May 2019 – Atlanta Antifascists

Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 2: Matthew Mayo

Update 12/12/2019: Matthew Mayo relocated to Reno, Nevada a few months ago.

This is the second of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, Emergency Medical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our first article, see here.

Matthew Thomas Mayo, also known as Bodi Mayo, is a basic Emergency Medical Technician who has been employed with Chatham Emergency Services since May 2018. Prior to joining Chatham Emergency Services, Mayo worked as a fireman with Effingham County Fire & Rescue. Mayo is also a “gothi” (chieftain-priest) in the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a whites-only heathen organization with deep ties to the broader white power movement. By “heathen”, we mean someone who worships the pre-Christian gods of Germanic Europe. Many heathens are not racist – but the AFA certainly is. The anti-extremist Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the AFA as a hate group for its “neo-Völkisch” ideology and extensive links to white nationalism. Matthew Mayo personally circulates far-Right propaganda on social media and networks with other white nationalists. Mayo even belongs to an online group called the White Nationalist Alliance, which is explicitly “in support of National Socialism and Hitler”.

*Matthew Thomas Mayo in front of Asatru Folk Assembly flag*

Mayo is a longstanding member of the AFA. According to a 2012 interview, Mayo became a member of the AFA “in the past year” and had been a heathen for many years before. In 2012, Mayo assumed the title of the AFA’s “Military Folkbuilder”, a liaison person for military members and veterans in the whites-only organization. The same interview states that Mayo had been a Marine in the early 1990s. At the time of writing, Mayo is not listed as an AFA “Folkbuilder” on the organization’s website and the AFA’s Military Program appears mostly inactive. Mayo still flaunts his affiliation with the Asatru Folk Assembly on his social media pages and remains active within the organization.

Picture from 2016 AFA “Deep South” gathering includes Matthew Mayo in foreground; “Ravensblood Kindred” members Trent East, Karen Woodward, and Dalton Woodward; and (on right) AFA leader Matthew Flavel.

Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 1: Jasper Collins

Update 12/13/2019: Collins is now no longer an employee of Jasper County Fire-Rescue.

Update 12/12/2019: Jasper Collins is now employed by Jasper County Fire-Rescue in South Carolina. Read our statement here.

This is the first of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, Emergency Medical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our second article, see here.

Jasper Daniel Alexander Collins – a firefighter with Chatham Emergency Services (CES) – is a supporter of the far-Right and antisemitic organization Legio Christi who openly celebrates Adolf Hitler. Collins also heroizes Corneliu Codreanu, the founder of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania. On social media, Collins rails against Jewish people and sexual minorities. Although Collins is now working as a firefighter, Collins was previously in the Georgia National Guard and may still be a reserve member.

Jasper Collins has multiple ties to Legio Christi (LC), a far-Right antisemitic organization purporting to be “traditional Christian”. As we explained in a recent article, LC’s propaganda features typical white nationalist fantasies, for example that Boers in South Africa face “genocide” and that the United States government is controlled by a Jewish conspiracy. LC seemingly involves far-Right racist Catholics as well as Orthodox Christians.

*Jasper Collins’ profile on Legio Christi forum, describing his politics as “Legionnaire” (i.e. someone following the ideology of the fascist Iron Guard)*

Arieana Love and Ryan Burchfield: White Power Militants in Savannah, Georgia

Update 1/19/2020: According to a new article, Matthew Ryan Burchfield is currently in Ukraine.

Burchfield’s 2019 profile on the Fascist Forge networking site was connected to the profile for Luke Austin Lane, who has now been arrested with other Georgia members of “The Base” for an alleged murder conspiracy.

Introduction

A Savannah-area couple are heavily involved in white nationalist networks, ranging from Christian far-Right organizing to apocalyptic neo-Nazism. Arieana K Love, who is currently studying pre-Medicine at Georgia Southern University and was a member of the Georgia National Guard , and Matthew Ryan Burchfield, who moved to Georgia from Virginia last year, are well-connected in regional and national far-Right channels. Love is a member of Legio Christi, an antisemitic and far-Right “traditional Christian” group, while Burchfield describes himself as an “Esoteric Hitlerite” – someone who couches his devotion to Nazism in mystical terms.

*Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love*

Both Love and Burchfield are friends with Haralson County jailer Trent East, whose racist involvement and neo-Nazi affinities we recently documented. Online photos show Ryan Burchfield engaging in what appears to be racist paramilitary training with East.

*Photo from Brandon Trent East’s Instagram account, March 2019. L-R: Matthew Ryan Burchfield, Arieana Love, Trent East and East’s fiancée Madison French.*

Both Arieana Love and Burchfield are connected to internet profiles for Dalton Woodward, Trent East’s associate in the whites-only “Ravensblood Kindred” of the Asatru Folk Assembly. Another figure who was linked to both Love and Burchfield on social media is Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member and ideologue of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group linked to at least five killings.

*Profile for Corwyn Carver, a Satanist and neo-Nazi, linked to both Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love (profile as “Katherine Ludwig” in screen-capture).*

Although they have friends and political associates in common, Love and Burchfield also operate in somewhat different spheres. For example, Arieana Love declares herself to be a Catholic rather than a racist heathen (East and Woodward), a neo-Nazi Satanist (Carver), or a Hitler devotee (Ryan Burchfield). This difference does not diminish Love’s racist and far-Right commitments, but it does give her white nationalist activity a slightly different character. We will discuss Catholic antisemite Arieana Love first, then her Hitler-worshipping boyfriend Ryan Burchfield.

Update on Haralson County Jailer and Alabama National Guard Member Trent East

Update 5/21/2019: Approximately two weeks ago, Trent East was allowed to quit his job as a jailer in Haralson County, to avoid being fired.

Last month, we exposed Haralson County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Trent East as an active white nationalist and as part of the racist “Ravensblood Kindred”, alongside active duty Georgia National Guard member Dalton Russell Woodward. The Ravensblood Kindred is a regional branch of the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a whites-only heathen organization with close ties to organized racism. AFA has been designated as a hate group by the anti-extremist Southern Poverty Law Center.

A few days after we published our documentation on the “Ravensblood Kindred”, independent journalist Nate Thayer exposed Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member, as a member and influential propagandist for Atomwaffen Division (AWD). AWD is a neo-Nazi terrorist organization whose members have committed at least five murders since its formation in 2015. Following Thayer’s expose, we released documentation showing that both Trent East – working as a jailer in Haralson County – as well as Dalton Woodward were connected on social media to AWD white supremacist Carver.

Both Trent East and Dalton Woodward linked to Atomwaffen Division white supremacist Corwyn Carver

Despite this, Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon initially defended his employee Trent East when interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stating in the AJC’s April 17 article that everything “should stand the way it is” with East not facing discipline, because East is not on a Federal Bureau of Investigation watch list. The next day, Mixon backtracked on his support for East, after his initial public stance generated outcry. A new investigation has now been launched. Trent East is receiving paid leave while the investigation proceeds.