Inside Southern Sons Active Club (Part I)

Summary: In January, we began infiltrating the Southern Sons Active Club (SSAC), a racist group operating in the Carolinas and in Georgia that is part of the broader “Active Club” network. With this two-part report, we identify twelve SSAC members and two former members. We also discuss a Georgia participant in the “Revolutionary White Brotherhood” (formerly “Blood and Soil Crew”), a regional neo-Nazi youth group with close ties to SSAC. We document SSAC’s ties to a white supremacist now facing charges for his part in a bank robbery conspiracy. In another instance of the club attracting violence-prone neo-Nazis, we discuss an underground cell in North Carolina dedicated to “direct action” whose members were previously in SSAC. Finally, we detail the club’s ties to other far-right projects operating regionally. SSAC plans to send a contingent to an upcoming national event by Patriot Front, May 12-14 in the southern Mid-Atlantic region.

This is Part I of a two-part article. For Part II, click here.

White nationalists exposed in Part I
Continue reading “Inside Southern Sons Active Club (Part I)”

Inside Southern Sons Active Club (Part II)

This is Part II of a two-part article. For Part I, click here.

White nationalists exposed in Part II
Continue reading “Inside Southern Sons Active Club (Part II)”

Devin Brosnahan of Augusta, Georgia: Neo-Nazi, “White Lives Matter” Organizer, and Emergency Medical Technician

Update 3/14/2023: After several requests for information, Aiken County Emergency Medical Services has clarified that Devin Brosnahan is no longer employed with them. Please get in touch if you have information on Brosnahan’s current employers.

Summary: Devin Brosnahan is a neo-Nazi leader in Augusta, Georgia. Under the alias “Levi Savage,” Brosnahan leads the Georgia chapter of White Lives Matter. Last year, we appealed for information on “Levi” after we had identified Hunter Forsyth as another White Lives Matter administrator. Now, we can explain how we identified “Levi” while outlining his racist and antisemitic activity with White Lives Matter and other groups. Brosnahan works as an emergency medical technician, an alarming job for a committed and active neo-Nazi. Online records indicate that last year he worked for Aiken County Emergency Medical Services across the state line in South Carolina. Aiken County EMS must clarify whether Brosnahan remains an employee, as he is an obvious danger to those around him and to those he would be expected to provide aid to.

Introduction

In December, we appealed for information on a white nationalist operating under the alias “Levi Savage.” “Levi” was an administrator for the White Lives Matter – Georgia (WLM – GA) channel on the Telegram messaging application. As well as his WLM – GA activities, he targeted neighborhoods with propaganda for the hardcore antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL). In an appearance on an online fascist broadcast, “Levi” claimed that his job was “basically an ambulance driver” and stated that his racist worldview helps him to “deal” at work. We had already traced “Levi” to the metro Augusta, Georgia area and determined several specific details about him. For example, we learned that he had a close connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in his earlier life, although his relationship with the church might have soured. 

Devin Brosnahan: 2022 employee at Aiken County Emergency Medical Services (South Carolina)

We can now identify “Levi” as Devin Daniel Brosnahan, born on October 6, 2000 and currently living in Augusta. Brosnahan is a licensed Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), with online records showing that last year he worked for Aiken County Emergency Medical Services in South Carolina—just across the state line from Augusta. If Brosnahan continues to work as an EMT, he is a potential life-endangering threat to every person of color, LGBTQ+ individual, or Jewish person he encounters. With the publication of this article, we call on Aiken County Emergency Medical Services to clarify whether Brosnahan still works for them. Any emergency medical service employing Brosnahan endangers vulnerable people and must fire the neo-Nazi immediately.

Continue reading “Devin Brosnahan of Augusta, Georgia: Neo-Nazi, “White Lives Matter” Organizer, and Emergency Medical Technician”

Georgia Southern University Enables White Nationalist Recruitment, Viral Video for “American Identity Movement”

On November 16, 2019, student Charles Robertson posted a video of his class presentation for a writing class at Georgia Southern University in southeast Georgia. The YouTube video, titled “Irreplaceable”, presents the theory that “replacement” immigration from non-white countries is a kind of genocide aimed at destroying white people. The “great replacement” conspiracy theory is a well-known predictor of white supremacist violence and has been cited in mass murder manifestos such as that of the Christchurch shooter.

Charles Robertson

During his presentation, Charles Allen Robertson advertised the organization American Identity Movement (AmIM) by featuring an image of its banner on the screen. AmIM is a white nationalist group formerly known as “Identity Evropa”, and under that name is currently being sued for its role in Unite the Right at Charlottesville, VA, 2017. Afterward, in the comments of the YouTube video, Robertson engaged with commenters, basked in their praise, and gave out information on the racial composition of his class. Commenters began to abuse one of Robertson’s classmates – briefly audible in the video – with racial slurs. The video quickly went viral in multiple far-Right communities, including 4chan’s /pol/ network. The viral video currently has almost three thousand comments and over ninety thousand views.

