Posters and Flyers Expose “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa White Power Organization

On the night of Sunday, March 3, antifascists placed posters in Sandy Springs and downtown Roswell, warning residents about racist organizer Justin Wayne Peek. Peek is the national “Director of Activism” for the Identity Evropa (IE) white power organization. In this role, Peek has organized racist rallies for IE throughout the United States. Peek is also IE’s current Georgia coordinator, managing the group’s activity in our state. 

Justin Peek lives in Sandy Springs, metro Atlanta. However late last year Identity Evropa propaganda surfaced in nearby Roswell, ten minutes from Peek’s residence. We therefore believed the Roswell community also deserved a heads-up.

 

Posters warning about Justin Peek in Sandy Springs (L) and Roswell (R)

The antifascist posters coincide with the publication of a longer exposé about Peek, chronicling Peek’s extensive involvement in both Identity Evropa and the broader Alt-Right. You can read the Justin Peek exposé here.

In addition to placing posters, on Saturday we mailed over 300 flyers to Peek’s neighbors in the Edgewater at Sandy Springs apartment complex. The flyers warned residents that their neighbor is a white power leader, highlighting Peek’s racist statements and his track record in the white nationalist movement.

 

Flyer about Justin Peek (download .pdf here)
With our outreach posters and flyers, we aim to provide neighbors with information so they can keep each other safe. By repeatedly identifying and exposing the racists of Identity Evropa, we also hope to curtail their ability to organize. 

If you have further information on Identity Evropa members or other white nationalists in our region, please get in contact

Justin Peek: Metro Atlanta Racist is National “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa

Introduction / Overview

Justin Wayne Peek is the current Georgia coordinator for Identity Evropa (IE), a nationwide racist organization. Peek also serves as IE’s Director of Activism and organizes their protests across the United States, often personally traveling to participate in them.

Justin Wayne Peek speaking at Identity Evropa’s 2018 conference

Justin Peek became involved in the “Alt-Right” and white nationalism in early 2017. After the violence of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA and the Alt-Right’s subsequent reversal of fortune, IE saw a need to alter its activist strategy. Peek was named as IE’s “activism coordinator” in late 2017 during the leadership of Elliot Kline AKA “Eli Mosley,” but his role only began in earnest under IE’s third and current leader, Patrick Casey. IE now deploys flash protests with just their own members, so that the organization can carefully stage-manage these events and maintain the correct “optics.” By orchestrating IE’s protests of 2018, Peek has played a key role in the organization’s efforts to attract new members and rebrand.

Identity Evropa “die in” at South African embassy, Washington DC, April 2018, organized by Peek.

On his old Twitter account, Peek claimed that “Jew [sic] and arabs are disease to this planet” and that “black lives don’t matter.” Peek also circulated pro-Hitler propaganda. IE remains a white power organization, even if it now uses carefully-crafted language of wanting a “European-American super-majority” instead of publicly demanding a whites-only homeland.

Justin Peek: 2012 Fulton County arrest

Since “Unite the Right,” Identity Evropa has tried to portray itself as having high moral standards for its members, in contrast to other racist groups. Peek’s personal history gives reason to doubt this. In 2012 Justin Peek was arrested in Fulton County for sexual battery. The initial accusation charged Peek with “intentionally […] touching the genital area” of a woman without her consent. Peek eventually accepted a plea deal for the lower charge of simple battery, which involves intentional “physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature.” Court documents from this case are included as an appendix to our article.

Peek currently lives with his fiancée Amber Michele Wojcik in the Edgewater at Sandy Springs apartment complex. The couple are due to marry this September, with a ceremony scheduled at the River Dream Lodge in Blue Ridge, Georgia. To coincide with the publication of this article, we mailed flyers to residents at Peek’s apartment complex, warning them of the racist organizer in their midst. Continue reading “Justin Peek: Metro Atlanta Racist is National “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa”

Exposing Joshua Bates (AKA “Brandon Hitt”), Georgia Participant in “The Base”

Update 12/10/2018: Since the publication of this article, Joshua Bates has made a series of public statements renouncing the white supremacist movement and his past. We hope Bates’ statements are sincere. Only time will tell.

A network of anti-fascist activists from coast to coast have obtained the chat logs of a neo-Nazi organization calling itself “The Base.” Anti-fascists infiltrated the Base in order to investigate and identify its members and disseminate this information to the public.

In an ongoing series of articles, the coordinating anti-fascist network will publish revealing information about this group and profile its members. You can follow all these articles by following the hashtag #DeBasedDoxx.

