The above six pictures were taken by the “Cracker Life” vehicle seen in Gallery 2. The individual who sprayed anti-racists with wasp killer has removed mask.
Gallery 1 0f 3 here.
Gallery 2 of 3 here.
If you have information on any August 15 far-Right rally participants, please get in contact.
On September 14, a “Patriots” rally organized by neo-Nazi Chester Doles and promoted on white supremacist websites is scheduled to take place in downtown Dahlonega, north Georgia. We issued an alert about the Dahlonega rally in mid-August and later published the permit applications for the rally.
After their downtown rally, participants are moving to Yahoola Creek Park to continue their event. Although Doles got a neighbor to place his name on the most recent permit application for the downtown rally, it was Chester Doles who rented the pavilion at Yahoola Creek Park for later in the day.
Following their downtown rally and then gathering at Yahoola Creek Park, Doles has announced that there will be an “after party” that night.
In further updates, Jovanni Valle – a former “Alt-Right” personality who now celebrates Hitler and Nazism – has been added as a guest speaker at the “Patriots”/“Trump” rally, further highlighting the extreme-Right nature of the event.
The Socialist Coalition of North Georgia has called for an anti-racist demonstration on September 14. Our group will continue to follow this situation, so check our Twitter account for updates.
Update 5/21/2019: Approximately two weeks ago, Trent East was allowed to quit his job as a jailer in Haralson County, to avoid being fired.
See our 5/7/2019 article for more info on Trent East and neo-Nazism.
Update 4/20/2019: On April 18, the Haralson County Sheriff’s Department backtracked on its earlier support and clearing of racist Trent East and have re-started an investigation. The Alabama National Guard is also investigating East, while Georgia National Guard is investigating Dalton Woodward.
Update 4/17/2019: Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon is defending his white nationalist employee Trent East. Read our statement here.
Introduction
A small whites-only, heathen “kindred” includes a jailer with the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, as well as an active-duty member of the Army National Guard currently stationed in Afghanistan. The “Ravensblood Kindred” is affiliated with the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a Germanic neopagan/“heathen” organization which refuses membership to people of color but embraces the far-Right and organized racists. By “heathen,” we mean worshippers of the pre-Christian gods of Germanic Europe. Many heathens are anti-racist. However, the AFA states that its gods are for white people only. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s anti-extremist Intelligence Project lists the AFA as a “hate group” due to the AFA’s insistence on racial purity and its unapologetic ties to white nationalism.
The small Ravensblood Kindred – it began with three members – is even more clearly political than other AFA groups. Ravensblood Kindred describes itself as having an “alt-right agenda”, supported white power leader Richard Spencer when he gave a talk at Auburn University in 2017, and circulates “white genocide” and anti-immigrant propaganda. Ravensblood leaders Brandon Trent East – a jailer in Haralson County, Georgia – and Dalton Russell Woodward – currently in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard – are both also connected to the Wotan Network, an explicitly white nationalist project which operates parallel to the AFA. East and Woodward’s social media accounts reveal that both are deeply immersed in white power and neo-fascist circles.
Ravensblood Kindred
Ravensblood Kindred was founded in 2015. Its three initial members were Dalton Woodward, Karen Ann Bevis (now Karen Woodward) and Trent East. All three attended Cedartown High School in Georgia, with Dalton Woodward and Trent East both going to Jacksonville State University in Alabama. From the beginning, Ravensblood Kindred has been part of the “folkish” (i.e. racist) wing of heathenism. A September 2016 post on the Kindred’s Facebook page stated that they were “well on our way to becoming an official AFA kindred.” The Kindred appears to have been formally accepted as part of AFA soon afterward and is currently listed on the AFA website.
Ravensblood Kindred became integrated within the AFA through networking, gradually getting to know other members and its leadership. Attending larger AFA gatherings was an important part of this process. Although Ravensblood mentioned a “moot” with another heathen kindred in 2015, their first major gathering with the AFA appears to have been the Assembly’s “Ostara in the South” event in April 2016. That 2016 event is important for two reasons. First, the AFA hosted Henrik Palmgren – the founder of Red Ice, described as one of “the racist alt-right’s leading voices on the internet” – at this gathering. By hosting Palmgren, the AFA further highlighted its deep ties to organized white nationalism. In addition, “Ostara in the South” 2016 was AFA’s last major gathering with its founder Stephen McNallen as official leader of the organization, since McNallen announced that he would step down as Alsherjargothi the following month. On Facebook, Ravensblood Kindred thrilled at having met McNallen at the gathering. McNallen is still revered by many members of AFA, and he maintains honorary authority as the Alliance’s founder and leader for over two decades.
Ravensblood Kindred’s Facebook page is clearly both far-Right and white nationalist. Predictably, the Kindred provides a disclaimer that they do not hate anyone, just “love to see healthy white families and beautiful white children.” The Kindred’s Facebook page displayed the “Schwarze Sonne”/Black Sun design which has been adopted by neo-Nazis and the far-Right – this symbol was recently featured on the gear of a mass murderer as he slaughtered fifty people at Christchurch, New Zealand mosques. (This Black Sun image was deleted from the Ravensblood Kindred’s Facebook page in early April 2019; it is unclear whether Facebook or the Kindred is responsible for the deletion.)
