Roswell GA – Atlanta Antifascists

Anti-Vaccine Conference in Metro Atlanta Promotes Far-right and Antisemitic Poison

Update 6/3/2022: The far-right anti-vaccine conference is now taking place at the DoubleTree in Roswell, Georgia. Please contact the hotel directly as well as the company that manages it, Hospitality Ventures Management Group, with your concerns.

Update 6/2/2022: Unity North Atlanta has canceled the reservation for Next Steps conference.

Introduction

On Friday and Saturday, June 3-4, “Next Steps,” a major anti-vaccine and COVID-19 denial conference, is scheduled to take place at Unity North Atlanta in Marietta, Georgia. QAnon believer Tiendra “Tia” Severino (née Demian) of Tucker, Georgia organized the conference with support from Timothy John Ray’s “UI Media” network. Tim Ray and at least two other speakers are vocal antisemites. One of these speakers has proclaimed that the “God of the Jews is Satan himself.”

“UI Media” and the “Next Steps” conference are thoroughly intertwined. The conference will feature a “UI Media Awards” ceremony presented by Tia Severino and Tim Ray. UI Media is the exclusive source for footage of the conference and markets “digital replay[s]” of conference workshops on its website. Conference organizer Tia Severino has hosted her show on UI Media for the past two years. The conference’s “VIP Party” on Saturday night will be held in Canton, Georgia, which happens to be where Tim Ray owns a home.

The “Next Steps” conference features big names from anti-vaccine and COVID-19 denial circles, such as Dr. Christiane Northrup, who played a key role in amplifying coronavirus disinformation in the pandemic’s first year, and COVID/snake venom conspiracy theorist Dr. Bryan Ardis. The conference also reflects the deep antisemitism of Tim Ray and his “UI Media” project. A couple scheduled to speak at the conference’s “VIP Dinner” on Friday argues that a Jewish conspiracy has plotted for centuries to rule the world, currently controls the US government, and aims to enslave all non-Jewish people. Tim Ray finds this theory credible enough to promote the couple and other hardcore antisemites on his UI Media site. In a speech to an anti-mask/anti-vaccine rally in Atlanta last year, Tim Ray made thinly coded references to conspiracy theories of Jewish power, blaming “international Sabbatian cabalists” for the COVID-19 pandemic.

*Promotional image for Next Steps conference*

As well as spreading medical falsehoods and stirring up hatred against Jewish people, the Next Steps conference has ties to other far-Right organizers in Georgia and nationally. We document these ties throughout this piece. Since the conference aims to not only undermine public health measures but to normalize far-right and antisemitic organizing, we believe it deserves a response. We include action items at the end of this article.

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.

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”