Hammerskin Nation – Atlanta Antifascists

Whitewash: “American Patriots USA” Enlists GOP Candidates to Launder White Nationalist Agenda

8/10/2020: update on Matt Gurtler and Marjorie Taylor Greene here.

As this report was being prepared for publication Thursday evening, far-Right militiaman and 9th Congressional District candidate Michael Boggus released a video on Facebook, stating that he is the new State Director for American Patriots USA. Since neo-Nazi Chester Doles and the white supremacists around Doles remain in the organization, we assume this is a shell game.

Summary: American Patriots USA (APUSA) was formed last year in north Georgia by Chester Doles, a longtime neo-Nazi. As documented in this and earlier reports, the organization is a thinly disguised front group for white supremacists. APUSA has spent the last few months building a broader front of “constitutionalist” Republican candidates, including several people of color, which it uses to mask its agenda. The white power organization even hosted a current State House Representative, Matthew Gurtler, at their March meeting. We document APUSA’s “Trojan horse” effort and highlight the complicity of GOP candidates and networks in normalizing white supremacist organizing.

*Chester Doles (circled) at “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville, VA, 2017* – footage here.

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*

What You Did Last Summer: Atlanta Attorney Michael A. Dominy, Sam Dickson, and US-Russia Far-Right Networking

In the summer of 2018, longstanding racist leader and Atlanta attorney Sam Dickson traveled for weeks in Russia. According to an interview with “The Political Cesspool” white nationalist radio show not long after his return (broadcast August 11, 2018), “several other people” accompanied Dickson on his trip in Russia. The July 2018 trip centered around attending a commemoration for the 100^th anniversary of the execution of the Romanov family by Bolsheviks, and Dickson claims to have met with several “Russian nationalists” while in the country.

*Sam Dickson message on Twitter about 2018 trip to Russia*

Our organization has discussed Dickson at length in other articles. He’s a key figure in the white nationalist movement, with a history spanning several decades. Dickson has talked at every conference for the “suit-and-tie” racists of American Renaissance since the first one in 1994. Dickson is listed as a Director for the shadowy Charles Martel Society, which publishes the Occidental Quarterly – an attempt to provide white nationalism with a veneer of respectability and intellectualism. By providing seed money for the National Policy Institute, the Charles Martel Society also helped to create the modern “Alt-Right.” Dickson mentors and seemingly employs younger white nationalists in the Atlanta area.

The 2018 Russia trip was “only the second time I’ve been in Russia,” Dickson remarked in a follow-up appearance on The Political Cesspool (broadcast September 1, 2018). In March 2015, Dickson gave a speech at the “International Russian Conservative Forum” (IRCF) in St. Petersburg. Dickson’s longtime political associate Jared Taylor of American Renaissance also traveled to the IRCF and talked. In total, the IRCF attracted approximately 150 representatives from far-Right organizations and parties in Russia, Western Europe, and the US.

*Sam Dickson speaking at the International Russian Conservative Forum in St. Petersburg, March 2015*

Here, we identify another member of Dickson’s group who traveled to Russia in July 2018: Atlanta attorney Michael A. Dominy. We discuss Dominy’s political connections, Dickson and Dominy’s apparent main contact in Russia, and that contact’s involvement with the state.

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.

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.

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.

*Doles (fourth from left, grey shirt) at a Hammerskin meetup circa 2016/17. On left is Travis Condor, currently facing potential hate crime charges for his role in a racist attack last year.*

Hapeville, GA: Neo-Nazi “Rock Stone Mountain” Organizer Exposed to Community

On the evening of January 8th, anti-fascists placed posters in Hapeville, Georgia to warn residents of John Michael Estes and Jennette Estes, white supremacists living in their neighborhood. John Michael Estes is a fervent neo-Nazi and the main organizer of the upcoming “Rock Stone Mountain II” rally at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta, which is scheduled to take place February 2nd.

In addition to placing posters, anti-fascists mailed two hundred flyers to residents, business owners and places of worship in the area, further exposing John Michael Estes and his wife as white supremacist organizers.

Flyer about John Michael Estes and Jennette Bayly Estes (click to download)

John Michael Estes was radicalized by reading materials from the notorious Aryan Nations supremacist group while in prison. Estes organizes closely with Klan leaders and networks with members of the Hammerskin gang, a group that has a thirty-year history of extreme racist violence. Online, Estes has circulated an image that appears to glorify sniper attacks against Jewish people. He is also flagrant about his hatred of Black people.

