Mark Bryant of Marietta, Georgia is, at first glance, an average member of his community. He is a parent, active in his church, and a practicing Certified Public Accountant. However, this accountant has for decades been active on the far-Right fringes. Bryant combines his profession with his politics by providing accounting services for white supremacists and white nationalists.
Mark Christian Bryant
Bryant appears as the accountant for the National Policy Institute (NPI) – the white nationalist think tank largely responsible for the birth and promotion of the “Alt-Right” – from NPI’s 2008 tax filings until 2015, the most recent year for which filings are available. (Raw summary data is also available for 2016, but the filing itself with the preparer’s name has not yet been posted.)
Bryant on National Policy Institute tax filings
In addition, from 2007 to 2012 Bryant appeared as the accountant for the secretive Charles Martel Society (CMS), which publishes the racist, pseudo-academic Occidental Quarterly and provided seed money for the NPI. For the lastthreeof those years, Bryant provided various mailing addresses linked to himself as the contact for CMS.
Bryant on Charles Martel Society tax filings
Bryant’s History
Mark Christian Bryant grew up in Dunwoody, Georgia, where he attended Dunwoody High School. According to an arrest record, he was born in Texas. Bryant graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Accounting in 1993.
Mark Bryant appeared on filings for the Populist Party of Georgia, Inc. a Georgia Domestic Non-Profit Corporation in 1999 and 2000, where Bryant was listed as Chief Financial Officer. According to records with the Georgia Secretary of State, the Populist Party of Georgia was founded in 1993. No records for the years 1994 to 1998 are available online, so it is unclear when Bryant began his involvement. Bryant’s name does not feature on the 1993 filing. The Populist Party of Georgia was administratively dissolved by the Secretary of State in 2002, after no filings were made the year prior.
2000 Populist Party of Georgia filing
Of particular note on the Populist Party of Georgia filings is James H. Yarbrough, who appeared as Agent and Secretary in the 1999 and 2000 filings, and also appeared in its founding documents. Yarbrough was heavily involved with the state chapter of the Populist Party. The resurrected Populist Party was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s, serving as a vehicle for some of David Duke’s runs for President. The Georgia chapter also campaigned to keep the Confederate battle flag on the old Georgia state flag. Leonard Zeskind’s Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream, placed Yarbrough at a 1988 meeting for David Duke in the Atlanta suburbs that was also attended by Atlanta-area white power leader Sam Dickson. (1) A 2002 schedule for the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens’ national conference listed Dickson as CofCC’s Georgia director, and Yarbrough as a “Georgia C of CC activist”.
Sam Dickson and James Yarbrough on schedule for 2002 Council of Conservative Citizens national conference.
This association between Yarbrough and Dickson is significant, since Mark Bryant went on to help the racist Charles Martel Society – of which Dickson is a key personality – after working with Yarbrough in the Populist Party of Georgia. The connection to the National Policy Institute was likely also made through Dickson or Dickson’s circles. However, relations between Dickson’s circles and Richard Spencer/the NPI have deteriorated following the disastrous “Unite the Right”.
Bryant Today
Bryant provided accountancy services to the National Policy Institute, the white supremacist think tank headed by Richard Spencer, up to its most recent available tax filing (2015), which Bryant submitted in December 2016.
On social media, Bryant keeps in touch with John Weatherman, an Atlanta antisemite active in Sam Dickson’s network. Bryant is also connected to John C. Hall, a Dublin, Georgia, white supremacist who also works as an accountant.
Bryant appears to be a strong supporter of the right-wing Traditionalist Catholic movement. On Facebook, Bryant likes “Defeat Modernism”, a Traditionalist Catholic page featuring antisemitic materials.
Antisemitic propaganda from “Defeat Modernism”, followed by Bryant
Bryant’s wife, Suzanna Price Bryant, died in early March. Suzanna Bryant was also a firm supporter of Traditionalist Catholicism. On social media, she liked the pages for the German Defense League, the Norwegian Defense League, and the European Defense League. All are spin-offs of the parent group, the English Defense League, a far-Right Islamophobic organization.
What should be done?
If you live in or near Marietta, Georgia, please share this article widely so that Mark Bryant’s neighbors can know of his work with far-Right and white nationalist networks.
Please also share this article to
anyone who may use Bryant for accountancy work. They should know who they are
supporting.
Bryant’s business suite is in the 1755 The Exchange building in Atlanta. If you are concerned about them renting to Bryant, reach out to the rental manager here.
An archived version of Bryant’s business website is available here.
If you have more information regarding Mark Bryant’s work for the far-Right and white nationalists, please get in touch.
Note
(1) From Zeskind’s Blood and
Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the
Mainstream (p.138):
With the Populist Party still fixated on making [George] Hansen its [presidential] candidate, David Duke went to an Atlanta suburb and announced a campaign for the Democratic Party primaries still seven months away. For the occasion, on June 8, he secured a meeting hall at the Marriott Hotel. Before the event actually started, attorney Sam Dickson strolled by in earnest conversation with Don Black, both dressed handsomely in dark suits. Outside the room’s double-doors two thickset biker Klan goons stood guard […]
After the doors closed, Jim Yarborough arrived. Tall, balding, and bland, Yarborough was from the same generation as Willis Carto and lived in Gainesville, Georgia, just a fifteen-minute jump down the roadway from Forsyth County. Yarborough was then the national vice chairman of the Populist Party, the latest in a series of posts he held whenever Carto controlled the party’s apparatus.
On May 30th Hamby spied upon a Black Lives Matter protest at the Austin Capitol and gleefully live-streamed as a protester was manhandled by cops.
But when Hamby got home, he found a message – apparently left by antifascists – on his door. He made several outraged tweets indicating a desire to “protect his home”, likely realizing the impossibility of defending against an enemy he does not know and cannot see.
He even put out a challenge to “fight Antifa” on his birthday – which he spent home alone – but antifascists do not let their enemies dictate, or even anticipate, the time and place of battle.
With his characteristic impulsiveness and rage, Hamby filmed himself tearing down a George Floyd banner posted outside his Midtown Commons residence.
Unfortunately for Chef Goyardee even these futile and impotent displays only result in more attention. Sources report that flyers were found around the Midtown Commons area shortly thereafter.
Additionally a large banner denouncing Dustin Ray Hamby and warning his neighbors was found posted to the nearby dog park he frequents.
While only local antifascists know for sure, it seems likely that Hamby will continue making himself a target until he publicly denounces Patriot Front and the broader fascist movement, forever leaving behind bigoted political activism and internet commentary – at the very least.
8/10/2020: update on Matt Gurtler and Marjorie Taylor Greene here.
As this report was being prepared for publication Thursday evening, far-Right militiaman and 9th Congressional District candidate Michael Boggus released a video on Facebook, stating that he is the new State Director for American Patriots USA. Since neo-Nazi Chester Doles and the white supremacists around Doles remain in the organization, we assume this is a shell game.
Summary: American Patriots USA (APUSA) was formed last year in north Georgia by Chester Doles, a longtime neo-Nazi. As documented in this and earlierreports, the organization is a thinly disguised front group for white supremacists. APUSA has spent the last few months building a broader front of “constitutionalist” Republican candidates, including several people of color, which it uses to mask its agenda. The white power organization even hosted a current State House Representative, Matthew Gurtler, at their March meeting. We document APUSA’s “Trojan horse” effort and highlight the complicity of GOP candidates and networks in normalizing white supremacist organizing.
Chester Doles (circled) at “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, VA, 2017 – footage here.
In late December 2019, a new organization in north Georgia named American Patriots USA (APUSA) announced its first political endorsement. On the racist White Information Network blog, APUSA announced: “Cody Cantrell for Sheriff of White County.” Cantrell is by his own admission “affiliated” with the Ku Klux Klan. Less than a month after the announcement, Cantrell’s campaign had collapsed as the community discovered Cantrell’s KKK ties. APUSA provided contradictory accounts in the aftermath. White Information Network eventually removed the “Cantrell for Sheriff” announcement.
“Cody Cantrell for Sheriff of White County” announcement vanished from White Information Network
American Patriots USA continues to act as a front group for neo-Nazis and other ideological racists. Since the Cody Cantrell debacle, APUSA has altered their electoral strategy by pursuing support among Republican fringe candidates who, in contrast to Cantrell, are not affiliated with the KKK. APUSA currently endorses seven candidates, with more than half being rightwing people of color. One of these candidates has now claimed he was unaware of the APUSA endorsement, but the rest have talked to the group’s meetings. Another candidate endorsed by APUSA, white militiaman Michael Boggus, has effectively folded his campaign for Congress in Georgia’s 9th District into APUSA. Boggus co-administrates a new Facebook page for APUSA and promoted this page on a campaign radio advertisement. APUSA plans to host a fundraising event for Boggus on Saturday, May 16. The venue was initially Johnny B’s bar in Dahlonega – a symbolic choice, since this was where just years earlier APUSA founder Chester Doles and Hammerskin gang members attacked the family and friends of an interracial couple. The venue was changed less than two days before the event to the Auraria Community Club, after Bikers for Trump allegedly said they would attend.
“We the People Dream Team” of APUSA-endorsed candidates“Bikers for Boggus” event
In its recent outreach to Republicans, APUSA was even able to get current Georgia State House Representative Matthew Gurtler (8th district) to speak to its March meeting in Dahlonega. Relations between Gurtler and APUSA appear to have later soured.
Chester Doles with National Alliance leader William Pierce
In this report, we discuss APUSA’s activities from late February to mid-May as it built support within grassroots Republican circles in Georgia. We discuss the candidates currently being promoted by APUSA. Then, we recap core members of APUSA who have stuck with the organization since its founding last year. We highlight the behind-the-scenes involvement of neo-Nazi Michael Carothers (AKA Michael Weaver) in the organization. Carothers knows APUSA head Chester Doles since Doles led the Georgia unit of the National Alliance in the early 2000s. At the time, the National Alliance was the largest neo-Nazi organization in North America. We conclude with some thoughts on why it is useful for a group guided by clear white supremacists to build a broader multiracial and “constitutionalist” front.
Excerpts from October 2019 APUSA promotional video, where Doles discusses APUSA as continuing his organizing for the white supremacist National Alliance.
2. Recent APUSA Meetings and
Networking
In an earlier article, we discussed APUSA’s efforts up to but not including its February 22 meeting. As we documented, in early February Chester Doles continued to broadcast his neo-Nazi affiliations on social media, for example with a post referencing “14/88”: the “fourteen words” white power slogan in combination with alphanumeric code for “H.H.” or “Heil Hitler.” In early February, Doles remained in touch with Billy Roper, a white supremacist who Doles had organized with in the National Alliance.
2.1 February Meeting
APUSA’s February meeting took place on the 22nd, having been canceled due to snow a couple of weeks earlier. In a sign of things to come, the organization had invited Eugene Yu, a Republican candidate in the primary for Georgia’s 7th Congressional District, to address the meeting. After being alerted to APUSA’s politics, Yu canceled.
Joshua Noah Mote, “Lumpkin County Coordinator” for APUSA
The meeting at the Lumpkin County Parks and Recreation Community Center featured three speakers: Josh Mote, Chester Doles, and Sean Keena. Mote had been Klansman Cody Cantrell’s “campaign manager” just one month earlier. In February, Mote established a Facebook page, “Say What You Want in Dahlonega?”, to promote APUSA’s activities. Early in the meeting, Mote was promoted to APUSA’s “Lumpkin County Coordinator”. As Doles explained to attendees later, Mote would serve as a public face for APUSA because “They [antifascists] can’t find nothing on him”.
Before giving his prepared speech, Mote insisted: “We are nothing of the Ku Klux Klan, we are nothing of a neo-Nazi group” but an organization of patriotic Americans. Mote discussed plans for future events and his campaigning for APUSA’s “2nd Amendment Sanctuary County” initiative, which at the time was the group’s main focus. Mote stated that Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard was “completely on board” with APUSA’s 2nd Amendment Sanctuary organizing, and that Jarrard had purchased “many raffle tickets” for the organization’s fundraising AR-15 raffle. Mote’s formal speech framed gun control as a plot by “Anti-American Socialist[s] that are trying to dismantle America”.
Chester Doles at February meeting. Note militia security in background.
