Michael David Weaver (also known as Michael David Carothers) is a violent neo-Nazi who has been active since he was a teenager. Currently, he lives in Cartersville and is engaging in a campaign to spread hate in Georgia. Since late last year, Weaver has distributed copious amounts of antisemitic propaganda, mainly for the antisemitic Goyim Defense League but also for other white supremacist groups. Weaver also holds one-mandemonstrations with antisemitic signs outside the Bartow County Courthouse. Weaver has a long history of ideologically driven harassment and violence, including an assault on a Black man in Columbus, Georgia for which Weaver served a one-year sentence. Continue reading for more info on Weaver and actions which community members can take.
On August 15, 2020, racists and the far-Right vow to rally at Stone Mountain outside Atlanta.
Heritage Not Hate private Facebook group
An earlier alert discussed the upcoming rally and Stone Mountain Park’s history. We noted how two projects promoting the August 15 rallies – Protect the South and American Patriots USA – have their roots in neo-Nazi organizing. Both projects now try to build broader alliances through coded messaging.
We also mentioned the “Defending Stone Mountain” call to action from leaders of the Confederate States III% militia (CSIII%). CSIII% is a nominally non-racist far-Right group. In this update, we focus on these “Defending Stone Mountain” organizers and their ties to white nationalist networks.
At the end of this update, we discuss a new white supremacist project from a long-familiar face who is also trying to agitate around the Confederate carvings on Stone Mountain.
Update 7/19/2020: The III% Security Force, an Islamophobic far-Right militia headed by Chris Hill, yesterday reversed its earlier position and stated it will rally at Stone Mountain on August 15th.
On August 15, 2020, far-Right demonstrators will rally at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta. The August 15 rally, held at the birthplace of the modern Ku Klux Klan, is being promoted and partially organized by figures tied to neo-Nazism and the white supremacist movement. Although some organizers claim to represent “Heritage Not Hate”, a closer look at who is mobilizing shows that August 15 will bring an influx of racists to the surrounding community.
Chester Doles heads Ku Klux Klan demonstration in Maryland, 1992
Last night, State House Representative and candidate in the Republican primary for the 9th Congressional District, Matt Gurtler, issued a statement decrying “sleazy attacks” and the “fake news media”. These comments arrived two months after Gurtler talked to a meeting of American Patriots USA (APUSA) – a white nationalist front group founded by Klansmen and neo-Nazis – and two days after the story broke in the media.
In his comments to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Matt Gurtler doubled down by calling APUSA a “pro-gun, conservative group that supports President Trump”. At the March meeting, Gurtler portrayed the organization as a positive response to “socialism on the rise”.
Matt Gurler at American Patriots USA meeting, March 14, 2020
The core members of APUSA are committed white supremacists. Founder Chester Doles is an unreformed neo-Nazi who continues to network within the racist scene and circulate its propaganda. Another key APUSA member, Michael Carothers AKA Michael Weaver, maintains the “White Information Network” site, where he asks readers to support terrorists such as “Olympic Park Bomber” Eric Rudolph.
Militant white nationalists have led
a wave of terror in recent years, with outrages such as the Tree of Life
synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018; the Christchurch, New Zealand
mosque attacks last year; and August’s racist massacre in El Paso. While
Gurtler mouths empty catchphrases such as, “Racism doesn’t have any place in
our community”, his actions embolden the racist movement.
It is reprehensible for Matt Gurtler to hide behind his “Mexican-American” wife after supporting white supremacists. His wife’s ancestry is irrelevant to Gurtler’s political decision. Gurtler’s response is particularly obscene since APUSA founder Chester Doles has targeted and scapegoated Latino communities in north Georgia for twenty years.
Instead of admitting poor judgment,
Gurtler howls for his critics to “Bring it.”
If you oppose antisemitism and white supremacy, speak out when they are normalized.
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 earlierreports, 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.
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 “2nd
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.
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 14th
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
For months, white supremacists promised to rally on February 2nd – the Saturday before the Super Bowl – at Stone Mountain Park outside Atlanta. Despite having hyped their rally since September, their rally completely unraveled in the days leading up to the event. Different “Rock Stone Mountain II” organizers gave different accounts of the collapse. On the 2nd, approximately 150 anti-racists held a celebration march in the community of Stone Mountain, which culminated in burning a Klansman in effigy. Stone Mountain Park – the would-be site of the white supremacist mobilization – was closed for the day, which the Park had abruptly announced the evening before. On Saturday, lines of police in full riot gear waited in formation just behind the closed-off pedestrian gate to the Park.
Anti-racists march in Stone Mountain, February 2nd, 2019
If the “Rock Stone Mountain II” organizers were hoping to do better than their 2016 event, it soon became apparent that they faced steep challenges. In early November, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association – which operates Stone Mountain Park – announced that it would not grant a permit for “Rock Stone Mountain II”. (The Park permitted and protected the initial “Rock Stone Mountain” white power rally of April 2016.) In addition, a coalition of anti-racists – operating under the name FrontLine Organization Working to End Racism, or F.L.O.W.E.R. – was organizing mass opposition to the Klan-/neo-Nazi event, vowing to show up and confront the white supremacists on the day. Continue reading “Victory: The Collapse of “Rock Stone Mountain II””
Update 2/2/2019: While Delta Airlines has not made any official statement, we have reason to believe white supremacist Jennette Estes is no longer employed by the company.
Update 2/7/2019: Removed photo with erroneous identification (and accompanying text.) We apologize for this error.
Summary: Are you concerned about a white supremacist working as a passenger service agent at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport? If so, contact Delta Airlines plus Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and notify them about Delta employee Jennette Bayly Estes. Jennette Estes supports the most violent wings of the white supremacist movement, for example circulating a petition that characterized a neo-Nazi terrorist as a man of conviction.
Jennette Estes and her white supremacist husband John Michael Estes at baseball game last year. Delta SKY360° Club seating may have been an employee perk.
Jennette Bayly Estes, a white supremacist promoting an upcoming Klan and neo-Nazi rally in Georgia, is also an agent for Delta Airlines working at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. She is the wife of “Rock Stone Mountain” main organizer John Michael Estes, who we exposed to his Hapeville, Georgia community last week. Jennette Estes is not a passive supporter of her husband’s efforts. She actively promotes the most violent wings of the white supremacist movement.
Jennette Bayly Estes AKA Jenny Estes
On LinkedIn, Jennette Estes lists her job as “passenger service agent” with Delta Airlines. We have further verified Estes’ job for Delta at the Atlanta airport. It is worrying that a white supremacist currently helping with a Klan/neo-Nazi rally could have airport security clearance and perhaps even access to Delta customer information.