Ravensblood Kindred shares far-Right and white nationalist propaganda. For example, its Facebook page shared a video from the “Way of the World” YouTube channel titled “Celebrating White Genocide on the BBC”. The video’s title refers to the far-Right conspiracy theory that white people are facing “genocide” under the guise of multiculturalism. The “Way of the World” YouTube video proclaimed that “Diversity is a farce” and demanded that Somalian immigrants in the UK “go home where their own indolence and ineptitude are no one else’s problem but their own.” In addition to this racist propaganda, Ravensblood Kindred also shared posts by “Angry White Girl” – a white nationalist Facebook page – and pointed its audience to other far-Right sources.
In 2016, the Ravensblood Kindred responded to terrorist attacks in Belgium and France with agitation against refugees and Muslims in general. Responding to the Brussels bombings of March 2016, Ravensblood Kindred conflated refugees and terrorists, sharing an image stating: “Refugee Today Terrorist Tomorrow” and blaming the attack on the “refugee crisis”. Months later, after a vehicular attack which killed dozens in Nice, France, a post written by Dalton Woodward on the Kindred’s page stated:
“This is genocide in the modern age. I hate to say it, but in my mind there is no possibility that the attacker is anything but an Islamic extremist. […] I read a few days ago that one more attack or rape outbreak in France would spark a civil war, that the right wing would rise and crush the globalists in power. It’s time for that war, it’s time for action. […] We need to say we won’t tolerate our genocide any longer.”
Not only does Woodward suggest that Muslims have a special proclivity toward rape, but he portrays terror attacks as part of a plan of “genocide” with the “globalists in power” responsible. Woodward appears to be referring to the “white genocide” narrative, with events interpreted as part of a conspiracy by “globalists” determined to undermine the white race.
Ravensblood Kindred celebrated the “Battle of Berkeley” in California, April 2017, which AFA founder McNallen and AFA’s current leader Matt Flavel attended. At this event – a so-called “Free Speech” rally held by alt-Right, “alt-lite” and militia sympathizers – far-Right streetfighters fought with anti-fascist and anti-racist counter-protesters. While the tide would eventually turn in Berkeley, the far-Right was able to claim the streets on April 15, 2017 despite resistance from anti-fascists and anti-racists. Trent East, speaking for the Ravensblood Kindred on its Facebook page, stated that they were proud of Flavel’s involvement in the California street battles, ending the statement with the Nazi salute “Hail victory!”
Just a few days after the events in Berkeley, Dalton Woodward and Trent East represented Ravensblood Kindred when white power leader Richard Spencer gave a talk at Auburn University in Alabama. East and Woodward attended this event not as curiosity-seekers but as endorsers of the racist leader’s message. Both were photographed outside the event holding signs making their allegiances clear. In addition, both Woodward and East left the venue as part of a bloc of white nationalists, separate from the media, students, and curiosity-seekers who went inside to hear Spencer. Writing about the event on the Ravensblood Kindred’s Facebook page, East referred to Ryan King – an Alabama member of the white nationalist/Southern secessionist League of the South – as one of “our guys”. Again, East included the Nazi salute “Hail victory!” at the end of his post for the Kindred.
In 2018, Ravensblood Kindred formally inducted Joshua Lee Gilliam of Alabama as a full member. Gilliam is a neo-Nazi, as he loudly broadcasts on social media. For example, one of Gilliam’s Instagram accounts features an image of a young woman leaving flowers in front of a portrait of Adolf Hitler. Another Instagram post features a picture of American Nazi Party founder Georgie Lincoln Rockwell. At the time of writing, Joshua Gilliam appears to have moved toward a Hindu-influenced form of Esoteric Nazism.
Having discussed Ravensblood Kindred
in general, we will now provide further information on Haralson County Sheriff
Department employee Trent East and active-duty National Guardsman Dalton
Woodward.
Trent East
Brandon Trent East – who goes by “Trent East” – lists his employment on Facebook as a Detention Officer with the Haralson County Sheriff’s Department in northwest Georgia. East also shared a picture of himself in a Sheriff’s Department uniform.
Prior to working as a jailer in Haralson County, East was a security guard with G4S USA. Before that again, East was an infantryman with the Army National Guard. The Ravensblood Kindred’s Facebook page mentioned Trent East graduating basic training in August 2016. According to East’s Instagram account, he is part of the 4th Alabama infantry of the Alabama Army National Guard. Since Army National Guard enlistment length is eight years, East likely continues as a reserve member while working as a Detention Officer in Georgia.
Trent East does not hide his far-Right affiliations. On a Facebook photo posing with his fiancée Madison French, East used a profile picture editor to add the logo of the Nordic Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi movement operating in several Scandinavian countries. On his Instagram page, East displayed books by 20th Century far-Right theorist Julius Evola, as well as one by Corneliu Codreanu, who led the fascist Iron Guard in Romania.
Trent East is also involved with “Operation Werewolf”, a Right-wing strength cult which the Alt-Right “Wolves of Vinland” draw recruits from. On Instagram, East displayed his Operation Werewolf back-patch and posed with other members.
Within the racist Asatru Folk Assembly, East is an “apprentice Folkbuilder” or regional contact. In addition to his role in the AFA, East supports the “Wotan Network”. The Wotan Network is a white nationalist propaganda project launched by Stephen McNallen, after McNallen retired as leader of the AFA. McNallen launched the Wotan Network in 2017, and later that year outlined the aims of the Network: an end to alleged “white genocide” and securing white homelands for white people. As well as posing with a Wotan Network shirt, East is also part of the Wotan Network’s group on Facebook.