Chester Doles took the podium and delivered a tearful speech. The individuals who had founded American Patriots USA just two months prior had experienced “a profound change of heart, soul and mind” due to “divine intervention from a loving and forgiving God.” “God turned me upside down and shook me out”, claimed Doles, causing Doles to abandon his white supremacist past. Doles insisted:
The one thing we [APUSA] have not been is a racist, white supremacist, Nazi or KKK ‘front group’ or otherwise. The only memberships we have ever had to revoke has been of members that did have continuing ties with these groups.
Doles’ speech as well as Mote’s were later published on APUSA’s website. Doles continues to circulate white nationalist materials on his social media, network with militant racists, and like their posts calling for violence. In a later section (4.3), we discuss Doles’ online activity since his February performance. Nothing has changed.
April 2020 Twitter post by Sean Keena (“Sean Cooley”) denies the Holocaust, defends Nazis
The final speech of the February meeting was from Sean Keena, whose antisemitism we have highlighted before. When he introduced Keena, Doles stated: “I’ve known Sean for the past twenty years, [we’ve] been through a whole bunch of stuff.” This means that Keena and Doles knew each other since the early 2000s, when Doles led the National Alliance unit in Georgia.
In his rambling speech, Sean Keena suggested that Bernie Sanders was a political successor of Lenin and Trotsky, then continued:
Look: I’m not an antisemite. This is not about race, but the problem is: Benjamin Disraeli, he was a British statesman about a hundred and fifty years ago in England. […] Anyway, he was a Jewish statesman. He said: ‘The foundation of all politics is race.’
It just so happens [Michael] Bloomberg – and I’ve had it up to here too with Bloomberg – and Bernie [Sanders] are both, um… ‘Chosen’. The self-proclaimed Chosen Ones.
Keena misquoted Disraeli. However, the actual quote (“All is race, there is no other truth”) is used as an epigraph in My Awakening and is also quoted in Jewish Supremacism, both books by neo-Nazi and former Klan leader David Duke. In our earlier article, we noted Keena’s praise for David Duke.
After Keena’s Jew-baiting, his
remarks became even less coherent. He received polite applause, and then the
meeting wound down with everyone watching a speech by Trump.
2.2 February 29 Networking
Events
The following Saturday, Doles, Mote and other APUSA members attended rallies to promote their organization. At the “Bartow County 2A and Trump Rally” hosted in Adairsville by the Presidents Team nonprofit, Doles and his teenage daughter prominently displayed an APUSA banner. William Tex Simmons and other members of the American Brotherhood of Patriots, the militia that provides armed security for APUSA meetings, also attended the Adairsville event.
Lucretia Hughes (2nd from L), Marjorie Taylor Greene (4th), Josh Mote (2nd from R) and Chester Doles (R) at “Georgia Second Amendment Sanctuary Rally”, Villanow, February 29
From Adairsville, the APUSA contingent went on to Villanow (near LaFayette), Georgia for a “Georgia Second Amendment Sanctuary Rally” at a local community center. At the Villanow event, the APUSA group posed for a photo with the event’s main speaker, Islamophobe and QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is running for Congress as a Republican in the Georgia’s 14th District. Also in the group photo was Lucretia Hughes, a Black pro-Trump commentator and energetic rightwing networker who talked at Chester Doles’ September 14 far-Right rally in Dahlonega.
2.3 March Meeting
March 14 meeting. L-R: Josh Mote, Mack McGregor, Jonathan Garcia, Michael Boggus, House State Representative Matthew Gurtler and Chester Doles.
The March 14 meeting for APUSA was their last at the Parks and Recreation Community Center before the coronavirus pandemic suspended operations. The event introduced several candidates running as Republicans to APUSA. Doles opened the meeting with comments about the delays and difficulties faced by his Lumpkin County “2nd Amendment Sanctuary” efforts. He told an unverifiable story about having sat down with FBI agents about the problem of antifascists. With introductory remarks out of the way, Doles introduced the first guest, State House Representative Matthew Gurtler (8th GA House district).
Matthew Gurtler speaks to APUSA meeting
Matthew Gurtler stated to Doles that “I’m right there with ya”, portraying APUSA and similar groups as organic responses to big government and “socialism on the rise”. He referenced his track record of being the most conservative member of Georgia’s state House and promoted his current campaign for the congressional spot in Georgia’s 9th Congressional District. Gurtler asserted that it was time to push back against the “rise of socialism” from the media, academia, and Hollywood.
The meeting featured four other
speakers: three militia figures with long shot political ambitions, and an
impromptu speech by APUSA’s webmaster. Between speakers, Doles offered
additional comments, for example mentioning a recent failed attempt by APUSA to
harass a local progressive group that has long been a target for Doles. Doles
reminded everyone that he had “renounced hate” and found common ground with
Lucretia Hughes.
Jonathan Garcia, Mack McGregor, and Michael Boggus are all militia supporters who promote each other’s efforts. Garcia aims to run for Governor in 2022, with McGregor running an accompanying campaign for Lieutenant Governor. Michael Boggus is a former member of the Georgia Security Force III% militia. He is currently running for the Republican nomination for Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, where he is competing against Matthew Gurtler among others.
Jonathan Garcia
In a rambling speech, Garcia railed against “Commie-crats” and stressed his “strict constitutionalist” principles. His talk included common far-Right rallying cries, from Ruby Ridge to the more recent militia martyr LaVoy Finicum. (Garcia stated that he had met Finicum’s wife.) Garcia favorably cited Robert Welch, the conspiracy theorist co-founder of the John Birch Society. Garcia, who is Black and Latino, told the audience: “I am what Martin Luther King talked about […] Call me a racist, I dare you.”
Mack McGregor
McGregor believes that the
Democratic Party is a socialist and communist organization dedicated to gun
confiscation. He expressed nostalgia for the days when mentioning socialism
meant “you got curb stomped”. McGregor encouraged the audience to “push these
people [Democrats and others considered socialist] back where they belong […]
drag ‘em out, do away with ‘em”.
Michael Boggus
Michael Boggus’ speech focused on
his main qualifications for the Congressional spot in Georgia’s 9th
District this year: “I’m definitely no politician and I’m not politically
correct”. Boggus talked about candidates such as himself as the alternative to
civil war: “We can do it now [change by political means] or we can wait and let
Boogaloo happen.” While Boggus claimed “Boogaloo [a far-Right term for civil
war] is fun”, he would rather win through the ballot and change the
establishment.
Following Boggus’ talk, APUSA webmaster Christy Howle gave an impromptu speech in which she fantasized about building gallows for “traitors”. Howle characterized undocumented immigration as an “invasion” and labeled immigrants as “the enemy”. She speculated that coronavirus shutdowns had been orchestrated because no shots were fired at the Richmond, Virginia anti-gun control rally two months earlier, which would have otherwise been the pretext for a clampdown.
An unfocused discussion of Doles’ favorite organizing issue, immigration, followed. After briefly speaking again, Matthew Gurtler made his excuses but posed for a group photo before leaving.
(d) May Meeting
Georgia was under a shelter-in-place order from April 3 to April 30. During this time APUSA held no public meeting. On the first day of the shelter-in-place order, Doles shared an APUSA image endorsing four fringe GOP candidates: Boggus, Garcia, McGregor, as well as Hubert Owens Jr., who is running as a Republican in State House District 93. On April 20, Doles circulated a new image adding two more candidates on the APUSA “We the People Dream Team”. These two additional endorsements were: Johsie Cruz, running as a Republican for Congress in Georgia’s 4th District, and Danny Ellyson, running for in Georgia’s 8th Congressional District.
APUSA members also mentioned Derrick Grayson, running as a Republican in the special election to the US Senate for Georgia, as billed to speak at an upcoming meeting. Grayson however was not officially endorsed by Doles and APUSA until the day after their May 9 meeting, held at the organization’s new clubhouse.
May 9 APUSA meeting. Front row (L-R): Josh Mote, Johsie Cruz, Derrick Grayson, Michael Boggus, Danny Ellyson, Chester Doles, Jonathan Cruz. Back row: William Tex Simmons in center with American Brotherhood of Patriots militiamen.
Only sections of the May 9 meeting were posted online. Candidates who presented at the small clubhouse gathering were: Johsie Cruz, Derrick Grayson, Danny Ellyson, Michael Boggus and Jonathan Garcia. As well as Doles, key APUSA members attending were Lumpkin County Coordinator Josh Mote; KKK supporter and APUSA ChaplainRobert Timothy Dickenson (visible in footage); and Nazi-supporting Doles associate, Sean Charles Keena (audible in recordings). The speaker’s podium was draped with an “Anti-Antifa” scarf featuring a white nationalist celtic cross symbol on either end. APUSA later characterized having people of color framed by the white nationalist accessory as a “laugh” at antifascists’ expense.
Johsie CruzDerrick GraysonDanny Ellyson
Johsie Cruz, who emigrated to the US from Venezuela, portrayed antifascists as the true Nazis. Video of Derrick Grayson’s speech was briefly posted, but soon went offline. We do not know its content except that according to Chester Doles, Grayson criticized RINOs (“Republicans in Name Only”). Doles officially endorsed Grayson’s Senate run the following day. Danny Ellyson stressed his military experience and portrayed himself as a strict constitutionalist. He congratulated APUSA for trying to “bridge a gap” and characterized anti-fascist criticism as “When you do right things, people try to attack you”. Most of Boggus’ talk is not available, but online footage shows a meandering conversation involving APUSA core member Sean Keena. At one point, Boggus commented that he was in Michigan last year, to challenge “No Go Zones” – a reference to an anti-Muslim protest he attended, and the myth that parts of Dearborn, Michigan are under Sharia law. Jonathan Garcia’s speech insisted that “outside organizations” such as the World Health Organization were undermining sovereignty. Garcia also stressed his unhyphenated American identity, which he perceives as under threat.
2019: Michael Boggus likescomment by “Knights Templar” (“KT”) Islamophobe, hoping for mass shootings in Dearborn, Michigan
3. APUSA Candidates
By summarizing APUSA’s recent
meetings, we also covered most of its endorsed candidates.
3.1 The Militiamen: Michael Boggus,
Jonathan Garcia, Mack McGregor
Militia supporters Jonathan Garcia and Mack McGregor aim to run for Georgia Governor and Lieutenant Governor respectively in 2022. They currently support Michael Boggus’ campaign in the Republican primary for the 9th Congressional District. Boggus is now deeply involved with American Patriots USA. APUSA are using a “Bikers for Boggus” fundraising event on May 16th – a bike run leaving from the Auraria Community Center in Dahlonega and returning for music and speakers – to further claim Dahlonega as their turf.
American Patriots USA Facebook page, co-administrated by Michael Boggus
3.2 Who’s In: Johsie Cruz, Danny
Ellyson, Derrick Grayson
Three more candidates talked for the first time at APUSA’s May 9 meeting: Johsie Cruz (for Congress, GA04), Danny Ellyson (for Congress, GA08), and Derrick Grayson (for US Senate). Grayson was not included in APUSA’s April “We the People Dream Team” promotional image but was endorsed following the May 9 meeting.
APUSA informally promotes QAnon supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene (for Congress, GA09) who posed for a photo with group members in February and who Doles calls “our friend”.
Despite State House Representative Gurtler talking at the March APUSA meeting and voicing support for the organization’s efforts, APUSA is supporting Michael Boggus over Gurtler and other candidates in the 9th Congressional District Republican primary. APUSA appears to have fallen out with Gurtler, with Christy Howle selling an APUSA t-shirt which portrays Gurtler as “nutless & gutless”.
As we discussed earlier, Eugene Yu (for
Congress, GA07) pulled out of an APUSA meeting in February.
Hubert Owens, Jr.
Hubert Owens, Jr. was one of the earliest candidates endorsed by APUSA, having been promoted by the organization alongside Boggus, McGregor and Garcia on April 3. Owens is a Republican running for State House District 93. He previously ran in a 2018 GOP primary for a Congressional spot in Maryland. Owens now claims not to have been aware of the APUSA endorsement and his Facebook post thanking APUSA for its support has vanished. Christy Howle continues to sell tank tops and posters of the APUSA “We the People Dream Team” featuring an image of Owens along with the other five candidates that APUSA had endorsed by the end of April.
