 2017. The post linking to Fair’s personal information was also retweeted by Stai’s @hldisL account. At the time, Christine Fair was being harassed by white nationalists due to her confronting racist “Alt-Right” leader Richard Spencer at her Alexandria, Virginia gym, which then ended Spencer’s membership .
Online harassment by Donovan Stai against C. Christine Fair A couple of months earlier, Donovan Stai targeted journalist Kurt Eichenwald, arguably attempting an assault against him. As a journalist, Kurt Eichenwald angered some Trump supporters with his critical reporting on Trump’s business interests. For bigots on the Alt-Right, Eichenwald’s Jewish heritage was a further reason to attack him. Eichenwald has written about his epilepsy diagnosis on several occasions. In December 2016, he was sent a strobe-light animated graphic on Twitter, containing the words “You deserve a seizure for your posts.” According to Eichenwald, the flashing image did indeed cause a seizure. In March 2017, a veteran who sent the image to Eichenwald was arrested (He currently faces assault charges and a hate crime enhancement). Since the initial attempted assault, dozens of other people sent flashing images to Eichenwald, presumably with the aim of inducing another seizure. Donovan Stai, using his @hldisL account, was one of them. Stai sent Eichenwald a strobe-light image on March 17, 2017. Stai then added “I hope he [Eichenwald] wore his helmet.” (While the archived version of the post from Stai / @hldisL does not flash, archived comments as well as discussion from the 4Chan message board, all make clear that the original file was a strobe-light animation.)
Donovan Stai sends an animated strobe-light image to Kurt Eichenwald, March 2017. Stai’s follow-up comment shows that he clearly hoped to cause an epileptic seizure. Due to his neo-Nazi ideology, his comments glorifying intimidation and even murder, and his history of harassment, we believe that community members should be warned about Donovan Stai. After graduation, Donovan Stai hopes to become an emergency medical technician or a firefighter. We believe that Stai should not be allowed to infiltrate these professions. People of Color or Jewish people should not be forced to trust their lives to a member of a neo-Nazi group.
Was Donovan Stai Influenced by White Power Teacher at Whitewater High School?
Finally, some readers may recognize Whitewater High School in Fayetteville – which Donovan Stai attends — as the school where Hitler-admiring racist Joshua David Hitson taught English until August 2017, when Hitson resigned after being exposed to the community as a white power agitator. (The ex-Principal for Whitewater High School, Roy Rabold, took an aggressive stance in defense of Joshua Hitson despite all the available evidence.)
Since Joshua Hitson’s time as a white nationalist teacher at Whitewater High School overlaps with Donovan Stai’s time there as a student, this suggests several interesting questions. Did Joshua David Hitson play a role in Donovan Stai’s radicalization, or politically mentor Stai in any way? Did Joshua Hitson and Donovan Stai organize together on white nationalist projects?
At present, we do not have enough information to draw definite conclusions. We do know that Joshua Hitson’s “Contrarian Gent” Twitter was one of the first accounts followed by Stai’s “Vanguard Georgia”. Donovan Stai also used his personal Twitter accounts (@hldisL and @JosephRedRay) to retweet “Contrarian Gent” / Hitson. These close online associations suggest that Hitson and Stai may have coordinated politically offline also. If you have more information about Donovan Stai’s racist organizing, including any further links to Joshua David Hitson, we would like to hear from you.
Joshua David Hitson’s @ContrarianGent Twitter account was one of the very first followed by Vanguard Georgia / @gavanguard Twitter Archive
Click here for an archive of materials from the @gavanguard, @hldisL and @JosephRedRay Twitter accounts.