When Trent East showed up at Auburn University to support racist leader Richard Spencer, East’s sign read: “The existance [sic] of our people is not negotiable.” This slogan was coined by Stephen McNallen, as a condensation of the “Fourteen Words” white power motto developed by terrorist David Lane. The slogan now appears on Wotan Network propaganda. (The Wotan Network was formally announced a couple of months after the Richard Spencer event at Auburn, but McNallen had already set out many of its key concepts.)
East’s Twitter account is now private. However, we were able to locate cached versions of some of East’s Twitter activity, from before he changed settings. This Twitter history further confirms East’s embrace of Alt-Right and white nationalist ideology. In addition, one of East’s accounts on Facebook has a visible friends list. One on East’s Facebook “friends” – Texas racist organizer Ken Reed of “White Lives Matter” – uses a still of the Christchurch, New Zealand mass murderer as his profile image. Trent East is also friends with Georgia neo-Nazi Ian Booton, who we have written about previously and who was active in the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) before its collapse. Colton Williams, another former member of the neo-Nazi TWP now active in the Legion of Saint Ambrose, is also on East’s friends list as “Cole Williams III”.
Dalton Woodward
Dalton Russell Woodward – currently stationed in Afghanistan – is the Gothi (or priest/chieftain) of the Ravensblood Kindred. Like East, Woodward is thoroughly immersed in the white nationalist movement. We have already noted Woodward’s seeming endorsement of the “white genocide” conspiracy theory on Ravensblood Kindred’s Facebook page. When Woodward accompanied Trent East to support Richard Spencer at Auburn, Woodward’s sign read: “We have a right to exist.” In context, this sign seems to dog-whistle the “white genocide” conspiracy theory.
Like East, Woodward supports Stephen McNallen’s political efforts, since McNallen stepped down from formal leadership within the AFA. Woodward promoted McNallen’s YouTube channel on the Ravensblood Kindred Facebook page. McNallen uses that channel to speak on “political and social issues” and to promote “the awakening of our [white] people” – an endeavor that would soon become the Wotan Network. Like Trent East, Dalton Woodward is a member of the Wotan Network’s group on Facebook.
When McNallen released a YouTube video discussing the “profoundly spiritual struggle” for the white race, Woodward commented on this video under the alias “Salty Dalty”. Woodward stated that he and his fiancée Karen aimed to have four children once married as their contribution to the “spiritual struggle” for the white race.
Woodward also commented on the “Thulean Perspective” YouTube channel operated by black metal musician Varg Vikernes. Vikernes is perhaps best known for murdering a rival musician in the Norwegian metal scene during the ‘90s. Since his release from prison in Norway, Vikernes has been convicted in France for inciting racial hatred. Commenting on one of Vikernes’ videos, Woodward wrote that although he joined the military to “follow in the footsteps of my Aryan forefathers” and to make himself “better for my race”, Woodward now believes that enlisting was a grave “mistake”. Woodward fears that “many of my kinsmen from Basic Training will end up dying for a people not of our blood.” This comment by Woodward seems to refer to the belief – widely-accepted in the white supremacist movement – that a Jewish conspiracy controls the United States government.
Woodward’s YouTube account follows a plethora of racist and fascist projects, for example AltRight.com and the white nationalist organization Identity Evropa. It also follows explicitly neo-Nazi channels such as “Herr Wolf” and “The Impartial Truth”. Dalton Woodward’s list of “liked” YouTube videos includes songs by neo-Nazi musician Evan James McCarty AKA “Byron De La Vandal.” Woodward also liked a rant by “Morrakiu” – a regular guest on the racist and antisemitic “The Daily Shoah” podcast – concerning the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, August 2017. In this video, Morrakiu mocked a Jewish reporter for experiencing antisemitic harassment; portrayed white supremacist James Alex Fields’ murderous attack on anti-racist protesters as justifiable self-defense; described Charlottesville city government as a “n[*]g-k[*]ke bar mitzvah”; and ended with a reference to the gassing of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
Although Woodward has been careful about the comments he makes on his own Facebook page, his list of “liked” pages on Facebook tells another story. Woodward not only follows popular white nationalist pages such as This Is Europa and Red Ice, but also the Southern secessionist/white nationalist Identity Dixie. In addition, Woodward likes the “Order15” page. Order15 is a network of “ racial nationalists ” aiming to carve out a fascist “parallel society”. Another of Woodward’s liked pages, “I Acknowledge Cultural Marxism Exists”, is a blatantly antisemitic page which portrays Jewish people as behind “cultural Marxist” machinations. Woodward also likes “PaganG Imperium”, a neo-Nazi meme page which celebrates Christchurch mass murderer Brenton Tarrant, Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg, and Waffen-SS war criminal Joachim Peiper.