Message on “Hubert Owens for GA HD 93” Facebook page from APUSA organizer Michael Carothers AKA Michael Weaver
Incumbent 9th District Congressman Doug Collins had already disassociated himself from Chester Doles shortly before the formation of APUSA, by issuing a statement disavowing white nationalism and saying that he would not attend Doles’ September 2019 rally in Dahlonega, after having his name listed as “invited” on the initial flyer. The White Information Network blog complained that GOP Congressman Collins had “come out against pro-white activists.”
4. APUSA Members
With five out of the seven candidates promoted by APUSA being people of color – four of them Black – it is easy to be distracted from the white nationalist nature of the project. APUSA is still controlled by Chester Doles and his close associates. Doles’ VKontakte (VK) social media account remains part of online groups for “Mein Kampf” and the National Alliance, among others. Scrolling down more than a few days on his VK account predictably leads to white nationalist content. See Section 4.3 for more counterevidence to Doles’ claim of rejecting “hate”.
4.1 The Minions: Sean Keena, Robert
Timothy Dickenson, Josh Mote, Christy Howle
Apart from Joshua Mote, who is the “clean” public face of APUSA, the two most frequent attendees at APUSA meetings are Sean Keena, a Nazi sympathizer and longtime friend of Doles, as well as Robert Timothy Dickenson, a Klan supporter who Chester Doles identified as APUSA’s Chaplain. The organization’s webmaster, Christy Howle, is close with racist Paul Lovett, who operates the racist “Nationalist Liberty Union” in the Augusta metro area.
With the January commotion over Cody Cantrell’s attempted run for White County Sheriff, Cantrell and other members of his SCK Klan group may have indeed left APUSA. However, APUSA’s official explanation – after dropping their initial lie about antifascist hackers – makes no sense. If APUSA removed bigots, figures such as the Holocaust-mocking Sean Keena would also have to go.
Following APUSA’s first meeting in December, members celebrated at Johnny B’s in Dahlonega. A group photo showed eight people, including Cantrell and three more SCK-KKK members, one of them giving a Klan salute. The four remaining figures were Doles, Keena and Dickson – ideological racists and key APUSA members – as well as one other person, Michael Carothers AKA Michael Weaver.
4.2 The Shadow Member: Michael
Carothers/Weaver
Facebook page for Michael Carothers/Weaver, featuring American Patriots USA image
Michael David Carothers (born 1980), who goes by the name Michael Weaver, has been an active white supremacist for over two decades. According to an article on Andrew Anglin’s old Total Fascism website, “Upon turning 18, he [Carothers] joined the National Alliance, of which he was a member for ten years.” As well as the National Alliance, Carothers was active in the white supremacist “World Church of the Creator” (WCOTC) for several years. For example, a WCOTC newsletter from the year 2000 listed Carothers as a contact.
“We Are All Michael Weaver” article on Total Fascism, 2013
Even if the years in the Total Fascism article are slightly off, Carothers was clearly part of the National Alliance while Chester Doles led the Georgia unit in the early 2000s. According to Total Fascism, Weaver “once met [National Alliance leader] William Pierce at a [2002] NA meeting in Dahlonega, Georgia” – an event organized by Doles. Weaver continued with the National Alliance for years after Doles went to prison on federal firearms charges, even being named “Activist of the Year” by the organization in 2008. In December 2010, Carothers attacked a Black man in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia with pepper spray, eventually taking a plea deal. Carothers received a sentence of one year in prison plus nine more years of banishment from the Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit.
White Information Network lists white supremacist murderer James Fields as “political prisoner”
Currently, Carothers maintains the White Information Network blog which he launched in 2010. Weaver often plays the role of publicist and behind-the-scenes organizer in the Georgia white nationalist milieu, as he did for the failed “Rock Stone Mountain II” mobilization and for Chester Doles’ September rally in Dahlonega. Carothers’ racist ideology has changed little as decades passed. His White Information Network blog lists white supremacist murderer James Alex Fields, Jr as a “political prisoner” deserving support. Carothers republishes neo-Nazi propaganda from the National Alliance on a regular basis.
Michael Carothers wearing APUSA shirt, posted to Facebook April 2020 (image flipped for readability.)
Carothers did not merely attend the initial meeting for APUSA in December. He assists online promotion and communications for the group. Carothers/Weaver and Chester Doles were the only two profiles linked to the American Brotherhood of Patriots militia on VK. (Weaver lost his VK account in February.) A few days after Michael Boggus was introduced as a candidate to the March APUSA meeting, Carothers posted a photo of a Michael Boggus campaign sign in Cartersville to his White Information Network. In April, Weaver also posted a screen-capture of Hubert Owens, Jr. thanking APUSA for its endorsement on his White Information Network blog, with the title “Support American Patriots USA”. Carothers wrote that APUSA candidates are “standing up to antifa” on VNN Forum and Stormfront, both white power sites.
“American Patriots USA” (i.e. Chester Doles) comments on White Information Network, April 1, 2020, celebrating the release of white nationalist Augustus Invictus from jail. Later in April, Invictus was arrested again for stalking his wife.
A look at the “Michael Weaver” profile on Facebook shows just how closely he has been following APUSA’s candidates. Of the seven candidates endorsed by APUSA, Carothers followspages for all except Derrick Grayson, who APUSA just officially endorsed. On a Facebook livestream by Michael Boggus the day of APUSA’s May meeting, Michael’s father David Carothers (“Horst Hessler”) commented: “Greetings on behalf of my son, Mike Weaver”. David Carothers is also a neo-Nazi and used to help his son distribute propaganda for the National Alliance.
Carothers/Weaver comments on the Facebook page for Joshua Noah Mote, May 2020
On Facebook, Weaver is also connected to APUSA’s Lumpkin County Coordinator Josh Mote, who insists that APUSA is “nothing of a neo-Nazi group.”
4.3 The Leader: Chester Doles
Chester Doles at his September 14, 2019 rally in Dahlonega
Chester Doles’ claim that he recently had a divinely inspired “profound change of heart, soul and mind” leading him to reject racism is false. Doles made this claim in a speech to the February 22nd meeting of his American Patriots USA. In the two months directly following the February meeting, Doles’ social media profile on VKontakte featured:
A link to Michael Carothers’ “White Information Network” blog.
An anti-immigrant propaganda image from the white nationalist “Western Loyalist” site.
A photo of a New Jersey European Heritage Association (NJEHA) poster placed on a street sign. NJEHA is a small antisemitic, white power organization
Doles shares statement from the white supremacist League of the South, April 2020
A statement from the Southern secessionist/white supremacist League of the South (LoS) on the “Disease of Globalism”. The text, written by LoS head Michael Hill, targets an “alien elite (largely Jews)” for allegedly taking over the United States and states that only “White men and women” should “run […] our civilization.” Doles shared this link from the VK page of Michael Tubbs, LoS Chief of Staff and leader for its Florida chapter. Tubbs was a ringleader for violence at 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Tubbs had earlier served prison time for his part in the “Knights of the New Order”, which heisted weapons from the US military as part of a plot to spark a race war.
“Anti-Antifa” image featuring Nazi insignia shared by Doles, April 2020
Two reposts from VK user Roberto Figueras, whose profile picture is a portrait of Adolf Hitler. The first was an “Anti-Antifa” image which incorporates the Totenkopf/Death’s Head symbol used by a division of the Nazi SS. Eight days later, Doles shared a video clip from Figueras captioned as: “Russian nationalists dissolve an anti-racist concert”. The video actually showed a hooligan attack involving clubs and rubber bullet “traumatic pistols” against an open-air rock festival in Miass, Russia in 2010, for which there have been differingexplanations. By sharing Figueras’ post, Doles implies that he supports attacks on anti-racist events.
A similar picture emerges from looking at who interacts with Doles on social media. We have already noted that Doles reposts longstanding white supremacists such as Paul Fromm and Michael Tubbs. During the same two-month period since Doles’ speech claiming that God “turned me upside down and shook me out”, the five most frequent commenters to his VK page were all blatant white supremacists:
Mark Calvin of Texas (23 comments), whose VK profile features speeches by Hitler and Goebbels as well as a rant about “beady eyed rat Jews”.
Nick Folkes of Sydney, Australia (7 comments), who formerly led the far-Right “Party for Freedom” in Australia and this year announced, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, UNCLE ADOLF!” on Hitler’s birthday.
“Exterminate the foreign virus” image celebrating genocide, liked by Doles in April. (Disclaimer added.)
During the same two months after allegedly abandoning “hate”, Doles repeatedly signaled his agreement with these white supremacists. On March 25, Doles liked a post by Nick Folkes to his wall stating: “The answer is simple ‘NO MORE NON WHITE IMMIGRATION’” – an unambiguous white nationalist position. On the same day, Mark Calvin wrote that he appreciated Chester Doles “raising awareness of k[*]ke scheming”, which also got a like from Doles. Finally, on April 5, “Vacuum Decay” posted an image to Doles’ page with the slogan “Exterminate the foreign virus – hydrogen cyanide” and featuring a figure with a gas mask and a swastika-and-eagle emblazoned helmet. The propaganda image is a reference to genocide. The poison hydrogen cyanide – also known by the brand name Zyklon B – was used in Nazi extermination camps for mass murder. As someone who spent a long time in white supremacist and neo-Nazi circles, Doles understood the reference. He liked the post.
The above shows Doles’ story of divine transformation to be a lie. The tale was highly suspect to begin. Doles has a history not as a Christian or any kind of monotheist, but rather as a racist heathen. Although there are non-racist varieties of Germanic neopaganism, Doles does not subscribe to them – in 2005, Doles wrote from prison that for him “Asatru [the name of his faith] and National Socialism go together, like hand and glove”. Doles does not share Christian iconography on his social media, but rather heathen imagery. Although American Patriots USA has Christian members and a Klan-supporting Chaplain, there is little evidence that Doles has changed from his racist heathen faith, beyond speeches at two APUSA meets that appear to have been motivated by political convenience.
5. Strategy Notes: What’s Going On?
With figures such as Doles, Keena,
Dickenson, and Carothers, white nationalism remains at the heart of APUSA. So,
why would white nationalists promote a multiracial team of “constitutionalist”
Republicans?
Chester Doles outlined his intentions for American Patriots USA early on. Appearing on The Right Voice white nationalist podcast in October, Doles cited deceased National Alliance leader William Pierce to explain his plans. Pierce stressed the importance of having allies “inside the gates”, or within centers of social, political, and economic power, rather than building a racist movement primarily from the margins. Doles believes that building broader coalitions can open doors, eventually leading to influence and opportunity.
Chester Doles explains to white supremacist internet friend that although APUSA candidates may not be “WP” (white pride/white power), all are “die hard constitutionalist”.
On the same broadcast, Doles argued that the Trump presidency has done much to normalize white “tribal thinking” – a less direct way of saying racism – and that Trump therefore deserves support. Doles discussed Black pro-Trump organizer Lucretia Hughes’ appearance at his September rally, which Doles believed to be the perfect “Trojan Horse” for his agenda. Doles is happy to make vague statements against “hate” and to build visible alliances with rightwing people of color, provided that this ultimately helps his white “tribal” position.
Michael Carothers at white nationalist torchlit march culminating in violence, Charlottesville, VA, August 11, 2017. He is walking with white nationalists Renee and Brad Griffin.
APUSA is a response to the current political position of white nationalists. In the years following Unite the Right in Charlottesville, VA 2017 – attended by both Doles and Michael Carothers – it has been increasingly difficult for white nationalists to hold events. Even before Unite the Right, in Georgia the “Rock Stone Mountain” rally of April 2016 was forcefully challenged by large protests, and a “Rock Stone Mountain II” announced for early 2019 collapsed before the event took place. Some white nationalists now look to mobilizations by groups such as Patriot Prayer in the Pacific Northwest as a possible way forward. Patriot Prayer is a multiracial far-Right group whose most prominent leaders are men of color, but Patriot Prayer provides ample space for white nationalists to organize under its umbrella.
Michael Carothers discussing failure of Rock Stone Mountain II, 2019
Similarly, portions of the militia
movement – actively courted by Doles – are multiracial even as this movement
engages in anti-immigrant and Islamophobic agitation. The militia movement
frequently intersects with white nationalism.