Anti-fascism is fundamentally a localized movement of working-class peoples. We are not paid for our work and we take great risks every day: not for fame or money, but to protect our communities.

Email the network at [email protected] with your tips or inquiries. 

As part of an ongoing anti-fascist research series on a neo-Nazi paramilitary group called “The Base”, we are exposing The Base member “Brandon Hitt” as Joshua Brandon Bates of Grovetown, Columbia County, Georgia. Joshua Bates’ involvement in The Base is notable because Bates is a well-connected participant in the Alt-Right, especially through his work as a web developer and his writing under the alias “Jossur Surtrson”. Bates was active in The Base’s online chats from late September until his sudden disappearance from the server in mid-November.

Joshua Bates

About The Base

The Base is a white supremacist networking platform which aims to prepare for and accelerate the balkanization of the United States, and to carve out whites-only states under such a scenario. The Base’s platform offers members several manuals about weapons and planning terrorist attacks. As discussed in an earlier article in this series, members of The Base “operate in regional cells of 3-7 people which include current and former military personnel, eco-fascists, preppers, and youth under the age of 18 who have been drawn into the online communities of Nazism.” While it is not clear whether the reference is deliberate, it should be pointed out that “Al Qaeda” translates to “The Base” in English.  Continue reading “Exposing Joshua Bates (AKA “Brandon Hitt”), Georgia Participant in “The Base””

Racist Southern Secessionist is Republican Party Precinct Chairman for East Ellijay, Georgia

Dana Kyle Jeffares of Ellijay, Georgia – more commonly known as Kyle Jeffares – is currently listed on the Gilmer County Republican Party website as Precinct Chairman for the nearby city of East Ellijay. Kyle Jeffares is a Southern secessionist and a racist, who is connected to the broader white power movement. Online, Jeffares makes clear his hatred of Black people, Jewish people, Muslims, immigrants and LGBTQ individuals.

Dana Kyle Jeffares

Jeffares’ role with his local Republican Party is fairly low-ranking. However, he presents an excellent example of how white nationalists become active in the GOP at a local level, often taking on roles that few others want.  Continue reading “Racist Southern Secessionist is Republican Party Precinct Chairman for East Ellijay, Georgia”

New Video: Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School, it’s Time to Stand Against Lynching Threats and White Power Organizing

We have produced a new video about Casey Jordan Cooper, a white power leader who is studying to become a lawyer at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School (AJMLS). Cooper made explicit lynching threats against a Black activist in Atlanta and is active in the Identity Evropa racist organization. AJMLS has known about this situation for over a year and a half. Despite outcry and extensive documentation, the school refuses to take the matter seriously.

New video: tell Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School to stand against racist intimidation 

In March 2017, we published an article first bringing Cooper’s racist agitation and lynching threats to the attention of AJMLS. In August of that year, we published a 500+ page dossier on Cooper’s white power efforts. We continued documenting Casey Cooper’s central involvement in the metro Atlanta white nationalist scene into 2018 and will continue for as long as he remains active. Our latest article reveals that Cooper led the “ATL-Right” umbrella grouping for white nationalists in our area and discusses the support which Cooper has received from Sam Dickson, a notorious white nationalist leader in Atlanta.

We also revealed that Cooper praised violence at the “Unite the Right” racist torchlit march in August 2017, claiming that the attacks on students, anti-racists and community members “struck fear into the hearts of our opposition”.

Here is an earlier call to action around Cooper and AJMLS, including a sample script for phone calls.

Please contact Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School today to express your concern.

AJMLS main number: (678) 916-2600

Dean Malcolm L. Morris: (678) 916-2603, [email protected]

Finally, click here for an email sent by Dean Malcolm Morris to AJMLS students, staff, faculty, and alumni in 2017, sent shortly after the bloody “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA. Morris reminds AJMLS students that they have taken an oath “to serve without prejudice.” He also states that “Speech and actions that harass or threaten the well-being of others will not be countenanced” and promises that any allegation of “a violation of these policies will be investigated thoroughly, and if proven true, appropriate action will be taken.”

Examine our articles and the documentation supplied above. Ask yourself whether Dean Morris’ words are consistent with a year and a half of inaction, brushing off community concerns about white power organizing and explicit death threats, even as AJMLS markets itself as welcoming ethnic diversity. The time for AJMLS to act is overdue.

Share the video on social media and within your organization. If you have more information about Casey Cooper’s white power organizing or the attitude of his for-profit law school, please get in touch.

