Chester Doles – Page 2 – Atlanta Antifascists

Meet the Hosts of “The Right Voice” White Nationalist Podcast

Update: We have received final confirmation that Amanda Sproul currently works at the Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Georgia.

Summary: The Right Voice is a white power podcast operating since mid-2015. It continues the efforts of an earlier white nationalist project, The White Voice. Its hosts also operated a web of racist and far-Right propaganda pages on Facebook, some that had over ten thousand followers and reached far more. The Right Voice host Chris Burnham of Loudoun County, Virginia, is originally from the UK and fancies himself as an anti-leftist secret agent. His co-host, Amanda Sproul of Dublin, Georgia, is a longtime employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs who works at a VA Medical Center.

Introduction

Launched in mid-2015, The Right Voice (TRV) podcast is a white nationalist and antisemitic podcast which has lasted for over 160 episodes. During this run, the show has aimed to broadcast once a week, as the lives of hosts “Chris” and “Marie” allow – which in practice means gaps. Casting itself as a voice of unity in the white nationalist scene, TRV has hosted everyone from Klansmen and explicit neo-Nazis to Alt-Right figures and even a few wannabe intellectuals and mainstreamers. Over the years, TRV has hosted such guests as Alt-Right figurehead Richard Spencer; notorious antisemite and neo-Nazi David Duke; National Socialist Movement organizer Harry Hughes; and Susan Yarbrough, the widow of Gary Yarbrough, who was a participant in The Silent Brotherhood terror group in the 1980s. Last year, TRV twice hosted north Georgia racist organizer Chester Doles as a guest, the first time before Doles’ September far-Right rally in Dahlonega, and a second time to recap events afterward. The most recent episode of The Right Voice kicks off with “Chris” shouting for “y*ds” to “get in the oven” and addresses the COVID-19 pandemic through a typical white supremacist lens, using the crisis to advance racist and antisemitic conspiracy theories. For example, “Marie” promotes the idea that Jewish people have been hoarding ventilators in New York City.

TRV’s name is a reference to an earlier white nationalist podcast, The White Voice, which both TRV hosts were involved with. The White Voice ran from its first episode in May 2011 to its hundredth episode in April 2015, with its site shuttering soon after. Marie started helping The White Voice in late 2013, while Chris appears to have first contributed in early 2015, just a couple of months before The White Voice project ended. After the end of The White Voice, TRV established its website in June 2015 and had its first podcast the following month.

While TRV recruits for the white nationalist movement, it is not as successful as some competitors. TRV’s main importance is as a forum for scattered white nationalists and as a force for unity, since its hosts avoid divisive issues within the racist scene such as religion. Much of the podcast discussion revolves around tactics and movement-building. Although they have interviewed many, TRV hosts do not present themselves as leaders of the white nationalist movement. Rather, they view themselves as a small functioning part within the broader white power ecosystem. Regular listeners trade messages in a small online chat during live broadcasts, heightening the sense of racist community.

*“White Genocide Subliminals” page removed from Facebook*

In addition to the podcast, hosts Chris and Marie had previously been involved in creating and maintaining a web of between twelve to twenty propaganda pages on Facebook, which they have repeatedly mentioned on their podcast. According to Chris, at least one of these Facebook pages had nearly thirty thousand followers – a significant propaganda operation. Several other pages allegedly passed the ten thousand mark. While we have not been able to determine all of these Facebook pages, from online comments we know TRV hosts were involved in “White Genocide Subliminals” as well as “Black Privilege”, which argued that Black people are systematically and unfairly advantaged by US society. “Marie” has been permanently banned from Facebook since mid-2017 for her incessant spreading of white power propaganda.

Chris Burnham (foreground)
Amanda Sproul (as “Mandy Spruill”, Facebook, 2016)

“Chris” and “Marie” are Chris Roland Burnham of Loudoun County, Virginia and Amanda Marie Sproul of Dublin, Georgia respectively. Burnham is originally from Britain but has been living in the United States for decades. Sproul is a longtime employee of the US Department of Veterans Affairs and may continue to work at a VA Medical Center. We discuss each in turn.