While Trent East is part of Alabama’s Army National Guard, Woodward is part of Georgia’s. In November 2016, a post by East on the Ravensblood Kindred page updated: “As for Dalton, he’s enlisting in the Georgia National Guard to get some experience as a real Soldier before he finally becomes an officer in a couple years.” The next month, Woodward specified: “I’ll be becoming a Cavalryman in the Apache Troop, 1st Squadron of the 108th Cavalry, ‘Roughriders.’” Woodward completed his basic training in September 2017. The 1st Squadron, 108th Cavalry Regiment is part of the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Georgia Army National Guard. In late 2018, over two thousand troops from the Georgia 48th Brigade left for training before a nine-month deployment in eastern Afghanistan. On Dalton Woodward’s profile on the Steam platform for gamers, Woodward announced: “I’m going to Afghanistan”.
Conclusion
We have profiled the “Ravensblood Kindred”, a racist heathen group operating in Georgia and Alabama that is affiliated with the Asatru Folk Assembly. The Kindred is clear about its “alt-right agenda” and shares anti-immigrant and “white genocide” content on its Facebook page. Two of the Kindred’s members – Trent East and Dalton Woodward – both also have links to Stephen McNallen’s Wotan Network, which circulates white nationalist propaganda. East and Woodward showed up to support racist leader Richard Spencer at his April 2017 appearance at Auburn University. Both have social media profiles that clearly connect them to fascist and white supremacist circles.
Both East and Woodward are part of
the Army National Guard, with Dalton Woodward currently deployed in
Afghanistan. The military is attractive to white nationalists, both as a domain
to recruit within and also as a source of weapons training. Dalton Woodward
wrote about the military having once fascinated him, as an opportunity to
become an “Aryan” warrior. Woodward has since become disillusioned, believing
that the Army and government are controlled by sinister alien forces. Woodward
is currently in Afghanistan as part of the “Operation Freedom’s Sentinel”
occupation.
Trent East, meanwhile, works as a Detention Officer with the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office. Last year, we highlighted other far-Right sympathizers in Georgia law enforcement, to varying results: the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office quickly fired two deputy sheriffs, while the East Ellijay Police Department circulated excuses for its Ku Klux Klan-supporting officer Tommy Long.
Like the military, work in law enforcement is attractive to organized racists, not only due to recruitment opportunities but because of chances to victimize members of marginalized communities with official sanction. Trent East, an associate of neo-Nazis, describes working with the Sheriff’s Department as his “dream career”.
With our publication of this information, the Army National Guard and the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office can no longer ignore the allegiances of “Ravensblood Kindred” members. White nationalists Woodward and East should quickly get the boot.
If you have further information on white nationalists in the military or law enforcement in our region, please get in contact.
Early in the morning of Monday, May 14, anti-racists placed posters in Lawrenceville, Georgia, warning residents about Aaron Christopher Krueger, a member of the Patriot Front white power organization.
Over the last half year, Krueger and a small number of associates have spread thousands of pieces of Patriot Front propaganda throughout Metro Atlanta. Frequently, Patriot Front materials were circulated with a method also used by the Klan: throwing out plastic bags with flyers and stones for weight onto lawns, porches and driveways late at night.
Anti-racists have discovered that Donovan Stai – currently a senior at Whitewater High School in Fayetteville, Georgia – worked throughout 2017 as state leader for Vanguard America, a self-proclaimed “fascist” organization whose website rants about “bloodthirsty negroes” and “Jewish puppet masters.” As a state leader for Vanguard America, Stai propagandized via the “Vanguard Georgia” Twitter account, he assisted with the group’s internal organization, and he participated in campaigns of coordinated harassment. Stai has signaled support for violence and even murder on behalf of his neo-Nazi cause. Given the number of murders committed by neo-Nazis and white supremacists over the last year, we believe that Stai’s embrace of racist violence should concern the community.
Vanguard America
Donovan Stai’s organization, Vanguard America, is notorious as the organization that James Alex Fields, Jr. stood with at the bloody “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. The afternoon of “Unite the Right,” Fields drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist counter-protesters, murdering Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. Vanguard America denies that Fields was a member of their organization, even though Fields stood in formation with Vanguard America members at Charlottesville that day and held a shield featuring a Vanguard America logo. Donovan Stai did not attend the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, although at least one Vanguard America member from Georgia was there. Typing from afar, Stai celebrated the white power violence in Charlottesville, encouraging attendees to “Beat their [anti-racists] shit in” and later posting an image glorifying James Field, Jr.’s murderous attack.
Vanguard America is a white nationalist and self-declared “fascist” organization formed in 2015. The organization promotes a “blood and soil” nationalism similar to the German Nazi worldview. Over the last year, Vanguard America has been increasingly explicit in its neo-Nazism, for example posting Hitler quotes and pictures of its members with Nazi flags to social media. In the aftermath of “Unite the Right,” another organization, Patriot Front, splintered from Vanguard America and pursued more “patriotic” branding.
Vanguard America operates as part of the “Nationalist Front” white power alliance, including other racist groups such as the National Socialist Movement, the Traditionalist Worker Party, and the League of the South.
Donovan Stai’s Neo-Nazi Profiles
Donovan Stai used several different accounts for white power organizing. The first account is Stai’s personal Twitter account @hldisL which was created in March 2015. This account lasted until mid-December 2017, when Twitter removed many Vanguard America accounts. @hldisL used various names on this account, such as “Goebbels Jr” (a reference to the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels), “See Kyle” (which sounds like “Sieg Heil” when said aloud), “Sceneablist”, and earlier in the account’s life “Donovan Hawks” and “Donovan Stai”. In the beginning @hldisL promoted anti-feminist and libertarian themes, but it became increasingly radical and racist as time passed. A backup account, @JosephRedRay / “Col. Raymond” was established in January 2017 – by that time the content was explicitly racist, antisemitic, and Alt-Right (that backup account was also suspended in 2017.)