Leak of “Elite” Alt-Right Chats Shine Further Light on Casey Jordan Cooper, White Power Leader at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School

Summary: Newly leaked chat logs from an “elite” Alt-Right discussion server reveal additional information on racist leader and Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School student Casey Jordan Cooper. Cooper states that he led the “ATL-Right” group operating in metro Atlanta. Cooper cites white nationalist leader Sam Dickson as an invaluable connection for his future law career and suggests that Dickson may have already helped Cooper get work from smaller law firms. Cooper also celebrates violence at “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville 2017 and spins a grotesque legal fantasy of suing on behalf of white supremacist murderer James Alex Fields, Jr., then using the proceeds to drive Black residents from an Atlanta neighborhood. Although Cooper has been exposed as the author of unequivocal lynching threats, his published comments make it clear he is confident about his future and expects his law career to go unopposed.

This August, the independent journalism collective Unicorn Riot published online chats from the “Vibrant Diversity” Discord server. Discord is a discussion app used by gaming communities but also by white power organizers; Unicorn Riot has published numerous “Alt-Right” Discord chat logs as part of its ongoing “Discord leaks.” The “Vibrant Diversity” chat server was described by one participant as “the most elite discord server in the Alt Right.” Unsurprisingly, racist leader and Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School student Casey Jordan Cooper participated in discussion there, under the moniker “Phoenix – GA”.

Casey Jordan Cooper at Identity Evropa white power rally in Nashville, Tennessee, March 2018

Atlanta Antifascists have already exposed Casey Cooper and his history of racist agitation, including clear lynching threats made against a Black activist in Atlanta. Most recently, we also revealed that during much of 2017 and early 2018 Cooper lived at a Peachtree Hills white nationalist organizing hub owned by racist leader Sam Dickson. Continue reading “Leak of “Elite” Alt-Right Chats Shine Further Light on Casey Jordan Cooper, White Power Leader at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School”

The Racists on Ridgeland Way: Ground Zero for “Alt-Right” Organizing in Atlanta

Introduction

The house, located on a quiet, affluent street in the Peachtree Hills neighborhood of Buckhead, Atlanta, does not stand out. The comings and goings at 121 Ridgeland Way NE may not attract much neighborhood attention. However, this house is a hub for racist organizing not just for Atlanta, but for the South and arguably the country. It is owned by Sam Glasgow Dickson, a key player in the white nationalist movement. From this building, Dickson and his associates try to build the white power movement, especially its middle-class face. They also make moves in the Atlanta property market, both enriching themselves and building resources for their cause.

RW front
121 Ridgeland Way NE. (Can you see a subtle algiz rune on the exterior too, or are we trippin’?)

Our prior coverage of long-time white nationalist leader Sam Dickson includes a detailed article from last year on “Right-Wing Gentrification Gangs.” Apart from some background information and setting out Dickson’s importance within the broader white nationalist movement, we will not duplicate that earlier material here. This article has two purposes. First, we are updating our earlier coverage of Dickson and his white power associates. Second, by setting out five names associated with the Ridgeland Way property in Buckhead, we aim to provide a more complete picture of what goes on at the space, and how this activity fits within the white nationalist movement regionally and nationally. Continue reading “The Racists on Ridgeland Way: Ground Zero for “Alt-Right” Organizing in Atlanta”

Racists Menace Tennessee Church Reeling from Mass Shooting

An earlier version of this article gave Justin Lamar Burger’s name as “Justin William Burger.” We apologize for this error.

Update 11/08/17: The fifth and final participant in the Burnette Chapel protest (who gave the name of “Leah” to media) has been identified as Florida resident Haley Olivia Copeland.

 

Justin Burger (Douglasville, Georgia), Ian Booton (Gibson, GA) and University of Central Florida Student Simon Michael Dickerman in Far-Right Flash Protest at Burnette Chapel
 
On Sunday, October 29, white nationalists held a five-person flash protest outside the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tennessee (about twenty minutes from Nashville.) A month earlier, gunman Emanuel Kidega Samson targeted Burnette Chapel, killing one congregation member and wounding seven more. A note left in the shooter’s car allegedly mentioned Dylann Roof, the white supremacist responsible for 2015 massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. White nationalists have now seized on the Burnette Chapel shooting for propaganda purposes, for a couple of reasons. First, the mention of Dylann Roof in the note left in Samson’s vehicle could be used to build a “revenge” narrative around the Antioch shooting — a narrative which is helpful to white nationalists. Second, Emanuel Samson was born in Sudan but spent most of his life in the United States. Far-Right commentators such as Alabama-based League of the South publicist/“Alt-South” blogger Bradley Dean Griffin have seized upon the Antioch shooting to increase racist and anti-immigrant sentiment. The shooting is also useful to white nationalists because it can be used to draw false equivalencies and to deflect attention from their own movement’s role in radicalizing Charleston murderer Dylann Roof.
 