Chester Doles, the Hammerskin Nation, and “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, VA, 2017

Chester Doles, the lead organizer of “American Patriots USA” in North Georgia, has a history spanning decades in the white supremacist movement.

In December 2016, Doles, alongside other members of the violent Hammerskin Nation (HSN) racist gang, was involved in a brawl with family and friends of an interracial couple celebrating at Johnny B’s bar in Dahlonega, Georgia. Doles is affiliated with Crew 38, a booster group for the Hammerskins. Doles accepted a plea deal for two counts of battery from the Johnny B’s brawl in November 2017. Prior to accepting the plea, Doles traveled with members of the HSN to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he participated in the bloody August 12, 2017 “Unite the Right” (UTR) rally.

*Photo posted by John Todd Kopko to Instagram in early 2018, showing the Hammerskin group from Unite the Right*

North Georgia: “American Patriots USA” Update

Update 3/27/2020: We have now identified the International Keystone Knights of the KKK supporter discussed in this article as Robert Timothy Dickenson.

Introduction

Since late last year, longtime white supremacist Chester Doles has attempted to build an organization – American Patriots USA (APUSA) – in north Georgia. Doles held a far-Right “Patriots” rally in Dahlonega, Georgia in September 2019 that was greatly outnumbered by counter-protesters, and started APUSA shortly afterwards. Although Doles’ September rally was not the success he’d hoped for, Doles has held regular meetings for his new organization since December.

Recently, APUSA seized on “2^nd Amendment Sanctuary” proposals as their main organizing issue. As this article discusses, APUSA is dominated by active Klansmen as well as neo-Nazis, and is an attempt by ideological white supremacists to broaden their base of support in North Georgia and gain conservative electoral credibility. Our update will also discuss a newly identified business manager supporting APUSA; local militiamen doing security for the organization; a planned APUSA candidate for Sheriff in White County who became a community laughing stock; and finally, a new business linked to the APUSA front group. We hope this information is useful for North Georgia locals challenging Doles’ organizing.

*Late November 2019: Doles shares propaganda for the National Alliance, the neo-Nazi organization whose Georgia chapter he led prior to his 2003 arrest on federal firearm charges.*

Report-Back: Opposing September 14th Far-Right Trump/“Patriots” Rally in North Georgia

Update 3/27/2020: We have now identified the International Keystone Knights of the KKK supporter discussed in this article as Robert Timothy Dickenson.

Update 12/1/2019: We have also discovered that Doles’ September 14th rally was attended by a convicted child molester, Archie Lee Atwell.

On September 14, white power organizer Chester Doles held an ostensibly pro-Trump “American Patriots” rally in the small city of Dahlonega, north Georgia. Doles’ rally, organized and promoted with other white supremacists, attracted somewhere between three dozen and fifty participants. An anti-racist counter-protest on the other side of the downtown square attracted three times that many.

*Anti-racist protest, Dahlonega, 9/14/2019*

Over six hundred police from 36 different agencies swamped the area, with multiple cops for every person in the protests. During the rally, Doles blamed “antifa” for driving down numbers for his event.

*Mass presence from police and corrections officers, September 14^th*

A report from the September 14 counter-protest on the IdaVox anti-racist news site provides a good overview of the day. Here, we discuss Dole’s organizing efforts and how they were resisted, beyond just the day of the rally.

*Chester Doles’ group – containing several Klansmen and white nationalists – marches in on 9/14*

Documentation: White Supremacist Chester Doles’ 2016 Battery Case and the Hammerskin Nation

In November 2017, white supremacist Chester Doles took a plea deal for two charges of battery in Lumpkin County, Georgia. The charges stem from a brawl involving Doles and other white supremacists affiliated with the Hammerskins gang. The incident took place at Johnny B’s restaurant and bar in Doles’ home city of Dahlonega, December 2016. Chester Doles was still on probation from his plea deal when he organized a far-Right rally in Dahlonega this September.

*Chester Doles wearing embroidered shorts for “Crew 38 – Georgia” circa 2017. Crew 38 is the support/feeder organization for the violent Hammerskins Nation gang.*

The battery case and Doles’ probation status have already been covered by the media. However, we are publishing a police report and case files from this incident for the first time. These documents highlight several key members of the Hammerskin Nation racist gang (and its “Crew 38” support formation) who were active in our region circa 2016.