The Twitter account for Vanguard America in Georgia — @gavanguard / “Vanguard Georgia” – was established in March 2017. (An earlier Twitter account for Vanguard Georgia was established in January 2017 — giving its location as Columbus, Georgia — but that account did not last long.) It was clear from its early days that @hldisL was responsible for the Vanguard Georgia organizational account that began in March 2017. First, a masthead image of the Vanguard America logo superimposed on a Confederate battle flag was used by both @hldisL and @gavanguard at various times. Second, @hldisL / “Goebbels Jr.” was one of the first accounts followed by @gavanguard. Finally, in March 2017 @hldisL continually retweeted the @gavanguard account, trying to increase the following for the new Vanguard Georgia account.
For a .pdf archive from Donovan Stai’s @hldisL, @JosephRedRay, and @GaVanguard accounts on Twitter, click here (or follow the link at the end of this article).
In November 2017, the Unicorn Riot journalism collective leaked logs from the “Southern Front” Discord server. Discord is a messaging system used by video gamers, which has also been adopted by more tech-savvy portions of the extreme-Right. The “Southern Front” server facilitated communication between Vanguard America members located in the US South. A user named “The Don GA” is identified in the leaked Vanguard America chats as a “SL,” which in context appears to stand for “state leader.” (In addition to being part of Vanguard America, “The Don GA” also showed up in leaked chats from the far-Right group Anti-Communist Action.) On six different occasions “The Don GA” posted URLs for posts by the @gavanguard Twitter account within the “Southern Front” Discord server. The leaked Southern Front chats cut off shortly after “Unite the Right,” at the time Patriot Front splintered off from Vanguard America.
While “The Don GA” Discord user was clearly connected to the @gavanguard Twitter account, the @gavanguard Twitter account was linked to the @hldisL personal one, and @hldisL initially used the real name “Donovan Stai,” some readers may still question that Donovan Stai was behind all these accounts. For these skeptical readers, we will point out that “The Don GA” posted an image of dogs to the “Southern Front” server, which includes a Stai family pet. “The Don GA” also commented about starting a Wisconsin chapter for Vanguard America, which corresponds with Donovan Stai having lived in Wisconsin earlier in life. (Both Donovan Stai and the @hldisL Twitter account are also Green Bay Packers fans.) Atlanta Antifascists possess a screenshot from the @hldisL Twitter account providing a birthday of February 3; this is also Donovan Stai’s birthday. A photo posted to the @hldisL account in August 2016 has its face almost entirely covered but is consistent with Stai’s appearance.
Although both Stai’s personal @hldisL twitter as well the Vanguard Georgia account were removed by Twitter in December 2017, there is no sign that Stai has distanced himself from Vanguard America or the white power movement since that time. We now examine some of Donovan Stai’s activity more closely.
Glorifying Intimidation and Murder
Chatting with his Vanguard America peers in the “Southern Front” Discord server, Donovan Stai made a series of posts laughing about and endorsing racial intimidation and murder. In a May 17, 2017, post, “The Don GA” / Stai shared an image celebrating Dylan M. Mahone, who had been arrested the month prior for vandalizing a Jewish Community Center and nearby church in Fairfax County, Virginia with graffiti including a swastika. (Mahone also placed antisemitic flyers for the “Aryan Underground” at a Northern Virginia Community College campus in March 2017.) Following on from his image celebrating Dylan Mahone’s actions, Donovan Stai wrote: “As apart [sic] of our new vetting process [for Vanguard America] we shall make everyone burn down a synagogue.”
Earlier on May 17, Donovan Stai proposed an image of Dylann Roof – the white supremacist murderer behind the Charleston Emanuel AME Church massacre – as the insignia for the “South District” of Vanguard America.
While the arson proposal and the Dylann Roof insignia comment from Stai may not have been meant literally, they nevertheless communicated a clear message to his peers: attacks on synagogues and the murder of Black churchgoers are all funny, and these acts may be something to emulate. When diehard racists rile each other up with these sorts of comments, the result is that further acts of violence become more likely.
On the same server, Donovan Stai celebrated white supremacist violence at the “Unite the Right” rally. While Stai did not attend the rally, his comments on the Discord server that day are gleeful. In a post time-stamped the next day, Stai shared an image to the Discord server celebrating James Alex Fields, Jr.’s vehicular murder of Heather Heyer.
Active Harassment
At times, Donovan Stai moved from celebrating racist intimidation and violence, to actively participating in harassment. For example, the Vanguard Georgia Twitter account circulated the personal information of (or “doxxed”) Georgetown University Professor Dr. C. Christine Fair on May 22, 2017. The post linking to Fair’s personal information was also retweeted by Stai’s @hldisL account. At the time, Christine Fair was being harassed by white nationalists due to her confronting racist “Alt-Right” leader Richard Spencer at her Alexandria, Virginia gym, which then ended Spencer’s membership .
