The Torch Network of militant antifascists has leaked over a year of internal communications from Patriot Front, a major white supremacist organization operating nationally. The data leak, which exposes the organization’s inner workings and potential identifying information about individual members, will be a blow to the racist group. Atlanta Antifascists are a member group within Torch and are proud to promote the data leak, which can be found here.
Patriot Front formed in the direct aftermath of 2017’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as a splinter from and rebranding of the fascist Vanguard America. From December 2017 through May 2018, a Patriot Front state chapter led at the time by Aaron Christopher Krueger repeatedly targeted metro Atlanta with Patriot Front propaganda. When we exposed Krueger based on an earlier info leak, the Patriot Front campaign came to a sudden halt. Also in 2018, we published about Christopher Gibson, a Ku Klux Klan supporter in Dublin, Georgia who had bragged about placing PF stickers around his community.
The following year, Patriot Front surfaced in Columbus, Georgia, eventually targeting synagogues in that community. Some stickers were also posted in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville. We determined that Christopher Skylar Brooks – also a member of the Proud Boys far-Right group – helped place the propaganda in Lawrenceville and traveled to Columbus to help target synagogues with member “John GA” (alias). The new Patriot Front leaks cover this time period. Brooks has now moved to Shanghai, China. We still seek information on “John GA”.
In 2020, Patriot Front has been recruiting in Georgia, with metro Atlanta and other locations hit with the organization’s propaganda. The current pandemic, which leads to more time spent online, may have assisted recruitment. In general, however, Patriot Front’s presence in Georgia is weaker than in other regions and their new recruits do not stick around for long: they are either scared away from racist activism or move on to other projects. We welcome any more information about members we have not yet identified. When we identify white supremacists, the information may follow them even to China, as Christopher Skylar Brooks found out.