Chester Doles VK account: part of “Mein Kampf”, National Alliance, and other white power groups
What makes APUSA different from
these above examples is that APUSA is structured around a core of Doles and his
longtime associates – clear white nationalists who have practical control. They
believe that a front-facing multiracial alliance will allow them to build
capacity, push for their goals, and gradually move people toward their
position. The point is not merely to deceive, however. APUSA wishes to lead
broader campaigns and will presumably involve whoever wants to help. Yet the
agenda and strategic vision is still set by Doles’ white nationalist coterie.
The demographics of Lumpkin County, where Doles and APUSA are based, also help to understand APUSA’s strategy. Lumpkin County is 94.8% white, 5% Hispanic or Latino, 1.8% Black and less than 1% each Asian and American Indian. (The numbers add to over 100% since Hispanic people may be of any race.) Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, which includes Lumpkin County, is overall 87.1% White in a significantly more diverse state. Immigration is a key driver of demographic change in this area, and so white nationalists can make significant strides in their agenda locally just by scapegoating and targeting immigrants. Further, since the area remains very white, a “constitutionalist” insistence on local powers over the federal government and also over a more diverse, politically changing state, is a useful proxy for explicit white nationalism.
Late January 2020: Chester Doles references neo-Nazi leader William Pierce, insists there is no “Jew loving” in APUSA
The role of antisemitism within Doles’ organization should be emphasized. Participants such as Doles, Carothers, and Keena view a vast Jewish conspiracy as their primary enemy. Doles wrote earlier this year that terms such as “globalist” can be used to make antisemitic narratives more palatable, while at least initially avoiding “the evil J word”. Conspiracy theories flourish within APUSA and on its social media. Those who have been led to believe in shadowy “globalist” conspiracies can then be directed to sites such as White Information Network, which makes the racist and antisemitic worldview explicit.
6. Conclusion
We have shown how APUSA has tried to
use Republican candidates to launder its reputation and create new
opportunities, while remaining a white nationalist organization in leadership
and intent.
It is hard to assess how long APUSA’s present alliances will last. A figure such as Michael Boggus – a far-Right militiaman who was already open to working with white nationalists – seems to have gained by linking up with APUSA. APUSA has thanked him by turning their long-desired bike run into a Boggus fundraiser, and by treating Boggus’ campaign as their main organizing issue while 2nd Amendment Sanctuary County efforts are stalled. For other candidates, there may be limits to how much APUSA can help, beyond assistance with name recognition and potentially speaking at a few meetings.
Although APUSA hosted an elected
official at its March meeting, most of those on the APUSA candidate team exist
on the political fringes, far from any official power. For Doles and company,
getting “inside the gates” is more still aspiration than reality. It is
unlikely that APUSA will push any political candidate to victory, including its
efforts for outsider Boggus.
The greater concern is that by being
accepted within the GOP grassroots, APUSA’s white nationalist leaders may feel
normalized, find opportunities for growth, and eventually become emboldened.
This in turn could create a hostile and potentially dangerous climate for
others in the region. Campaign events also present a useful opportunity for
APUSA to recruit and further radicalize the Republican voter base. Thankfully,
north Georgia has a history of anti-racist community protest and networks
defending human dignity. We hope this documentation proves useful.
If you have further information on APUSA or other white nationalist organizing in Georgia, please get in touch.
Paul L. Townsend, a resident of LaFayette in north Georgia, born in 1964, is an active member of the League of the South (LoS), a white supremacist and Southern secessionist organization. Townsend attended the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia with the LoS contingent that was at the forefront of violence that day. Following the Charlottesville rally – in which one counter-protester was murdered and dozens more injured – Townsend stated that he was “proud that I participated in the Charlottesville rally” which he “knew […] would be epic.”
Townsend set up a profile on the Russian social networking site VKontakte (VK) the month before 2017’s “Unite the Right”. On VK, he is connected to many LoS members and other white supremacists. Townsend posted a photo of his younger self in camouflage fatigues in a desert environment, suggesting that decades ago he was in the US military.
Picture of Klan cross lighting on Townsend’s desk
Some of Townsend’s weapons
Townsend’s organization, the League of the South, is a longstanding white supremacist and secessionist organization. In recent years, LoS has moved in a paramilitary direction. During 2017-2018, LoS rallied alongside explicitly neo-Nazi organizations as part of the failed Nationalist Front alliance. The LoS leader, Michael Hill of Alabama, has also publicly moved closer to pro-Nazi positions, for example declaring in early 2019 that Hitler’s regime was “the only line of defense in Europe against the spread of Jewish Bolshevism.”
Townsend calls for the elimination of Jews and Muslims
Townsend outdoes even his violent white supremacist organization in genocidal hatred. In May 2018, Townsend proclaimed: “I have now come to the conclusion that ALL muslims, and ALL jews should be exterminated.” On October 27 of that year, a white supremacist murdered eleven people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The following day, Paul Townsend posted to social media: “What say we declare October 27 as ‘pop a jew day’?”
Cartoon celebrating the murder of Jewish people posted by Townsend.
As well as his involvement with the League of the South, Townsend has expressed interest in the “Creativity Alliance,” which promotes the white supremacist religion of “Creativity”. The main religious precept of Creativity (formerly the “World Church of the Creator”) is the advancement of white people, with its adherents believing in a “Racial Holy War” (or “RaHoWa”) against other races. On his VK account, Townsend uses the term “RAHOWA”. One of his photos includes a handgun placed on top of The White Man’s Bible, a Creativity scripture. Townsend is registered on the forum for the Creativity Alliance, one of the two organizations currently promoting the religion. The Creativity Alliance made headlines in February 2017, when Georgia resident William Christopher Gibbs who was active on their forum was arrested for attempting to manufacture ricin. (Stunningly, Gibb’s ricin charges were later dropped. The head of the Creativity Alliance told Paul Townsend that Gibbs was a “silly person”.)
User “PaulTownsend” on the Creativity Alliance web forum
His VK activity also shows Townsend to be a sympathizer of the National Alliance, which at one point was the largest neo-Nazi organization in North America. A poster named “PaulInGeorgia” matching Townsend’s age and his interest in survivalism registered on the National Alliance’s “White Biocentrism” forum last year, although it did not post beyond an introduction. On VK, Townsend is friends with Chester Doles, who organized the Georgia unit of the National Alliance in the early 2000s. Doles currently leads the Dahlonega, Georgia-based “American Patriots USA”.
Paul Townsend and Launa Townsend
Paul Townsend’s wife Launa Marie Townsend – employed as a cashier at the Walmart Supercenter in LaFayette – appears to share her husband’s white supremacist ideology. In an August 2019 message on VK, Paul Townsend stated that he and his wife had to miss the national conference for the League of the South “last year, but NOT THIS TIME!” Launa Townsend’s promised attendance at a white supremacist conference suggests sympathy with the cause.
Paul Townsend himself works or until recently worked in a large warehouse, which we believe is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based Vincit Group. Vincit Group is comprised of several companies offering “chemical, sanitation, and engineering services”. One of these companies supplies safety and sanitation gear while other parts of Vincit Group focus on, for example, the food and beverage industry. Chattanooga, Tennessee is approximately forty minutes from LaFayette, Georgia where Townsend lives.
Workplace photos posted by Paul Townsend
On social media last year, Townsend complained about “ni[**]ers” on the warehouse floor where he worked, cheering when one was fired and celebrating that a “White brother” was hired instead. On his VK account, Townsend also noted when Vincit Group had an opening for a shipping/receiving clerk and stated: “It would be really nice to see a White Nationalist get this job.” In addition to advertising the Vincit Group job to his white supremacist associates, this March Townsend postedphotos of large quantities of hand sanitizer and isopropyl alcohol that had been “Goin’ like hotcakes” from his warehouse due to the COVID-19 crisis. This is consistent with Vincit Group’s business.
Paul Townsend should be fired immediately from any job he may have, since nobody should be expected to work around an active white supremacist who fantasizes about mass murder. We also hope that by publishing this information, those living near Townsend are warned of his violent agenda and can assess any danger.
If you have further information about Paul and Launa Townsend or their white supremacist associates, please get in touch.
Update: We have received final confirmation that Amanda Sproul currently works at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia.
Summary: The Right Voice is a white power podcast operating since mid-2015. It continues the efforts of an earlier white nationalist project, The White Voice. Its hosts also operated a web of racist and far-Right propaganda pages on Facebook, some that had over ten thousand followers and reached far more. The Right Voice host Chris Burnham of Loudoun County, Virginia, is originally from the UK and fancies himself as an anti-leftist secret agent. His co-host, Amanda Sproul of Dublin, Georgia, is a longtime employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who works at a VA Medical Center.
Introduction
Launched in mid-2015, The Right Voice (TRV) podcast is a white nationalist and antisemitic podcast which has lasted for over 160 episodes. During this run, the show has aimed to broadcast once a week, as the lives of hosts “Chris” and “Marie” allow – which in practice means gaps. Casting itself as a voice of unity in the white nationalist scene, TRV has hosted everyone from Klansmen and explicit neo-Nazis to Alt-Right figures and even a few wannabe intellectuals and mainstreamers. Over the years, TRV has hosted such guests as Alt-Right figurehead Richard Spencer; notorious antisemite and neo-NaziDavid Duke; National Socialist Movement organizer Harry Hughes; and Susan Yarbrough, the widow of Gary Yarbrough, who was a participant in The Silent Brotherhood terror group in the 1980s. Last year, TRV twice hosted north Georgia racist organizer Chester Doles as a guest, the first time before Doles’ September far-Right rally in Dahlonega, and a second time to recap events afterward. The most recent episode of The Right Voice kicks off with “Chris” shouting for “y*ds” to “get in the oven” and addresses the COVID-19 pandemic through a typical white supremacist lens, using the crisis to advance racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. For example, “Marie” promotes the idea that Jewish people have been hoarding ventilators in New York City.
TRV’s name is a reference to an earlier white nationalist podcast, The White Voice, which both TRV hosts were involved with. The White Voice ran from its first episode in May 2011 to its hundredth episode in April 2015, with its site shuttering soon after. Marie started helping The White Voice in late 2013, while Chris appears to have first contributed in early 2015, just a couple of months before The White Voice project ended. After the end of The White Voice, TRV established its website in June 2015 and had its first podcast the following month.
The White Voice
While TRV recruits for the white nationalist movement, it is not as successful as some competitors. TRV’s main importance is as a forum for scattered white nationalists and as a force for unity, since its hosts avoid divisive issues within the racist scene such as religion. Much of the podcast discussion revolves around tactics and movement-building. Although they have interviewed many, TRV hosts do not present themselves as leaders of the white nationalist movement. Rather, they view themselves as a small functioning part within the broader white power ecosystem. Regular listeners trade messages in a small online chat during live broadcasts, heightening the sense of racist community.
“White Genocide Subliminals” page removed from Facebook
In addition to the podcast, hosts Chris and Marie had previously been involved in creating and maintaining a web of between twelve to twenty propaganda pages on Facebook, which they have repeatedly mentioned on their podcast. According to Chris, at least one of these Facebook pages had nearly thirty thousand followers – a significant propaganda operation. Several other pages allegedly passed the ten thousand mark. While we have not been able to determine all of these Facebook pages, from online comments we know TRV hosts were involved in “White Genocide Subliminals” as well as “Black Privilege”, which argued that Black people are systematically and unfairly advantaged by US society. “Marie” has been permanently banned from Facebook since mid-2017 for her incessant spreading of white power propaganda.
“Chris” and “Marie” are Chris Roland Burnham of Loudoun County, Virginia and Amanda Marie Sproul of Dublin, Georgia respectively. Burnham is originally from Britain but has been living in the United States for decades. Sproul is a longtime employee of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and may continue to work at a VA Medical Center. We discuss each in turn.
Christopher Roland Burnham
Chris Burnham
“Chris” of The Right Voice was identified last year as “Chris Burnham, a former British soldier and now an American entrepreneur” on the website of antisemite and white nationalist John De Nugent, who has appeared as a TRV podcast guest. Burnham was also mentioned in passing as a host of The Right Voice, on a 2017 post to a now-deleted anti-racist blog. Burnham currently maintains social media accounts on both Facebook and the Russian site VKontakte (VK), under the name “Kristoff Bornholm”. On VK, he is linked to the “Mandy Ross” account for TRV co-host “Marie”. Both Burnham’s Facebook and his VK accounts promote his TRV podcast.