A couple of months earlier, Donovan Stai targeted journalist Kurt Eichenwald, arguably attempting an assault against him. As a journalist, Kurt Eichenwald angered some Trump supporters with his critical reporting on Trump’s business interests. For bigots on the Alt-Right, Eichenwald’s Jewish heritage was a further reason to attack him. Eichenwald has written about his epilepsy diagnosis on several occasions. In December 2016, he was sent a strobe-light animated graphic on Twitter, containing the words “You deserve a seizure for your posts.” According to Eichenwald, the flashing image did indeed cause a seizure. In March 2017, a veteran who sent the image to Eichenwald was arrested (He currently faces assault charges and a hate crime enhancement). Since the initial attempted assault, dozens of other people sent flashing images to Eichenwald, presumably with the aim of inducing another seizure. Donovan Stai, using his @hldisL account, was one of them. Stai sent Eichenwald a strobe-light image on March 17, 2017. Stai then added “I hope he [Eichenwald] wore his helmet.” (While the archived version of the post from Stai / @hldisL does not flash, archived comments as well as discussion from the 4Chan message board, all make clear that the original file was a strobe-light animation.)
Due to his neo-Nazi ideology, his comments glorifying intimidation and even murder, and his history of harassment, we believe that community members should be warned about Donovan Stai. After graduation, Donovan Stai hopes to become an emergency medical technician or a firefighter. We believe that Stai should not be allowed to infiltrate these professions. People of Color or Jewish people should not be forced to trust their lives to a member of a neo-Nazi group.
Was Donovan Stai Influenced by White Power Teacher at Whitewater High School?
Finally, some readers may recognize Whitewater High School in Fayetteville – which Donovan Stai attends — as the school where Hitler-admiring racist Joshua David Hitson taught English until August 2017, when Hitson resigned after being exposed to the community as a white power agitator. (The ex-Principal for Whitewater High School, Roy Rabold, took an aggressive stance in defense of Joshua Hitson despite all the available evidence.)
Since Joshua Hitson’s time as a white nationalist teacher at Whitewater High School overlaps with Donovan Stai’s time there as a student, this suggests several interesting questions. Did Joshua David Hitson play a role in Donovan Stai’s radicalization, or politically mentor Stai in any way? Did Joshua Hitson and Donovan Stai organize together on white nationalist projects?
At present, we do not have enough information to draw definite conclusions. We do know that Joshua Hitson’s “Contrarian Gent” Twitter was one of the first accounts followed by Stai’s “Vanguard Georgia”. Donovan Stai also used his personal Twitter accounts (@hldisL and @JosephRedRay) to retweet “Contrarian Gent” / Hitson. These close online associations suggest that Hitson and Stai may have coordinated politically offline also. If you have more information about Donovan Stai’s racist organizing, including any further links to Joshua David Hitson, we would like to hear from you.
Twitter Archive
Click here for an archive of materials from the @gavanguard, @hldisL and @JosephRedRay Twitter accounts.
**Danny Brace is no longer William Planer’s attorney. It has been brought to our attention that simply due to Danny Brace and William Planer not being able to agree on a defense strategy that they decided to part ways. Brace wished Planer good luck and officially quit prior to Planers February 23rd court appearance and on that day Michelle Spaulding was retained as Planer’s new attorney on record. A private attorney from the Spaulding and Campi law firm located at 901 H st. , suite #200, Michelle Spaulding apparently did agree with Planer that they should in fact take on the self defense strategy and are now preparing for the upcoming trial. Michelle Spaulding clearly has no problem taking the money that the now defunct Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) raised for Planers legal defense thanks to the help and donations from white supremacists from all over the country. If you visit our Facebook page you’ll be able to learn all about how you can join our campaign to let Michelle Spaulding know that this is exactly the type of Nazi collaboration we will not tolerate here in Sacramento! Thanks so much for the support everyone! **
On June 26th of last year, members of the Neo-Nazi gang the Golden State Skinheads (GSS) and the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) stormed the California State Capital grounds after an overwhelming turnout of antifascist protesters cancelled their rally. The Neo-Nazis came armed with bats, shields, knives, and guns, and sent 9 individuals to the hospital, many of whom sustained critical injuries and stab wounds. Of the twenty Neo-Nazis present that day, one, William Scott Planer, is currently facing charges.
Sacramento County Jail booked Planer on September 9th after being extradited from the El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs, where he’d been held since July 14th of this year. He was originally arrested and charged with vandalizing the Chabad Lubavitch of Southern Colorado after being caught on camera affixing a sticker to the door of the synagogue that read “fight terror, nuke Israel” late one night. El Paso Country Jail held him for nearly two months on $500,000 bail and a “fugitive from justice” hold. The hold as a result of a warrant due for his arrest out of Sacramento, where he’s charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon and misdemeanor riot for the attacks he participated in on June 26th. The vandalism case in Colorado is now behind him, and the case here in Sacramento is underway.
Planer is affiliated with both the Golden State Skinheads (GSS) and the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). As a highly active and well connected member of the White Nationalist movement, the Nazis did not forget him after his arrest in Colorado and subsequent incarceration. Soon after his arrest, the leaders of TWP, Matthew Heimbach and Matt Parrot, launched a crowd funding campaign to raise money for his bail and legal defense using the now-defunct crowdfunding platform Rootbocks.com, a website commonly used by white supremacists and Neo-Nazis due to its anti-censorship mission. Rootbocks’ web host shut down the site on August 14th and cut off by its payment service, and despite attempts to find a new web host, it remains offline. It is unclear if those doing Planer’s support work ever obtained the the money raised by the campaign, but the fundraiser page itself no longer exists. However, while Planer’s defense fund was still up, almost $15,000 was raised. The money came from supporters from all over the world, many of whom left comments about their support for and commitment to the white nationalist cause on the fundraiser page after donating.
