October 2020 – Atlanta Antifascists

Update, November 2020: Bill Hagerty won the Tennessee election for US Senate.

Summary: Twenty-year-old Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a member of two racist organizations, Patriot Front and Revolt Through Tradition. This year, he placed stickers for those organizations throughout Atlanta. Hagerty even wears clothes designating himself as a “National Socialist” – in other words, a neo-Nazi. His uncle, Bill Hagerty, is a Trump loyalist campaigning as the Republican candidate in Tennessee’s US Senate race, which he will likely win. Bill Hagerty vilifies Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. Meanwhile, his nephew works with white supremacists to build a climate of intimidation against people of color, Jewish people, Muslims, leftists and LGBTQ communities.

Introduction

Michael Patrick Hagerty, II is a twenty-year-old white nationalist who belongs to two different fascist organizations, Patriot Front (PF) and Revolt Through Tradition (RTT). Over the last year, he has covered Atlanta with stickers for these organizations, trying to give the impression that they have a strong presence in our city. Hagerty has also traveled to meet with other PF and RTT members and posed in photos as they trained together for fighting. Hagerty even wears a t-shirt identifying himself as a “National Socialist”: in other words, a neo-Nazi. One of Hagerty’s associates in Patriot Front is “John GA” (alias), who targeted synagogues in Columbus, Georgia, last year with another PF member, Chris Brooks.

Hagerty’s uncle, William F. Hagerty, is currently campaigning in Tennessee as the Republican candidate in that state’s election for the US Senate, which he will likely win. As a candidate, Bill Hagerty has repeatedly attacked Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists. He characterized Black Lives Matter as aiming to “overthrow the government and usher in Marxism” and echoed Donald Trump’s characterization of anti-fascists as “domestic terrorists”, stating that they “must be stopped”. Through his aggressive public stance against anti-racist movements, Bill Hagerty shelters and emboldens white nationalists like his nephew while they prepare for violence.

On October 1st, 2016, Atlanta Antifascists held its first group activity, exposing an ally of Aryan Nations Worldwide in his community. The Aryan Nations faction was involved in promoting a major white supremacist gathering, Hammerfest 2016, which took place at a Georgia Klan bar the same day.

“Atlanta Antifascists” had been used as a label of convenience for a few weeks earlier, but it was the success of the October 1st group action that formed us into an ongoing collective project. A blog named “Atlanta Antifascist Notes” also predated our group by slightly under a year. That blog was transformed into a platform for Atlanta Antifascists.

It’s been an eventful few years! The video we’re releasing for this occasion does not capture everything we’ve done, but it gives some sense of the struggles we’ve engaged in and the backdrop of militant protests in our city. For more details on our beliefs and efforts, please browse this site.

We’re proud of our track record of disrupting fascist and white supremacist organizing over the last four years. There is plenty more misery ahead for white nationalist organizers, so to any of them reading this: get out while you can.

As always, we welcome information on racist and far-Right organizing in our state. Reach out if you can help.

Month: October 2020

Four Years of Atlanta Antifascists