August 2019 – Atlanta Antifascists

Permit Applications for the Nazi-organized “Salute to President Trump” Rally, September 14th in Dahlonega GA

Update 9/4/2019: We have also received a receipt for a pavilion rental later in the day. See here.

We are publishing the permit applications for the “Salute to President Trump” rally, scheduled to take place on September 14^th in Dahlonega, a small city in north Georgia. For an overview of the Dahlonega “Trump” rally and Chester Doles – the neo-Nazi / “fourth-generation Klansman” organizing it – see our article here. The ShieldWall Network, a white supremacist organization, is calling for its members in Georgia and surrounding states to attend Chester Doles’ “Trump” rally.

*Chester Doles (center) with his wife Teresa (left) and white supremacist John Michael Estes, shared online by Estes January 2016.*

There are two permit applications for the September 14^th rally. The first was made by Chester Doles on August 1^st but withdrawn on August 9^th. On the same day that Doles withdrew his permit application, a new application for the same location and time was made by Dahlonega resident Dustin Penner. Chester Doles states that with the new permit application, Doles is no longer “involved […] in any legal capacity” with the September 14 rally. However, Doles’ own social media activity shows that he remains the lead organizer for the upcoming rally. At the time of writing, Doles has organized a “security detail” which is preparing for violence. Doles is also trying to get attendees to bring vehicles, referring to them as good “crowd control” – an apparent reference to vehicular assault.

Tell Georgia’s 9th District Republicans: Silence on Neo-Nazi “Trump” Event in Dahlonega is Complicity

Update 9/8/2019: Yesterday evening, the Lumpkin County Republican Party issued a statement which did not formally endorse but also did not condemn the white supremacist rally in Dahlonega.

Update 9/4/2019: After two weeks, Rep. Doug Collins has denounced the white supremacist rally. Still no comment from the Lumpkin County Republican Party.

On September 14, 2019, longtime neo-Nazi and “fourth-generation Klansman” Chester J. Doles aims to hold a “Salute to President Trump” rally in Dahlonega, Georgia. The event is being promoted by the ShieldWall Network, a white supremacist group. It is also promoted on Stormfront, a white power website linked to almost one hundred murders.

The initial invitation for the Dahlonega “Trump” event featured antisemitic imagery. A new flyer has now been produced to better mask the nature of the event. Doles has clearly indicated that the Dahlonega rally aims to intimidate his perceived political enemies in North Georgia, in particular liberal activists who Doles portrays as “antifa”. Doles is organizing a “security” team who are readying for violence and has made a special appeal for his old associates from the National Alliance (once the foremost neo-Nazi group in North America) to attend. For further information on the rally and on Chester Doles’ history, see our longer alert here.

*Chester Doles, on right, wears shirt with logo of the Nazi SS*

The national director of Bikers for Trump, Dale Herndon, has now withdrawn support for the Nazi-organized rally. However, Chester Doles is still attempting to swell his rally’s numbers with Trump Republicans while simultaneously working closely with militant white supremacists.

ALERT: Neo-Nazi Organizing “Salute to President Trump” Rally, September 14 in Dahlonega, Georgia

Update 8/21/2019: Bikers for Trump have withdrawn support for the Dalhonega event.

Chester Doles, a longtime neo-Nazi and “fourth-generation” Klansman, is organizing a pro-Trump rally in downtown Dahlonega, Georgia, scheduled to take place on the afternoon of Saturday, September 14. The Dahlonega rally is an attempt by Doles to draw pro-Trump rightists closer to his own neo-Nazi politics, seemingly with some success. The planned rally is also promoted on Stormfront, a white supremacist website which has been linked to almost a hundred murders.

*Flyer for Chester Doles’ September 14 rally in Dahlonega, Georgia. Note the caricature Jewish head on the giant spider – classic antisemitic imagery.*

Dahlonega is a small city in north Georgia, approximately an hour and a half northeast from Atlanta and home to the University of North Georgia. In 2017, Dahlonega made headlines when a Ku Klux Klan sign was prominently displayed on a building in the downtown area – an attempt by an angry property owner to embarrass the city. Chester Doles – who lives in Dahlonega and has a past as a real Klan leader – was seemingly in on the 2017 stunt.

Doles has a long history in the white supremacist movement. While in Maryland, Doles led a Klan group. After serving prison time for assaulting a Black man (followed by a burglary conviction for which he got probation), Doles moved to Georgia, where he led the Georgia unit of the National Alliance, which was once the foremost neo-Nazi organization in the United States. In 2003, Doles was arrested for being a felon in possession of firearms. Doles eventually pled guilty and was released in 2008. More recently, Doles organized with Crew 38, which is the supporter group of the violent Hammerskin Nation racist gang. Doles gave a speech at the Hammerskin Nations’ 2016 national gathering at a Klan bar outside Atlanta.