Upon arriving at the Sacramento County Jail, William Planer’s bail was raised to $600,000. As a twice-convicted felon looking at his third strike if convicted in his current case, it’s clear he’s going to need a good lawyer. So, the local members of GSS, the leaders of TWP, and the white nationalist movement as a whole, managed to hire long standing Sacramento lawyer Danny D. Brace to represent William Planer. As stated on his website, bracelaw.com, the law firm that Danny Brace practices out of which has been in the same location since 1984. It takes a certain kind of person to willingly represent a Neo-Nazi who participated in assaults and stabbings of anti-racist protesters, but given Brace’s track record, no one should be surprised. Affectionately referred to as “Dump Truck Dan” by past clients burned by his poor performance, Danny Brace has a history of working for those who commit racist violence. As recently as three years ago he represented Joseph Paul Leonard, a man tried for committing the racially motivated murder of Toussaint Harrison and the attempted murder of Toussaint’s friend, Justin Oliphant. After just two days of deliberation, the jury convicted Leonard of both first degree murder and attempted murder, both with a hate crime enhancement, and sentenced to 32 to life.
Now, Brace is solidifying his reputation as defender of racist scum by representing a violent Neo-Nazi. It is unacceptable that Brace is accepting the money of Neo-Nazis and White Nationalists in exchange for defending a known white supremacist, especially one who has attacked anti-racist protesters and sent them to the hospital. These actions cannot go unopposed. Help us spread the word about Brace, who he is funded by, and the kinds of people he likes to defend- you can leave reviews of Danny Brace and Brace Law on Yelp, Google, and Yellow Pages. His law firm is located at 901 H St, suite 500, Sacramento CA, 95814, the office phone number is (916) 447-0592, and Danny Brace’s email is [email protected]. Feel free to get in touch with him and let him know how you feel about him accepting the money of white supremacists and defending a violent Neo-Nazi.
The wounding of 9 anti-racist protesters on June 26th of 2016 did not happen in a vacuum. The actions that William Planer participated in and that Danny Brace is defending are part of a broader fascist movement being pushed forward by white supremacist groups in the United States. The stabbings by members of the Golden State Skinheads are directly connected to the violence that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia when a white supremacist ran his vehicle into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing the protestor Heather Heyer, and injuring many more. They are directly connected to the hate crimes, shootings, murders, and attempted murders that are cropping up all over the nation. They are affiliated with a White Nationalist movement that puts immigrants, protesters, and black, brown, and queer communities under threat of violence. More than that, their actions are rooted in the history of white supremacy that stains the soil of this stolen land. We cannot expect the state to protect us from this threat, not when the state itself is one of the greatest enforcers and producers of the racist social order. William Planer sits in a jail cell because the state seeks to maintain a monopoly on violence, not because his actions go against its principles. We must look to each other and fight back, nationally and locally. White supremacists and those who would defend them must be opposed and disrupted at every stage of their organizing, by any means available.
It has come to our attention that Dave Strano of Redneck Revolt and the John Brown Gun Club has engaged in an ongoing pattern of behavior that is oppressive, exploitative, abusive, and which put comrades’ activities and well-being at risk. Strano’s behavior is in complete contradiction to what the TORCH Network stands for, as recorded in our Points of Unity.
TORCH Point of Unity #3:
“We oppose all forms of oppression and exploitation. We intend to do the hard work necessary to build a broad, strong movement of oppressed people centered on the working class against racism, sexism, nativism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against the disabled, the oldest, the youngest, and the most oppressed people. We support abortion rights and reproductive freedom. We want a classless, free society. We intend to win!”
TORCH Point of Unity #4:
“We hold ourselves accountable personally and collectively to live up to our ideals and values.”
TORCH Point of Unity #5
“We not only support each other within the network, but we also support people outside the network who we believe have similar aims or principles. An attack on one is an attack on all.”
The TORCH Network declares itself in complete solidarity with the survivors of Dave Strano’s abusive behavior. Strano has caused serious harm across a number of groups over a sustained period of time. In creating a society free from fascist activity, we must also challenge and reject abusive behavior in our own movements and from those claiming to be allies. Therefore, we issue the following call.
For the TORCH Network, the only acceptable means of accountability from Dave Strano starts with his complete cessation of involvement with Redneck Revolt, the John Brown Gun Club, and other similar and allied groups. Though the TORCH Network has worked with these groups in the past, we hereby discontinue our involvement with them until Strano ceases to be a part of these groups. We ask that any organization that seeks to work with the TORCH Network also issue a similar, allied call, and refuse to work with Strano and those involved with him. In line with our Points of Unity, we will neither work with nor support any organization that continues to have a relationship with Dave Strano.
We are calling for anti-racists from throughout the South to travel and oppose white power leader Richard Spencer, who will speak at the University of Florida in Gainesville on October 19. Our aim is a broad mobilization in solidarity with UF students and Gainesville residents, against white nationalist organizing.