It is easy to confirm Christopher Roland Burnham of Loudoun County, Virginia as the relevant “Chris Burnham”. While Burnham’s address is listed as being in Round Hill, he in fact lives by the unincorporated community village of Unison, VA. There are several ways to confirm this identity. First, the “Kristoff Bornholm” Facebook profile is linked to Burnham’s son. Second, on the TRV broadcast of March 25, 2020, Burnham mentioned having three buildings on his five-acre farm. Burnham’s property is 4.5 acres and has three buildings, plus a barn. On VK, Burnham posted the view from his back deck, which exactly matches the layout of the Furr Road property. Finally, in leaked chat logs published by the Unicorn Riot journalism collective, user “gbchris” appeared in online discussions for the neo-Nazi Traditionalist Worker Party, where he identified himself as “Chris from TRV”. The handle “gbchris” was used elsewhere by Chris R. Burnham when listing a motorcycle for sale in 2011.
View from Burnham’s back deck, 2019 from “Kristoff Bornholm” VK account.
The details of Burnham’s move from England to the US are somewhat murky. Born in 1959, Burnham grew up outside of London. On podcast episodes, Burnham has mentioned working as a bouncer in the UK during the late 1970s or early 1980s, as well as being a debt collector. In the podcast episode of May 9, 2018, Burnham stated that he was in the “baby Marines” – possibly meaning cadets – in the UK and at least tried to enter the US Marines. We have not confirmed Burnham’s military experience. Burnham has also discussed working as a dog trainer in the US (TRV episode 6/1/2016). According to the April 1 broadcast of this year, Chris Burnham finally got US citizenship in June 2019 after being a resident for decades.
Chris Burnham as a young biker.
Burnham is currently listed as the Vice President of Hunt Valley Veterinary Service, Inc., an active business registered in Virginia. His wife, Margaret Hood Burnham, is President. On TRV, Chris Burnham has also mentioned installing satellites and doing building work. Internet results show Burnham Communications, a satellite company, as well as the general contractor business Burnham Enterprises linked to Burnham’s Furr Road address.
“Heil Hitler, Sieg Heil”: Burnham/“GBChris” in The Voice of National Socialist Reason chat room, 2019
Burnham lives approximately an hour and fifteen minutes from Washington, DC, but near affluent outside-the-Beltway areas where politicians and officials own homes. On the May 9, 2018 podcast episode, Burnham mentioned former Secretary of State Madeline Albright being a “customer of mine”. Burnham was sure to point out Albright’s Jewish ancestry on the podcast. This year, Burnham mentioned “someone [living] very close to me has got a Homeland Security pass” (April 1, 2020). While it is doubtful that Burnham received sensitive information from this neighbor, Burnham uses his proximity to government and security circles to boost his own importance and to cultivate an impression that he is in-the-know.
On TRV, Burnham has mentioned his earlier involvement with The White Voice. In February 2015 – just a couple of months before that podcast ended – “Chris” was introduced as a new panel member on The White Voice. When the end of The White Voice was announced, Burnham stated that he and Marie would continue with a new podcast.
2015: In chat for The White Voice, Burnham announces that “Marie and I are carrying on”
Burnham travels to network with other white nationalists and to attend rallies. On April 23, 2016, two white power demonstrations took place in Georgia. The first rally, “Rock Stone Mountain”, was held at Stone Mountain outside Atlanta, the birthplace of the second era Ku Klux Klan. There, a diverse anti-racist mobilization overshadowed and undermined the white power event, which attracted just dozens. In Rome, Georgia, the National Socialist Movement rallied with Klan groups and other allies at an event attracting around eighty. The Rome rally was symbolically protested by residents. Speaking on TRV afterward, Burnham stated that he posed as media at both Stone Mountain and in Rome, wearing a “TRV Network” press pass. Burnham mingled with other media at Stone Mountain and documented anti-racists. In Rome, Burnham moved within the community’s anti-racist protest.
National Socialist Movement rally in Rome, Georgia, April 23, 2016
The next year, when the Nationalist Front (NF) white supremacist coalition protested in Pikeville, Kentucky, Burnham seems to have attended. The month of the rally, Burnham appeared under the name “gbchris” in leaked discussions from the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP), a now-defunct neo-Nazi group and leading organization in the NF. Burnham stated that he planned to attend the Pikeville event and, in his last post to the TWP server the day before the rally, asked whether the camping site address was wrong.
Since his experience at Stone Mountain, Burnham has styled himself as an anti-leftist secret agent. At the end of June 2016, he posted to VK: “anybody want to take on Antifa contact me to join AntiComm”. “AntiComm” is a reference to Anti-Communist Action, a far-Right group opposing anti-racists and anti-fascists, leftists, and even liberals who they decide are enemies. Interestingly, Anti-Communist Action did not cohere organizationally until early the next year, 2017, and then used the abbreviation “AntiCom” (with one “m”). We believe Burnham was involved in far-Right networks profiling leftists, but he may not have joined the more visible “Anti-Communist Action” that emerged the following year.
Hannah Zarski
On a TRV podcast episode (8/21/2019) interviewing Hannah Zarski of Virginia, Burnham stated that he and Zarski were involved with “undercover work” in the immediate aftermath of the 2017’s bloody Unite the Right (UTR) rally in Charlottesville. Zarski was a close associate of Jason Kessler, UTR’s main organizer. Chris Burnham claimed that he stayed with Jason Kessler a week or two following UTR, around the same time that he and Zarski “did the James Bond shit”. The exact nature of this clandestine action is unclear. However, when white nationalist, ex-Marine, and friend of Zarski’s, Michael Chesny, appeared on TRV (5/9/2018), Chesny hinted that Burnham and Zarski had used “recording devices” to gather information on opponents.
Amanda Marie Sproul AKA “Marie Ross”
Amanda Sproul
The second host of The Right Voice goes by “Marie” and “Marie Ross”. “Marie Ross” began contributing blog posts to The White Voice – TRV’s forerunner – in late 2013. In January 2014, “Marie” appeared on The White Voice podcast for the first time. She became a regular podcast host. The current Twitter account for The Right Voice – maintained by “Marie” – was also launched in early 2014, presumably under a different name. On the Russian social networking site VKontakte, “Marie” maintains a profile under the name “Mandy Ross”.
Although she took limited measures to protect her real identity, we have identified “Marie” as Amanda Marie Sproul, currently based in Dublin, Georgia. On both the podcast and TRV’s Twitter, “Marie” discussed attending a Macon, Georgia, rally for Trump in late 2015. Macon is approximately one hour west of Dublin.
From the source code for The Right Voice website circa June 2015
TRV’s content is hosted on a SquareSpace account, marie-ross-hy14, with TheRightVoice [dot] net domain name redirecting there. When we searched for archived versions of TheRightVoice [dot] net, we found a version of the site from June 2015, the month before the podcast launched. Examining the source code for this archived version, we realized that the SquareSpace account was not always named marie-ross-hy14 but was initially configured as amanda-sproul-hy14 with the business name “Smash Political Correctness”. (Smash Political Correctness was a now-deleted Facebook page used to promote The Right Voice.) When we began researching the only Georgia resident named Amanda Sproul, we discovered that Sproul had initially registered a different domain name, TheRightVoice [dot] US, with her own name and address in May 2015, soon after the end of The White Voice. The .US domain name does not seem to have ever been used.
“Mandy Sprowle” Facebook circa April 2017
Going back through our records, we found traces of now-deleted Facebook profiles under the names “Mandy Spruill” and “Mandy Sprowle”. The profile pictures for these accounts clearly resembled Amanda Marie Sproul of Dublin, Georgia. The “Mandy Spruill” account was active on the Facebook page for the “Rock Stone Mountain” white power rally in April 2016. Unlike her co-host who attended, Sproul appears to have just monitored the event online that day. In 2017, both the “Mandy Spruill” and the “Mandy Sprowle” accounts were listed as Facebook friends of white power propagandist Brad Griffin, the publisher of the Occidental Dissent website who has also been a TRV guest.
Hats signed by Trump in Macon, Georgia, 2015, from TRV Twitter account
Sproul lives at an address on Willow Point Drive in Dublin owned by Jimmy Douglas Ross. (Many of Ross’ family members have the surname “Gross”, suggesting a name change at some point.) According to county property records, Sproul and Ross also co-own three parcels of land, two adjoining their home and one across the street. Despite the age difference – Ross was born in 1946, Sproul in 1974 – we assume that Ross is the “husband” Sproul refers to on Twitter and podcasts. (It is unclear whether they formally married.) When Sproul displayed the hats that Trump signed when she and her husband attended Trump’s 2015 rally in Macon, Georgia, one of these hats was for a Vietnam War Purple Heart (combat wounded) medal recipient. On Twitter, Sproul identified her husband as having been with 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment in the 25th Infantry Division. In January 2018, TRV’s blog published a letter written by “one of our contacts” which claimed that there was “anti-White discrimination” at West Point, as evidenced by this person’s grandson not being accepted. The letter specifically mentions having served under Glenn K. Otis, who was the commander of 3-4 Cav, 25th ID during the Tet Offensive. We suspect the letter was written by Jimmy D. Ross, who seems to at least partially share Sproul’s racist ideology. Some of the language in the letter, such as accusations of anti-white “social engineering”, suggest that Sproul helped with edits or rewriting.
Image posted by “Jane Crow” featuring Totenkopf/Death’s Head design used by a Division of the Nazi SS and “Blood & Honour”, the name of a neo-Nazi bonehead network.
In addition to the TRV Twitter account, we have located two other Twitter accounts that were operated by Sproul, one of which has already been deleted. The first, “Jane Crow” – a reference to the segregationist Jim Crow system – refers to “Marie” from TRV in the third person and regularly promotes the TRV podcast. “Jane Crow” uses the same distinctivevocabulary as Sproul, shares the same musicaltastes, and references being banned from Facebook at the same time Sproul was banned. “Jane Crow” is the only account on Twitter apart from TRV to use the #sbjtrv hashtag, which marks topics for Sproul to discuss on the podcast. Further, the now deleted “Our People” Twitter account was also Sproul. On TRV’s account, Sproul shared memes with an “Our People” watermark and claimedsome as her own original content. “Jane Crow” referred to “Our People” as a “fellow female activist”, who coincidentally was permanently banned from Facebook at just the same time as Sproul.
Amanda Sproul worked and seemingly still works as a federal employee with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Specifically, we have located Sproul as an employee in the Veterans Health Administration, working at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin.
The Right Voice podcast 4/13/2016: “Marie” attacks diversity efforts at the VA
When “Marie”/Sproul discusses the VA on her white nationalist podcast, her comments are framed as being based on information from friends and contacts. On the TRV episode of April 13, 2016, “Marie” read an email from an Equal Employment Opportunity committee to workplace staff, which she stated had been received by “someone I know who actually works at the VA”. The workplace email highlighted the importance of diversity and criticized the harmful effects of “ethnocentrism” on the job. On the April 2016 podcast, “Marie”/Sproul read a draft response to this email by her alleged contact. The draft expressed concern over the use of counselors who “looked” and “sounded” like prior combat enemies; attacked the pro-diversity message as “social engineering” and “political correctness”; claimed that Equal Opportunity efforts took the focus off veteran care; and suggested that white people are harmed by pro-diversity gestures. The podcast episode has now been deleted, but we had earlier obtained a download. It is easy to figure out that Sproul’s alleged contact in the VA was actually herself.
Recent post on The Right Voice’s Twitter account using the “cultural enrichment” meme to attack Black people in the military
Before TRV, “Marie Ross” wrote for The White Voice about her experience as a government employee. In that 2014 The White Voice blog post, Sproul attacked “multiculturalism and DIEversity [sic]”, which she blamed for a situation where “I have to see a muzzie [derogatory term for Muslim] with headdress on, walking around” at work. Sproul also seems to have written about her workplace for the TRV website. A January 2016 rant on the TRV’s blog – unsigned but very likely by Sproul – states that its author “once again proudly shunned the MLK program where I work”. The article bemoaned Martin Luther King, Jr. Day celebrations, what she described as the “negroid” President at the time, and the fact “there will likely never be a WHITE history month.” Three years later, Sproul reposted a link to the TRV article on Twitter, adding a note that its author had now become “a successfull [sic] business owner.”