shelbyville wlm overpowered
White nationalists outnumbered in Shelbyville, Tennessee, October 28, 2017
The Burnette Chapel attack was referenced frequently by the Nationalist Front –- a racist umbrella grouping involving the National Socialist Movement, League of the South, Traditionalist Worker Party, Vanguard America and others –- as it organized for its “White Lives Matter” demonstration in Middle Tennessee on Saturday, October 28. Apart from flash mobs, the “White Lives Matter” rally was the first major street demonstration by white nationalists in the US, since the bloody and disastrous “Unite the Right” rally in Virginia this August. Nationalist Front organizers had initially planned to demonstrate in both Shelbyville and Murfreesboro on Saturday the 28th, but after their forces were outnumbered in Shelbyville, Nationalist Front organizers abruptly canceled their second demonstration in Murfreesboro, where a large counter-protest awaited them. On Saturday night following the dismal Shelbyville rally, members of the racist and fascist Traditionalist Worker Party assaulted an interracial couple at a pub in Brentwood, Tennessee.
 
Shelbyville TN tradworker shields
Traditionalist Worker Party shields, Shelbyville October 28 
Throughout the weekend of the “White Lives Matter” rally, rumors swirled that Nationalist Front members would show up in Antioch and hold a protest outside Burnette Chapel. However, no such protest occurred on Friday. On Saturday in Shelbyville, racist organizers announced an evening presence at the Antioch church, but this event was eventually cancelled just as the Murfreesboro demonstration had been earlier. However, the next morning, a handful of militant racists showed up outside Burnette Chapel with a banner, until the arrival of police shooed them away. The flash protest was documented by Newsweek correspondent Michael Hayden. By showing up at a church that had already experienced trauma and violence, the white nationalists made it even plainer that their movement does not care about the Burnette Chapel congregation. The racist movement just hoped to exploit a tragedy for its own agenda. 
 
The five white nationalist protesters outside Burnette Chapel on Sunday stated to Newsweek that they were part of Identity Evropa, a racist organization that focuses on college-aged recruits. However, Identity Evropa leader Elliott Kline (AKA “Eli Mosley”) has denied that the five demonstrators in Antioch were members, claiming instead that they were “trolling” by mentioning Identity Evropa as their organization. Surprisingly, Kline seems to be correct. One of the white power protesters outside Burnette Chapel has been identified by Nebraska antifascists as Daniel Kleve of the Vanguard America, which unlike Identity Evropa is affiliated with the Nationalist Front. Although one of the Antioch, Tennessee protesters (who gave her name as “Leah”) remains unidentified, we have identified the remaining three as Justin Lamar Burger of Douglasville, Georgia; Ian Mathis George Booton of Gibson, Georgia; and University of Central Florida student Simon Michael Dickerman. Similarly to Daniel Kleve of Nebraska, Burger, Booton, and Dickerman traveled from out-of-state to participate in the “White Lives Matter” demonstration.
 
burger booton
Justin Burger (L) and Ian Booton (R) outside Burnette Chapel in Antioch, Tennessee, October 29, 2017. Photo courtesy of Michael E Hayden.
 

Continue reading “Racists Menace Tennessee Church Reeling from Mass Shooting”

Alt-Right Operational Document Shows Planning for Richard Spencer’s Gainesville Visit, Involvement of Would-be Murderers

On October 19, white nationalist leader Richard Spencer held a speaking event at the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. Spencer was met by a large anti-fascist mobilization organized by the #NoNazisAtUF coalition and supported by anti-racists from throughout the South. The event was a clear victory for anti-racists. Spencer was jeered and frequently drowned out from inside the venue, and ended his event ahead of schedule. Two thousand protesters simultaneously rallied outside, with many in the crowd confronting and chasing the white supremacists who showed up for Spencer. The University of Florida spent approximately $600,000 to protect the white power leader; the Governor declared a State of Emergency ahead of time; but a broad-based anti-racist/anti-fascist coalition nevertheless won the day.
altright gville oct 19 audience
Small numbers of white power militants sitting in front rows at Richard Spencer’s University of Florida event before rest of audience admitted
three arrestees
L-R: Tyler Tenbrink, William Fears and Colton Fears
 
A planning document for Richard Spencer’s visit — which anti-racists accessed and which we are now publishing in full — suggests that the would-be killers from Texas were not mere supporters of Richard Spencer, but traveled to campus as part of Spencer’s operational plan for the day. The operational document also reveals details such as there being an after-party for Alt-Right militants who assisted with the Gainesville event, and that Spencer and other “VIPs” planned dinner with donors while visiting the city.
 