SCK-KKK: A Klan Group in North Georgia

Update 2/14/2020: This article discusses a nighttime photo of people giving Klan salutes, that was posted online in 2018. One of the individuals in the photo was unidentified when we first published our article. He is Douglas Leroy Savage of Cleveland, Georgia.

Introduction

On September 14, 2019, a “Patriots”/Trump rally took place in Dahlonega, Georgia. The main organizer for the rally was Chester Doles, a neo-Nazi and self-described “fourth-generation Klansman”. Although organizers claimed their rally was not white supremacist, and the speaker lineup even included Black conservative commentator Lucretia Hughes in addition to white nationalist speakers, one of the main organized groups at the rally was from a North Georgia-based Ku Klux Klan faction, the SCKKKK. Here, we identify several members or supporters of this Klan group, discuss their role in the September 14 Dahlonega rally, and provide some background on their organization.

Dahlonega

On the day of Doles’ rally, a group of approximately twenty people marched with Doles into their designated rally area. Doles’ supporters had initially met up in a nearby parking lot. A picture from this lot shows that two KKK members, Jonathan Keith Miller and Robert C. McDuffie, were among the first to meet up with Doles.

*Jonathan Miller and Robert McDuffie meet up with Chester Doles in parking lot before rally. Original image from reporter Doug Richards’ Twitter.*

By the time Doles’ group marched in, three others formed a small group with McDuffie and Miller. The five stuck together throughout the event. Two of the others, Robert Craig Korom and Cody Steven Cantrell, are Klan supporters and likely members. We have not identified the fifth member of the group, and therefore cannot establish whether he is a Ku Klux Klan member or merely tagged along with the Klan group for Doles’ rally.

*Ku Klux Klan group in Dahlonega, September 14, 2019. Still from News2Share footage.*

*Unidentified fifth member of group, 9/14/2019.*

Documentation: Far-Right “Patriots”/Trump Rally, Dahlonega, Georgia, September 14, 2019 (Gallery 1 of 2)

American Patriots USA supporters Coltyn Sosebee (black t-shirt with hands on barrier) and Joshua Mote (red “Make America Great Again” cap).

Lucretia Hughes (center) chats with Confederate Patriot Rebels (green shirts on left).

Rally organizer Chester Doles (front) marches in with supporters. Klansman Jonathan Miller is wearing sandals and checkered shorts, carrying Trump 2020 flag.

Documentation: Far-Right “Patriots”/Trump Rally, Dahlonega, Georgia, September 14, 2019 (Gallery 2 of 2)

William Tex Simmons of American Brotherhood of Patriots wearing sunglasses on right.

Dahlonega, Georgia: Flyers Warn Residents about Neo-Nazi Organizer

On Tuesday, September 3^rd, we mailed 250 flyers to Dahlonega, north Georgia residents, warning them about “fourth-generation Klansman” and active neo-Nazi Chester James Doles, Jr.

Doles is the main organizer for the upcoming “Patriots”/“Trump” rally in Dahlonega on September 14. This rally is a thinly veiled white supremacist event which has been advertised in neo-Nazi circles. The Dahlonega rally currently features Jovanni Valle – a former “Alt-lite” personality who now embraces Hitler – as a guest speaker.

North Georgia residents and Southern anti-racists are organizing against the September 14 far-Right rally. We hope that by warning Doles’ neighbors about his history as a violent Klansman and his continued neo-Nazi activity, we impair Doles’ ability to organize.

Flyer about Chester Doles (click here to download .pdf)

Follow our Twitter account for updates on the Dahlonega rally. If you have information on Doles or any of his associates, please get in touch.

Clarification: Travis Condor (mentioned on the flyer) was arrested for a December 2018 racist group assault in Washington state. While hate crime charges are being discussed, the case is under review. It does not appear that charges have been filed yet.

Park Pavilion Rental for Dahlonega GA White Supremacist Rally

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.

Receipt for Chester Doles’ pavilion rental.

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.