In recent years, “Marie”/Sproul has
claimed on the podcast to be self-employed. For example, on the December 5,
2018 episode she discussed her “veteran-owned business” doing well. Though
Sproul may have an additional business, in an episode just one month later,
“Marie” commented on new protocols at the VA, citing “two VA contacts” as
sources.
Amanda M. Sproul employee profile from FederalPay website
A search of federal employment information shows that Sproul was a federal employee from Fiscal Year 2008 through FY 2018, the most recent year covered by searchable online records. Sproul was listed as a “Secretary” at the Veterans Health Administration – part of the Department of Veterans Affairs – in the most recent year’s report.
A call this month to the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin confirmed that Amanda Sproul is listed in its staff directory. When our caller asked to contact Sproul, they were provided with the extension number for Primary Care, suggesting that this continues to be Sproul’s department.
Amanda Sproul claims Black people are “Subhuman at most”
Sproul’s past and seemingly present employment with the Veterans Health Administration is troubling for several reasons. First, Sproul may have the ability to influence who gets what healthcare, for example by strategically prioritizing or deprioritizing paperwork processing, or choosing who to advocate for. Second, there is the potential for sensitive medical information to be misused. Third, Sproul wrote on Twitter about many veterans she knows being “Yidpilled” – her term for embracing antisemitism. It is likely that Sproul has used her workplace access to veterans to promote or reinforce racism and antisemitism – a problem because veteran communities are already heavily targeted by white supremacists for recruitment. Finally, Sproul could have helped other white nationalists be placed for similar federal jobs. What makes this all the more disconcerting, is that by her ownaccounts Sproul made little effort to disguise her white nationalist beliefs within the workplace.
Conclusion
Although it has never had a wide listenership, The Right Voice is nearing five years as a project. Its hosts are successful networkers, knowing many leaders in the white nationalist movement as well as having a clear idea of what’s going on behind the scenes. Their podcast unites neo-Nazis, Klansmen, remnants of the “Alt-Right”, and unaffiliated white supremacists. Although Chris Burnham’s name had been mentioned in passing as a TRV podcast host, nobody had written extensively about him before now. The Georgia co-host, Amanda Sproul, had not been identified until now, despite being active as a hardcore racist propagandist since at least 2013. We hope that by exposing these racist and antisemitic organizers, we impede their organizing. If you have further information on Burnham, Sproul, or other racists discussed here, please get in touch.
In May 2019, the white supremacist and fascist organization Patriot Frontplaced propaganda around Lawrenceville, a suburb of Atlanta. Patriot Front splintered and rebranded from another racist organization, Vanguard America, in the aftermath of the disastrous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, August 2017. We have now seen a few cycles of Patriot Front activity in Georgia. In late 2017 and early 2018, Patriot Front militants targeted several neighborhoods with propaganda, before our organization exposed their main organizer, coincidentally also in Lawrenceville. Patriot Front activity near Atlanta dropped off sharply after our 2018 exposé, so it was a surprise to see Patriot Front stickers appearing in Lawrenceville again the following year. [1]
Old Twitter account for Patriot Front shows propaganda in Lawrenceville, May 2019
While another Patriot Front member may have been involved, we have determined that Christopher Skylar Brooks helped place the white supremacist organization’s materials around Lawrenceville last May. Interestingly, while he assisted the white supremacist Patriot Front, Brooks was also involved with the Proud Boys, a “Western Chauvinist” far-Right group which claims to reject white supremacy and involves some reactionary people of color.
Chris Brooks
Brooks’ online bragging allowed us to identify him as helping with the Patriot Front propaganda in Lawrenceville. After Patriot Front hit Lawrenceville with stickers, anti-racists removed them and left some antifascist materials in their place. Not long after, a new Twitter account with the name “Nash Shunulitz” replied to the Atlanta Antifascists profile, posting images of an antifascist sticker being torn down in Lawrenceville, and a Patriot Front sticker being posted yet again. Patriot Front provides stickers only to those who have signed up with the organization, and so “Nash Shunulitz” must have joined the white supremacist group, or at least have been gifted a few stickers by a member. Since “Nash Shunulitz” was following up on a larger Patriot Front propaganda run, it is likely he participated in the initial activity too.
A simple internet search shows only one other social media profile under the name “Nash Shunulitz” – a Facebook account established in August by Christopher Skylar Brooks, who is visible in photos on the Facebook profile. The “Nash Shunulitz” Facebook has shared content that also appeared on Chris Brook’s personal account under his own name.
Chris Brooks’ “Nash Shunulitz” profile includes a “Black Sun” picture – a symbol used by neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Before his recent move overseas, a listed address for Brooks was in Lawrenceville. Brooks’ family home is also in Grayson, Georgia, just ten minutes away. The photos provided by “Nash Shunulitz” on Twitter cinch the identification. One photo shows a pair of tan pants of the sort favored by Brooks. While “Nash Shunulitz” attempted to obscure this, another Twitter photo shows a metal ring on the right index finger, exactly as worn by Chris Brooks.
From picture posted by “Nash Shunulitz”
Chris Brooks with ring on right index finger.
The Facebook profile maintained by Chris Brooks under his own name predates his alternative Facebook account as “Nash Shunulitz”. Brooks’ profile shows that in May 2019, he was posting Alt-Right propaganda, including an image which used the triple parentheses symbol to suggest a Jewish conspiracy. This online activity fits the profile of someone ripe for Patriot Front recruitment.
Although Brooks distributed Patriot Front propaganda in Lawrenceville, he may not have stuck with the organization for long. The “Nash Shunulitz” Twitter profile included the words: “Life. Liberty. Survival.” which misstates the Patriot Front slogan of “Life, Liberty, Victory!” This error suggests that Brooks was still learning the ropes in the organization. A lack of further Patriot Front propaganda around Lawrenceville last year also suggests that Brooks may not have lasted long, since Patriot Front members are under constant pressure to spread propaganda.
Chris Brooks in “Proud Boys Atlanta” Facebook group, March 2017
Brooks has stayed longer within the Proud Boys. He is found in our records from the “Proud Boys Atlanta” Facebook group, dating to March 2017. Brooks was photographed with other Proud Boy members as late as December last year, and his social media is a who’s who of the organization in our state and beyond. Notably, Brooks is friends on social media with Gregory Glenn Joiner of Warner Robins. Joiner is another Proud Boy in Georgia who signed up with a white nationalist organization. In Gregory Joiner’s case, his name appears in leaked logs from the racist group Identity Evropa (now rebranded as the “American Identity Movement”).
Chris Brooks in caricature Chinese outfit, December 2019. Georgia Proud Boy Chris Kemp is to Brooks’ right. Note the “Goy” t-shirt above Brooks – a term appropriated by antisemites and the Alt-Right.
In recent months, Chris Brooks moved to Shanghai, China. One image posted by Brooks as “Nash Shunulitz” shows a figure dressed a Pepe costume, moving between the mob scene from the “Unite the Right” torchlit march, to what appears to be a Shanghai cityscape. Superimposed on the Charlottesville mob is the logo of Identity Evropa, though it is unclear whether Brooks was a formal member of that organization. On LinkedIn, Brooks now lists himself as the Chief Operating Officer for “Shanghai Beverly Business Consulting, Ltd”, a company that “facilitates relationships with suppliers”. On Facebook, Brooks stated that he had been “keeping myself in misery” in Georgia with attempts to “change or save the world”, and that he was happier in Shanghai. An accompanying video shows Brooks tutoring a child, suggesting another job.
Image from Brooks’ “Nash Shunulitz” Facebook page, September 2019
Despite Brooks’ change of environment and attitude, there is no sign that he has fully abandoned far-Right politics. Brooks remains in contact with most of the main figures of the Proud Boys in Georgia via Facebook. Brooks also stays connected with “Paxton Rangerstein”, an antisemitic and explicitly fascist account. Brooks displays casual anti-Asian racism, casting himself as an expatriate lord whose whiteness grants him a privileged status over the Asian population.
Chris Brooks profile on LinkedIn
We are drawing attention to Brooks for a couple of reasons. First, when racists target communities with white supremacist propaganda, we will always do our best to expose them. Second, Chris Brooks is another example of a Proud Boy who further radicalized himself while in the organization. Brooks’ white power affiliations were seemingly not an issue for the Proud Boys, despite that organization’s pose to have nothing to do with white supremacy. While the Proud Boys are nominally “Western Chauvinist” instead of white supremacist, their organization is adjacent to organized white nationalism, facilitates racist radicalization, and welcomes clear white supremacists within its ranks. We believe it is important to document the porous boundaries between “Alt-lite” groups such as the Proud Boys, and explicitly white nationalist and fascist groups.
If you have further information on Patriot Front or other far-Right activity in our state, please get in contact.
Note [1] Patriot Front was also active in Columbus, Georgia, last year, where they eventually targeted synagogues. This year, there have been new rounds of Patriot Front propaganda in Atlanta and otherparts of Georgia. Please get in contact if you have information on this other Patriot Front activity.
Robert Timothy “Tim” Dickenson, currently linked to property in Hiawassee, Georgia and previously of South Carolina, is a supporter of the Ku Klux Klan and a core member of north Georgia’s “American Patriots USA” (APUSA). We first noticed Dickenson at white supremacist Chester Doles’ far-Right rally in Dahlonega, north Georgia on September 14, 2019. Tim Dickenson marched in alongside Klansmen and other close supporters of Doles. Since then, Dickenson has been a constant presence supporting Doles and APUSA. For months we did not know who he was, but with some effort we have now identified him.
Tim Dickenson at 9/14/2019 rally in Dahlonega
Dickenson 2015 mugshot from West Virginia arrest
Dickenson further gained our attention after he appeared in Dahlonega on October 19, 2019 for the community’s Gold Rush Festival parade. There, Dickenson showed up alongside Chester Doles and members of Doles’ family, who had a float in the parade promoting Doles’ new APUSA organization. Dickenson wore a hoodless sweatshirt advertising the International Keystone Knights of the Ku Klux Klan (IKKKKK) as he accompanied the APUSA float.
Dickenson with back toward camera, Dahlonega Gold Rush Festival parade.
Another picture of Dickenson from October 19, 2019.
As we discussed in our earlier article about APUSA, Dickenson (unidentified at the time) posed with Klansmen and neo-Nazis following the first APUSA meeting on December 14, 2019. This year, APUSA attempted to pass a “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City” ordinance in Lumpkin County, as part of a mainstreaming effort to build their organization and pose as community leaders. Dickenson appeared alongside Chester Doles and antisemite Sean Keena in Dahlonega on February 1, attempting to get signatures for their “2nd Amendment Sanctuary City” petition outside the local Walmart.
Dickenson (L) with Chester Doles and Sean Keena, February 1st
From the late 1980s onward, Dickenson had a long history of criminal charges in Greenville County, South Carolina. The vast majority of Dickenson’s cases are related to driving while intoxicated. He also has a 1988 guilty plea for drug possession. More worryingly, Dickenson took a plea deal in 2014 for charges from an arrest the previous year. Dickenson pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal domestic violence as well as aggravated assault. Dickenson had originally been charged with attempted murder rather than aggravated assault from the May 2013 domestic violence incident.
Dickenson’s South Carolina guilty pleas for aggravated assault and domestic violence.
In early July 2015 – two weeks after white supremacist Dylann Roof murdered nine Black churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina – Dickenson cycled around Simpsonville and Fountain Inn, SC, with a Confederate battle flag and advertised the KKK. A news story identified “Timothy” as a member of the Original Knight Riders, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan at the time.
Dickenson distributes KKK literature, 2015
Tim Dickenson appears to have been using family property in Hiawassee, Georgia, since at least 2019 and possibly earlier. Hiawassee is a small community in Towns County with a population of less than one thousand. The property is currently listed as owned by one of Dickenson’s sisters; it was earlier owned by Dickenson’s mother (now-deceased). In addition to the rural property with a listed street address, two nearby plots of land are also owned by the family.