The operational plan developed for Gainesville by Richard Spencer’s closest associates reveals coordination with both the University of Florida and police, with both parties described by the Alt-Right racists as “cooperating.” According to the plans distributed to staff at Spencer’s National Policy Institute, The Patriot Front, an openly fascist organization, was a key organization participating in the racist “Task Force” for Gainesville. The planning document appears to have made plans for larger numbers of white nationalists than showed up, again pointing to Gainesville as a flop for Richard Spencer’s movement. This defeat happened at a time when the racist “Alt-Right” is desperate for any sort of win, in the aftermath of the bloody and disastrous “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville this August.
 
The “Operation Gator” document mentions that white nationalists had plans for a “flash mob” in the event that University of Florida cancelled Spencer’s speech — with racists showing up elsewhere on campus or in Gainesville to make their presence felt (with predictable intimidation and likely targeted violence). In actuality, Spencer did not have his speech cancelled by the University but rather cut it short himself after being humiliated by the student/community mobilization. The “Operation Gator” plan stated that participants ought not bring guns. However, it was in the context of political defeat (but not any University cancellation) that some of Spencer’s allies attempted to settle scores with anti-racists, nearly committing a murder.

Continue reading “Alt-Right Operational Document Shows Planning for Richard Spencer’s Gainesville Visit, Involvement of Would-be Murderers”

Update: Evan Thomas Anderson, Atlanta Property, and May 13 Charlottesville White Power Rally

In late August, we published “‘Right-Wing Gentrification Gangs’: White Nationalists and Atlanta Property Development.” In the article, we discussed several white nationalists involved in the Atlanta property market. One of these figures is Evan Thomas Anderson AKA Evan Thomas Kuettner, a leader in the racist Identity Evropa organization. Anderson’s company Sun Rising LLC owns property in Atlanta.

In particular, our article drew attention to a building and adjacent lots owned by Anderson in the Lakewood neighborhood.

Lakewood

On Saturday, September 2 — days after the “Gentrification Gangs” article was published — Evan Anderson was seen at his building in Lakewood, removing the “For Sale or Lease” sign with his phone number. Anderson was assisted at the building by someone resembling Casey Jordan Cooper, another Identity Evropa leader and second-year law student at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. (Our article also mentioned Casey Cooper’s hope to invest in Atlanta property.)

lakewood sept 2 2017 I

lakewood sept 2 2017 II
Sept 2, 2017: Evan Anderson removes sign at his building in Lakewood, assisted by someone resembling local white nationalist Casey Jordan Cooper
Within a week from the sign being removed, Evan Anderson sold his building in Lakewood. Sun Rising LLC/Anderson still owns nearby lots in that neighborhood as well as other property in Atlanta.

Evan Anderson and the May 13, 2017 Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia

We have also discovered that Evan Anderson did not just speak at the May 13, 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia — a racist gathering which set the stage for the bloody “Unite the Right” event there this August — but that Anderson booked a park used for this day of activity. Anderson reserved Pen Park for an alleged “Marketing Network Group Dinner.” This was actually where racists gathered and dined before their nighttime torch rally at Lee Park.

Charlottesville Evan Anderson May email

Charlottesville Marketing Network Group Dinner may 13 2017
Evan Anderson books Pen Park in Charlottesville for a “Marketing Network Group Dinner” — actually a white power rally.
It is unsurprising that Evan Anderson supplied an Alexandria, Virginia address on this paperwork, since Anderson has posted to social media about spending time near Washington, DC (and has helped with National Policy Institute conferences in DC.)

evanthomas1985 aug 25 2017 tweet DC
August Twitter post from “Evan Thomas” about spending time in Washington, DC (picture now deleted.)
Alexandria, Virginia is also the current base of operations for white power leader Richard Spencer of the National Policy Institute, whose efforts Anderson assists.

If you have more information about Evan Thomas Kuettner/Evan Thomas Anderson or other racists operating in our region, please contact us.