Estes was one of the main organizers of the initial Rock Stone Mountain Klan/neo-Nazi rally at Stone Mountain Park in April 2016, which met with heavy anti-racist opposition. Estes is currently organizing a follow-up white supremacist rally at Stone Mountain, scheduled for February 2nd, the day before the Superbowl. Despite Stone Mountain Park denying a permit to “Rock Stone Mountain II,” the white supremacists are still vowing to rally at the Park that day. They will be met with a large anti-racist mobilization.

The Hapeville community deserves to know that those organizing for race war live hidden among them. By exposing the Estes household, we hope the community will be better prepared to keep themselves safe. This small action also complements the much broader mobilization against Rock Stone Mountain II.

In a November 2018 broadcast promoting “Rock Stone Mountain II,” John Michael Estes identified himself as an “equipment operator at a scrapyard” and “the boss of my own area.” If you have further information on this workplace, or any other details on John or Jennette Estes, please get in contact.

For all our articles on John Michael Estes’ organizing, see here.

For more information about mobilizations against “Rock Stone Mountain II” on February 2nd, see the FLOWER (FrontLine Organization Working to End Racism) website: flowerunited.org

Recent Anti-Racist Outreach in Georgia

Two recent stories on It’s Going Down:

“Cedartown, Georgia: Anti-Racist Outreach Against Ku Klux Klan Leader” (posted September 26, 2016)
“Anti-Racists Flyer Woodstock, Georgia Neighborhood to Oppose Aryan Nations” (posted October 3, 2016)

The Hammerskin Nation’s “Hammerfest” event took place on October 1st, 2016, with Patrick Lanzo’s Georgia Peach Oyster Bar used for the venue as expected. Approximately 120 people attended.

Atlanta Antifascists now have a voicemail number as well as email, so feel free to call with information about neo-Nazi organizing in our region: 470-344-4868
contact-info-sm

Aryan Nationalist Alliance Gathering at Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Draketown, Sept. 17 2016

Update 9/13/2016: According to the NSM, Matthew Heimbach has cancelled his appearance at the Aryan Nationalist Alliance event “due to a conflict on time.”

The Aryan Nationalist Alliance (ANA) – the pact of white supremacist groups established just before the National Socialist Movement (NSM) / Loyal White Knights of the KKK rally in Rome GA on April 23 – has now announced a gathering at the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar in Draketown (near Temple) GA on September 17^th.

The ANA meeting will take place exactly two weeks before Hammerfest, which is the national gathering for another white supremacist organization, the Hammerskin Nation. Hammerfest is also expected to take place at the Georgia Peach Oyster Bar. (The Georgia Peach is less than an hour’s drive west of Atlanta; since publishing our initial story on Hammerfest, we have received further corroboration that Patrick Lanzo’s Georgia Peach will be the venue on Oct. 1^st.)

Aryan National Alliance Sept 17 2016 GA Peach EDITED Aryan Nationalist Alliance event announced on front page of National Socialist Movement website

The September 17 Aryan Nationalist Alliance event is announced on the front page of the National Socialist Movement’s website. The gathering was initially planned as a regional meeting for the National Socialist Movement, but was subsequently broadened to be an Aryan Nationalist Alliance event involving several organizations. Matthew Heimbach of the Traditionalist Worker Party – also scheduled to appear at Hammerfest on Oct 1^st – will speak, as will the head of the NSM, Jeff Schoep. The announcement promises a “Swastika & Cross Lighting” for the evening.

The National Socialist Movement in Georgia has been formally reorganized over recent months with new leadership. The NSM head organizer in GA is now Floyd Eric Meadows, who has a past with the League of the South and the Southern Cross Militant Knights of the KKK. Prior to his new role as state leader for the NSM, Meadows had been listed as an NSM member in 2011.

Regionally, the NSM has used its April 23^rd events in Georgia plus its central role within the Aryan Nationalist Alliance to draw white power activists into its ranks. Shaun Winkler of Mississippi (previously involved with the Aryan Nations and the International Keystone Knights of the KKK) as well as Rebecca Barnette of Tennessee (one of the main organizers of White Lives Matter) are two Southern white supremacist leaders who have joined with the NSM in recent months.

As always, if you have information on white power organizing in Georgia and especially near Atlanta, please get in contact.