October 2018: Chester Doles post about “Sons of Yahweh” church in Hiawassee
In October 2018, APUSA leader Chester Doles claimed on the VK social networking site that he would attend the opening of a new church in Hiawassee named the Sons of Yahweh. Responding to a comment on VK, Doles suggested that the new church was based on the Aryan Nations (“AN”) model, referring to the notorious white supremacist group. Doles even suggested that the Hiawassee church would eventually have a guard tower based on the design from AN’s old compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho. The tower comment may be simply Doles trying to impress his neo-Nazi audience, just as he exaggerated his friends’ importance by claiming that Associated Press had been invited to the Church opening.
December 2019 in Dahlonega: KKK organizer Robert McDuffie, Tim Dickenson, Chester Doles and neo-Nazi Michael Carothers (AKA Michael Weaver) after the first APUSA meeting.
If the Georgia “Sons of Yahweh” church is more than a figment of Doles’ imagination, we suspect it is tied to Dickenson. However, no obvious church structure or signs currently stand on the Hiawassee property used by Dickenson, at least as visible from the road. The name “Sons of Yahweh” suggests a Christian Identity affiliation. Christian Identity is a racist religion which portrays whites as God’s true chosen people, believes Jewish people are imposters who have Satanic origins, and treats people of color as less than fully human. The “Church of the Sons of YHVH” was the name of an earlier Christian Identity group co-founded by Morris Gullett. Gullett also led an Aryan Nations faction after the main group splintered following a major lawsuit, bankruptcy, and the death of its founder. Gullett’s faction of AN had an associated Klan division, the Aryan Nations Knights (ANK) of the Ku Klux Klan. Approximately five years ago, ANK leaders in the South such as Greg Calhoun and Shaun Winkler switched their affiliations from ANK to IKKKKK. As discussed earlier, Tim Dickenson appeared in public advertising the IKKKKK in October.
Dickenson at APUSA meeting, March 14, 2020. From video posted online by militia supporter and fringe Republican candidate Michael Boggus.
Dickenson’s affiliations show yet
again that “American Patriots USA” is a front group for active white
supremacists, not simply an anti-socialist, pro-Trump organization as it
advertises itself. By publishing information on Dickenson, we are also warning
Towns County residents to be on the lookout for racist organizing in their
area, possibly under the guise of a new church.
Please get in contact if you have further information on Tim Dickenson, APUSA, or other white supremacists organizing in Georgia.
Meet Kieran Morris, Patriot Front Network Director for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He likes to wear a certain hat, sunglasses, and Claddagh ring on his right ring finger, in addition to a Celtic Cross “white power” face mask.
Kieran Morris is Network Director of the fascist group, Patriot Front for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. As Network Director, Kieran often travels from his home in Poughkeepsie, NY–where he lives with his family–to areas around the Northeast for fascist activism. He has especially targeted New York City for Patriot Front propaganda campaigns, and is behind the recent spate of Patriot Front banners around the five boroughs (notably in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn this past January). Before Kieran got involved in Patriot Front, he joined the notorious online Nazi forum Iron March and repeatedly messaged Brandon Russell, the founder of the deadly Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division (AWD), about joining a New York-based cell of the Nazi terror organization. AWD members have murdered at least 5 people in the United States and in March 2020, five AWD members were arrested for threatening journalists, the ADL, and people of color. Kieran and Russell were communicating on encrypted messaging services days before Russell was arrested on explosives charges in Florida. In November 2019, Kieran traveled internationally with other Patriot Front members to network with european Nazi groups officially endorsed by Iron March, like Casa Pound in Italy and the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) in Sweden. NRM is responsible for numerous racist and murderous attacks. Members were found guilty of bombing refugee centers in Gothenburg, Sweden. Kieran and Patriot Front also visited Poland, Germany, and Latvia. At Poland’s notorious Independence Day march, the group was photographed with Falanga, a Polish fascist group which also had a presence on Iron March. Most recently, Kieran was spotted outside of a Trump rally in Wildwood, NJ distributing fascist propaganda and carrying a shield at the Patriot Front march on the US Capitol Grounds in Washington DC.
Meet Kieran Morris, who also really loves his fashy haircut. Note his height, the style of shoes he prefers and how his pants fall. You should also note he wears white laces.
Identification
We were able to identify Kieran Morris from the license plate on his truck which returned his name, date of birth, and his address in Poughkeepsie. As reported by Idavox, the photo was taken by an individual who observed Kieran and several other Patriot Front members dropping a banner in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and followed the group to Kieran’s truck. Several days prior, Patriot Front flyered and stickered the Brooklyn neighborhood with their fascist propaganda. However, residents did not turn a blind eye to fascists attempting to recruit and spread fascism in their neighborhood. The local community immediately responded by calling a rally in solidarity with targeted groups and denouncing fascism and bigotry. The banner drop was Kieran and Patriot Front’s attempt at intimidating local people rallying against the group’s hatred. Instead, Patriot Front’s banner lasted one minute before being cut down and we are now exposing Kieran Morris as Patriot Front’s Network Director in the region.
Photo from Idavox article on Patriot Front members dropping a banner in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
Poughkeepsie is a city in Dutchess County, NY, located in the Hudson Valley, and for awhile, we had been on the lookout for a Patriot Front Network Director living in the Hudson Valley thanks to some leaked intel from a disgruntled source no longer with the group. In one screenshot we received, “Patrick NY” used an avatar showing himself wearing a mask with a white power symbol, a distinctive hat, and sunglasses. Kieran wrote that when he was friends with Liam Neeson’s children growing up, he would go over to their house. Neeson lives in Millbrook, NY, a town in Dutchess County not far from Poughkeepsie. After running Kieran’s truck plates, and finding his name and address, we used the Facebook profiles for Kieran’s various relatives to connect him to “Patrick,” the name he uses in Patriot Front chat servers. In another screenshot we received, Kieran was upgraded to Network Director, which was reflected in his display name. The screenshot further corroborates that “Patrick” lives in the Hudson Valley and that he attends regional “Pool Parties” at Sven’s–a reference to co-host Jesse “Sven” Dunstan’s fascist gatherings in Fishkill, NY, also located in the Hudson Valley. Dunstan is the co-host of “The Daily Shoah” on fascist website, The Right Stuff.
Screenshot from Patriot Front’s private RocketChat where Kieran, as “Patrick,” explains that he was friends with Liam Neeson’s children growing up, allowing us to place him in the New York’s Hudson Valley.Screenshot from Patriot Front’s private RocketChat where Kieran’s handle indicates that he attends “Pool Parties” in Sven’s region. This is a reference to the fascist gathering hosted by Jesse “Sven” Dunstan in Fishkill, NY which is near Poughkeepsie in the Hudson Valley.Screenshots from Kieran’s father’s Facebook page, discussing Kieran’s landscaping skills and showing him in front of their house in Poughkeepsie, NY. Kieran has been trying to cover his tracks, but he didn’t lock down his family’s social media in time.Kieran posted this photo as the avatar of his Twitter account, @ForwardPatriots. These masks really do the trick. Nice ring.Kieran back in 2015 when his Claddagh ring fit on his right index finger. We can also see why he doesn’t often wear hats.
Further searches show that Kieran went to Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappinger’s Falls, NY, which is nearby Poughkeepsie. He also played in the Hudson Valley Rugby group last year. [Editor’s Note 2020.22.3–After reading our article, the Hudson Valley Rugby Club sent us an email stating their anti-oppression policy and asked us to make clear to readers that they do not support or share Kieran’s fascist politics. Here is their policy in full: “The Hudson Valley Rugby Football Club, Inc, 501 (c) 3, is dedicated to growing the sport of rugby in the Hudson Valley. The club works to create opportunities to play, participate in, support, enjoy and learn rugby. We create this access to the sport for everyone and anyone interested in participating. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sexuality, politics, gender, fitness, or experience in the sport. We work to create an environment of acceptance, respect, equality, equal-access, equal-rights, and social support. The club has zero-tolerance for discrimination of any type, including any activities of hate, hate-speech, prejudice, bigotry, sexism, racism, gender discrimination, ageism, ableism, classism, misogyny, xenophobia, inequity, intolerance or anti-semitism.”]
Screenshot from Patriot Front’s private RocketChat where Kieran discusses playing rugby for a local team.Here is a picture of Kieran posing with the local Hudson Valley Rugby team.
As a member of Patriot Front, Kieran maintains the Twitter account @ForwardPatriots. He likes to post and retweet pictures and videos of himself, which is very convenient for research and investigation purposes.
Screenshots from Kieran’s Twitter account @ForwardPatriots, where he retweets “anonymous” photos of himself. He is currently calling his account “Victory or Death.”
We further corroborated that Kieran Morris is a fascist from Poughkeepsie, NY by finding his username, location, and Gmail address in the defunct Nazi web forum, Iron March, which was leaked in its entirety by anonymous antifascists in November 2019. The leaks were turned into a searchable website by Jewish Worker and include IP addresses, usernames, email addresses, locations, posts and direct messages with other users. Kieran listed his ideology on Iron March as “National Socialist” and in one direct message with “Odin” AKA Brandon Russell, the founder of the murderous Nazi group Atomwaffen Division, gave his Wire username as “hvny1488.” This username plainly references Hudson Valley, NY and the Nazi code “1488.” This string of numbers is the combination of the “14 Words,” a saying coined by David Lane, the leader of the ultraviolent, deadly white supremacist group, “The Order,” and “88” or “Heil Hitler” (H is the 8th letter of the alphabet). The avatar of Kieran’s Wire account is a photo of Hitler sieg heiling while giving a speech.
Screenshot of Kieran’s user information on the defunct Nazi website,Iron March. His Gmail address contains his real name and the IP address traces Kieran to Poughkeepsie. The contents of the website were leaked anonymously and made searchable by @JewishWorker.Screenshot of Kieran’s Wire username which he gave to “Odin” AKA Brandon Russell, the founder of the ultra-violent Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division, in a direct message asking to join the group.
Various searches for Kieran’s Gmail address led to the discovery of his username on Skype, where Atomwaffen and other Nazis hosted group chats, as well as an archived retweet of Kieran’s defunct Twitter account. The hacked database search engine, Dehashed, shows that even when Kieran used his Gmail address on innocuous sites, his Nazism was always present.
Screenshots of applications Kieran used his Gmail address: Skype (top left), Twitter (top right), and MyFitnessPal (bottom). For the latter, Kieran used part of the Iron March slogan as his username.
Radicalization and Atomwaffen Division
Iron March billed itself as a “global fascist fraternity,” and prominently displayed their slogan, “Gas the K*kes, Race War Now, 1488 Boots on the Ground!,” on the website’s homepage. Iron March had an enormous impact on fascists around the world, promoting an ultra-violent accelerationist strain of fascism which lauded figures like Charles Manson, Dylann Roof, and Anders Breivik. Newcomers to the site were given a curriculum of fascist texts to read, a list which included Mein Kampf, the Iron March web zine NOOSE, and SIEGE, the ultra-violent accelerationist Nazi screed by James Mason. SIEGE calls for deadly violence against people and attacks on infrastructure in order to accelerate an inevitable race war, the collapse of society, and fascist totality. Iron March viewed Breivik, Roof, and Manson as heroes and their horrific actions as the ultimate recruitment tools.
Iron March also was a tool for Nazis to network with each other and the site incubated Nazi groups such as National Action (Great Britain) and Atomwaffen Division (US). The site officially supported other groups like Nordic Resistance Movement (Sweden, Finland, Norway), Casa Pound (Italy), and Golden Dawn (Greece). About 8 months prior to Kieran joining the site, Jo Cox, a British MP, was murdered by a fascist. National Action called the murderer a hero, crowing on Twitter, “Only 649 MPs to go #WhiteJihad” and was soon labeled a terrorist organization by the British government. Around the time Kieran joined Iron March in March 2017, several members of National Action had been arrested for belonging to a terrorist organization, distributing materials of the terrorist organization, and for sending manuals on “white resistance” and “ethnic cleansing operations” to people over Skype.