Organizations should make travel plans for Gainesville right now. Spencer’s racist event has been officially confirmed. Details of the anti-racist counter-mobilization at UF will be announced soon. In the meantime, please spread this call to action far and wide. Commit to organizing numbers from your region to stand against the racist far-Right.
Richard Spencer is a key white nationalist leader and is one of the most prominent faces of the “Alt-Right.” While Richard Spencer portrays himself as fighting a battle of ideas for his “identitarian” cause — which Spencer denies is racist even as he organizes with neo-Nazis — the fact is that Spencer’s ideology requires organized violence for its goal of a whites-only state. Where Spencer goes, violence follows. When Spencer talked at Auburn University in Alabama on April 18, his neo-Nazi followers charged at students and anti-racists (the crowd stayed united and repelled the attack). On August 11-12, Spencer was one of the main leaders at the notorious “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. There on the night of Friday August 11, a mob of hundreds of white nationalists attacked students and counter-protesters, beating their opponents with tiki torches. Spencer called the white supremacist mobilization “absolutely amazing,” a “total victory,” and “politics at its most spectacular […] magical.” The white power attack led to one person suffering a stroke due to his injuries.
On the Saturday of the Spencer-endorsed “Unite the Right,” neo-Nazi James Alex Fields Jr. — pictured standing alongside members of the fascist Vanguard America organization earlier that day — rammed his car into anti-racist protesters, murdering Heather Heyer and injuring dozens more. Spencer disavowed Heyer’s murder to save face, yet his political agenda entailing mass violence and ethnic cleansing is clear. Until recently, Spencer was set to co-headline a far-Right rally with Vanguard America — the organization murderer Fields stood with — in North Carolina this December. (Spencer canceled for reasons that had nothing to do with Vanguard America’s politics.)
The Alt-Right has been linked to several other murders this year, such as in Maryland, New York and Oregon. Where the racist far-Right can grow unchallenged, more deaths will occur. We support community self-defense against movements that target immigrants, people of color, Jewish people, LGBTQ communities and leftists.
We urge a broad mobilization determined to stand together and to keep each other safe as we counter the militant white nationalists in Gainesville. We intend to win.
Call to Action endorsed by:
Please get in touch if your organization is mobilizing for Gainesville and wants to endorse this call to action: [email protected]
Posted on It’s Going Down:
Longtime Sacramento activist and indigenous elder Mike Williams is one of three people of color who face charges stemming from the antifascist mobilization which shut down a neo-Nazi rally in June of 2016. Only one neo-Nazi, William Planer, is facing charges, and he was only arrested after vandalizing a synagogue in Colorado Springs, CO. Mike is currently facing massive charges and a high bail. Please support him here and share the fundraising link far and wide along with this article to raise awareness of his case.On June 26th, hundreds of people from across Northern California and beyond mobilized and converged to protest against a rally called for by the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) and the Golden State Skinheads (GSS).
Both organizations are open neo-Nazi groups and on that day proudly displayed shields carrying the “SS” logos along with swastika tattoos. In the ensuing clashes, several people were stabbed and some almost lost their lives, as the fascists yelled out racial slurs during their attack. As the neo-Nazis fled, they also dropped a handgun and another was seen in the waistband of one of the attackers. Clearly, these people came ready to injure, attack, and potentially kill. Those that had the courage to stand up to them deserve our complete support, especially in the face of such harsh and cruel charges from the State.
The TWP and GSS is linked to neo-Nazi and KKK groups across the US and is connected to a string of vandalism, assault, and violent crime. For instance, William Planer, the only person from the neo-Nazi side that has been taken into custody on charges stemming from the protest, was actually arrested in Denver after he vandalized a synagogue. In the past few months, Planer has also attended a variety of pro-Trump and Alt-Right rallies, wearing a shirt which reads, “Proud to Be Fascist.” Planer is no stranger to arrest and has a long and violent history. While TWP leaders have attempted to portray Planer as a “blue-collar Patriot,” like the other members of GSS and the TWP Planer is clearly a violent threat to whatever community he comes into contact with.
Shortly after Planer was arrested, Nathan Lowry, aka “Leeroy Jenkins,” one of the leaders of GSS, was picked up by police on weapons charges, however received no charges springing from the Sacramento stabbings. Another violent member of the GSS who has long been identified by local activists, Derik Ryan Punneo, the neo-Nazi skinhead who was photographed in numerous instances stabbing people and also holding a bloody knife, still has yet to face any charges.
Several months after the rally, Punneo, who has a long history of arrest, violent attacks, and attempted rape, was sent back to prison after assaulting his then girlfriend, also involved in neo-Nazi activism. Both Lowry and Punneo are a clear example of neo-Nazi groups like the TWP being filled with violent and sadistic people who are a danger to the community and those around them.
Those who stood up to the TWP and the GSS did so because they saw the clear threat that these people represent to our community. Unlike many of those within the Alt-Right, the Golden State Skinheads cannot hide behind their fancy haircuts and memes. We see these people for what they are: a violent and dangerous cancer that produces violence, assault, and racist intimidation. Drawing a line in the sand against them is not an attack on free speech, but instead a defensive act to preserve basic freedoms for all and keep our cities and towns free of their Hitler worshiping garbage.