Kieran wrote only one post in the Iron March forum proper, but in his message he describes the trajectory of how he ended up there. After struggling with substance abuse, he got clean and was radicalized during the 2016 election cycle, which evidently led him “down the rabbit hole” to violent accelerationist Nazi politics. Kieran wrote that articles on NOOSE, which feature articles such as “There Are No ‘Good Jews’” and rhetoric such as “fuck with us, you die,” and the accelerationist Nazi bible, SIEGE, had “all been of immense value in informing and refining [his] worldview.” Kieran says he joined Iron March “to network with like minded young men and to further educate [him]self in the fascist worldview” but that he was mostly interested in “find[ing] others in my region to unite and take action.”
Screenshot of Kieran’s post on the defunct Nazi forum,Iron March. The contents of the website were leaked anonymously and made searchable by @JewishWorker.
And Kieran definitely tried to find other Nazis in his area to unite and take action with. The day after his Iron March post, he sent a direct message to “Odin,” AKA Brandon Russell, the founder of Atomwaffen Division, about finding AWD members in New York because he was “impressed” with the group. Somewhat amusingly, Kieran disparages American Vanguard, a fascist group which also got its start on Iron March, as only interested in “shitposting” and browsing the notorious /pol/ (or “politically incorrect”) message boards on (probably) 4chan. American Vanguard was heavily involved in the Alt-Right and was connected to the fascist website The Right Stuff, through their Deputy Director, “Ghoul” AKA Cooper Ward. Iron March as a whole and the groups it supported, such as Atomwaffen, were opposed to the bait-and-switch “respectability fascism” that groups like American Vanguard promoted in their appeals to Trump supporters. After a convoluted history of infighting, name changes, and allegations of Ghoul grooming underage members, American Vanguard is now better known as Patriot Front. Kieran is now a Network Director in the Patriot Front organization.
Screenshot of Kieran’s direct messages with “Odin” AKA Brandon Russell, the founder of the ultra-violent Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division, on the defunct Nazi forum, Iron March. The contents of the website were leaked anonymously and made searchable by @JewishWorker.
However, in 2017, Kieran was interested in joining Atomwaffen and repeatedly messaged Brandon Russell about becoming a member. After his first couple of direct messages to Russell didn’t go anywhere, Kieran tried again several months later in May. The two Nazis exchanged Wire handles on May 16, 2017 and their conversation about Kieran joining Atomwaffen went offsite. Three days after exchanging Wire handles with Kieran, Brandon Russell was taken in for questioning after his roommate and fellow Atomwaffen member, Devon Arthurs, killed two other roommates/Atomwaffen members in their shared Tampa, Florida house. The house was filled Nazi memoribilia, books like Mein Kampf,The Turner Diaries, and a garage full of explosives. Russell was let go after convincing authorities the explosives were only used for his “model rockets,” but arrested several days later with yet another Atomwaffen member in a car filled with over 1000 rounds of ammunition, an assault rifle, and a bolt-action hunting rifle.
Screenshot of Kieran’s direct messages with “Odin” AKA Brandon Russell, the founder of the ultra-violent Nazi group, Atomwaffen Division, on the defunct Nazi forum, Iron March. The contents of the website were leaked anonymously and made searchable by @JewishWorker.
Patriot Front
After American Vanguard, the group that became Patriot Front was known as Vanguard America (VA), one of the main organizers of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 and defendant in the lawsuit, Sines v. Kessler, brought by survivors of the violence perpetrated by Vanguard America and others at “Unite the Right.” Thomas Rousseau assumed control of a faction of Vanguard America after the deadly rally and subsequently renamed the group to “Patriot Front.” James Fields, the fascist who murdered Heather Heyer and injured dozens of others by driving his car into a crowd of antifascist protesters, marched with Vanguard America during “Unite the Right ” and is seen near Rousseau in pictures from that day. Patriot Front is affiliated with several other fascist groups and individuals who are also co-defendants in the Sines v. Kessler lawsuit. One month after “Unite the Right,” Patriot Front and the Nazi group Daily Stormer Book Club jointly attacked the Houston Anarchist Bookfair. Patriot Front members have also acted as armed security for Richard Spencer and have continued ties to The Right Stuff, the fascist podcast and forum. The social media for Joffre Cross, a Patriot Front member arrested on gun charges in Houston in February 2019, showed numerous connections to “affiliates” of The Right Stuff. Patriot Front focuses heavily on recruitment through propaganda campaigns in states with membership. They also aggressively target college campuses with flyers and stickers and distribute propaganda at other events, such as anti-war protests. Patriot Front also utilizes flash-mob-style photo ops and spectacular events, such as their recent “march on the US Capitol” to recruit and spread their fascist message. However, they also attempt attacks and disruptions of leftist events and protests. In 2018, Patriot Front attacked an OccupyICE encampment in San Antonio and attempted to disrupt the Boston Anarchist Bookfair. In 2019, they showed up to the “March against Cages” in Boston. Patriot Front members routinely release videos of themselves doing martial arts training and also carry weapons. A knife and brass knuckles were found on Boston Patriot Front members after a confrontation with a police officer who caught them putting up fascist propaganda.
From our research, we have found that Kieran is a very active member of Patriot Front, and as a Network Director, is heavily involved in organizing the group’s fascist activity in the region. Living in the Hudson Valley, he is most likely responsible for the spread of Patriot Front flyers and stickers in upstate New York. He has also especially targeted New York City, driving hours to drop banners and wheatpaste fascist garbage around the five boroughs. After identifying Kieran, we identified him as the fascist passing out propaganda at Trump’s rally in Wildwood, NJ and were able to find him at numerous Patriot Front events, including marching with a shield and special mask next to Patriot Front leader, Thomas Rousseau, at the “March on the US Capitol” this past February.
Two out of many examples of Kieran’s work in the Hudson Valley, NY, where both Poughkeespie and Fishkill are located. There are a lot more, even if PF reuses pictures of old stickers to look more prolific than they are.Screenshot of Kieran flyering in New York taken from a corny Patriot Front propaganda video. Kieran in Washington DC trying to take away a woman’s right to choose in January 2020.Kieran play fighting with another Patriot Front member in New York. Screenshot taken from a corny Patriot Front propaganda video.Patriot Front have dropped many banners in New York City in the past six months. Kieran really enjoys being front and center during the “anonymous” pictures taken for propaganda purposes.Kieran shouting fascism at a Patriot Front spectacle in front of the Virginia Israeli Advisory Board.Kieran handing out fascist propaganda at the Trump Rally in Wildwood, NJ. Image on the leftwas captured by a journalist covering the rally.Screenshots from Patriot Front’s “March on the US Capitol” show Kieran wearing a unique mask, holding a shield, and glued to Patriot Front leader, Thomas Rousseau’s side. The lede photo on the UK Independent’s coverage of the march is of Kieran and Thomas waiting for police to escort them to their vehicle after their fascist march concluded.
Other Connections
The Right Stuff and the Stormer Book Clubs
Patriot Front has always had connection to The Right Stuff, a fascist website run by Mike “Enoch” Peinovich, who was a scheduled speaker and attendee of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Cooper “Ghoul” Ward, the Deputy Director of American Vanguard, the first iteration of Patriot Front, was once a co-host of “The Daily Shoah” podcast, along with Mike Peinovich. Vanguard America, the second iteration of Patriot Front, and Mike Peinovich both attended “Unite the Right” and both were named as defendants in Sines v. Kessler, the lawsuit brought by victims of the deadly rally. We think it is noteworthy that in one of the leaked screenshots, Kieran mentions that Patriot Front has “a lot of members in PPs” a reference to The Right Stuff-hosted gatherings called “Pool Parties.” As noted earlier, Kieran attended Pool Parties hosted by Jesse Dunstan who goes by “Seventh Son” or “Sven” in Fishkill, near Poughkeepsie. Sven is also a regular of The Right Stuff. Interestingly, Kieran mentions Jesse getting nervous that the police were investigating Patriot Front members in his area. This is most likely a reference to the police investigating antisemitic posters that were put up throughout the Hudson Valley at First Presbyterian Church in Beacon; and Vassar, Dutchess Community College and Marist College in Poughkeepsie. Although the posters were “from your local Stormer book club” there is also cross-over between Patriot Front and the Stormer Book Clubs in particular and cross-over generally among many Alt-Right groups in New York. At Marist College, the culprit was found, but not named. On March 6th, the Patriot Front Twitter account posted that the college had been hit again.
Screenshot from Patriot Front’s private RocketChat where Kieran’s handle indicates that he attends “Pool Parties” in Sven’s region. This is a reference to the fascist gathering hosted by Jesse “Sven” Dunstan in Fishkill, NY which is near Poughkeepsie in the Hudson Valley.Screenshot of Patriot Front implicating one of its members in continued harassment of Marist College in Poughkeepsie.
Nordic Resistance Movement
Nordic Resistance Movement is a group that some House democrats are trying to ban on the basis that they are “a foreign terrorist organization.” Although NRM got its start in 2016 with members in Sweden, Finland, and Norway, its roots are with Swedish Nazi groups like White Aryan Resistance (related to the US group) and the Swedish Resistance Movement. NRM members have planned to kill journalists, have actually bombed refugee centers, vandalized Jewish cemetaries, and committed many other bigoted attacks. NRM was a supported group on Iron March, and had many Iron March members in their membership. Patriot Front’s first iteration was as a group called American Vanguard, which got its start on Iron March. There are still deep connections, as Patriot Front visited NRM in Sweden, and the two groups practiced martial arts and passed out fascist propaganda in public together. Thomas Rousseau, the Patriot Front leader, also appeared on an NRM English language podcast.
Kieran and other Patriot Front members passing out fascist propaganda with the Nazis of Nordic Resistance Movement on the streets of Gothenberg, Sweden.More pictures of Kieran’s fashy haircut and his tweet about Patriot Front’s leader going on a podcast hosted by a Nazi group responsible for bombing refugee centers.
Casa Pound
Although Kieran played coy on his own social media account, referring to Casa Pound as a “veteran activist organization and party,” the Nordic Resistance Movement had no problems saying exactly who Patriot Front was meeting with when the group traveled to Italy. NRM and Casa Pound were both “supported groups” on Iron March. Casa Pound members have been linked to gang rape, attacks on left-wing politicians, the murder of migrants, and other vicious attacks on migrants and Romani. Patriot Front also got its start on Iron March, and clearly maintains connections to groups from that time.
Kieran in Italy doing fascism.Screenshot of the Nordic Resistance Movement blog post helpfully explaining who Patriot Front was meeting with in Italy. It was Casa Pound.
Falanga/ONR
Falanga is the colloquial name of a fascist group called “Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny” (ONR) in Polish. The Falanga is ONR’s symbol, which you can see in the last photo below on a banner. Falanga is most known for co-sponsoring the notorious Independence Day march in Warsaw on November 11, which attracts thousands of ultra-nationalists and fascists from around Europe (and the United States). Falanga members are known to shout slogans like “Death to the Enemies of the Fatherland!,” hold banners saying “White Europe,” and fly a lot of Celtic Cross flags (a Nazi “white power” symbol). They are also involved in things like the 2018 arson of a Hungarian Community Center near Kiev. While not an officially supported group on Iron March, there were Falanga members on the forum and Kieran and Patriot Front were motivated to attend the march with the explicitly fascist bloc.
Kieran and other Patriot Front members with Nazis and Polish fascists at the November 2019 Independence Day march in Warsaw.Kieran and Patriot Front with members of Falanga.
Victor Staab is the “ND” (network director) of Patriot Front’s Washington D.C. Regional Network.
He’s been operating with impunity for a while, anonymously growing the local network (NW9) into one of the largest in Patriot Front. So it’s high time he be taken down!
Victor Lee Staab 541 Chestnut Hill Rd, Forest Hill, MD 21050 Born August 1992 5’11”, appx. 210 lbs 443-866-2874
Joshua Wallace and Lindsay Donaldson. The symbol on Wallace’s hat is a Wolfsangel previously used by the Nazi party.
Joshua Wallace resides in Jamestown, California. He works at Sierra Pacific Industries in Sonora, is married to Lindsay Donaldson ( now Lindsay Wallace)and is a full blown member of the Hammerskins, a known white supremacist group with a violent history of racist attacks. This post offers a brief history of Hammerskins, how Wallace is related to the group, who he socializes with, and his doxx information at the end.