Robertson displayed an image of an American Identity Movement rally (which he had attended) when discussing “What can you do?” 
Continue reading “Georgia Southern University Enables White Nationalist Recruitment, Viral Video for “American Identity Movement””

IDENTIFIED: Five More Members of Identity Evropa / American Identity Movement Racist Group in Georgia

Update 6/27/2019: Your Exterior Pros have removed Charles Robertson’s bio from their website. They are telling callers that Robertson is not employed there. If you have further info on Robertson or others mentioned in this piece, please get in touch.

Introduction

On March 8-10, 2019, the racist “Identitarian” organization Identity Evropa (IE) held its annual conference in Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park in Kentucky. Earlier that week, independent journalism collective Unicorn Riot leaked internal communications from IE, exposing their private conversations for public scrutiny. While IE attempts a clean-cut and respectable image, the organization helped make 2017’s violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville possible. The organization’s chat logs make their racist and antisemitic agenda unambiguously clear. On the Friday of IE’s 2019 conference, the organization’s third leader, Patrick Casey, announced that the group was now named the “American Identity Movement” (AmIM), rebranding in an attempt to lose some of the organization’s earlier stigma. On the Sunday, IE/AmIM demonstrated at the State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee: their first official action under the new name.  

American Identity Movement / Identity Evropa protests in Nashville, Tennessee, March 10, 2019

Atlanta Antifascists have been following Identity Evropa in Georgia for years. We have consistently exposed members of this white nationalist group to their neighbors, coworkers, and classmates, both to warn the broader community and to bring some repercussions for building the racist movement. With this article, we are naming five more members of IE in our state. Most – perhaps all – are also part of the “American Identity Movement” rebranded version of the organization. Three live in or near Savannah, Georgia, while the other two are in metro Atlanta.  

Continue reading “IDENTIFIED: Five More Members of Identity Evropa / American Identity Movement Racist Group in Georgia”

Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 2: Matthew Mayo

Update 12/12/2019: Matthew Mayo relocated to Reno, Nevada a few months ago.

This is the second of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, Emergency Medical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our first article, see here.

Matthew Thomas Mayo, also known as Bodi Mayo, is a basic Emergency Medical Technician who has been employed with Chatham Emergency Services since May 2018. Prior to joining Chatham Emergency Services, Mayo worked as a fireman with Effingham County Fire & Rescue. Mayo is also a “gothi” (chieftain-priest) in the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a whites-only heathen organization with deep ties to the broader white power movement. By “heathen”, we mean someone who worships the pre-Christian gods of Germanic Europe. Many heathens are not racist – but the AFA certainly is. The anti-extremist Southern Poverty Law Center has designated the AFA as a hate group for its “neo-Völkisch” ideology and extensive links to white nationalism. Matthew Mayo personally circulates far-Right propaganda on social media and networks with other white nationalists. Mayo even belongs to an online group called the White Nationalist Alliance, which is explicitly “in support of National Socialism and Hitler”.

Matthew Thomas Mayo in front of Asatru Folk Assembly flag

Mayo is a longstanding member of the AFA. According to a 2012 interview, Mayo became a member of the AFA “in the past year” and had been a heathen for many years before. In 2012, Mayo assumed the title of the AFA’s “Military Folkbuilder”, a liaison person for military members and veterans in the whites-only organization. The same interview states that Mayo had been a Marine in the early 1990s. At the time of writing, Mayo is not listed as an AFA “Folkbuilder” on the organization’s website and the AFA’s Military Program appears mostly inactive. Mayo still flaunts his affiliation with the Asatru Folk Assembly on his social media pages and remains active within the organization.

Picture from 2016 AFA “Deep South” gathering includes Matthew Mayo in foreground; “Ravensblood Kindred” members Trent East, Karen Woodward, and Dalton Woodward; and (on right) AFA leader Matthew Flavel.
Continue reading “Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 2: Matthew Mayo”

Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 1: Jasper Collins

Update 12/13/2019: Collins is now no longer an employee of Jasper County Fire-Rescue.

Update 12/12/2019: Jasper Collins is now employed by Jasper County Fire-Rescue in South Carolina. Read our statement here.

This is the first of two articles on far-Right employees at Chatham Emergency Services, a not for profit company which provides Fire, Emergency Medical and Security services in Chatham County (in and near Savannah, Georgia). For our second article, see here. 

Jasper Daniel Alexander Collins – a firefighter with Chatham Emergency Services (CES) – is a supporter of the far-Right and antisemitic organization Legio Christi who openly celebrates Adolf Hitler. Collins also heroizes Corneliu Codreanu, the founder of the fascist Iron Guard in Romania. On social media, Collins rails against Jewish people and sexual minorities. Although Collins is now working as a firefighter, Collins was previously in the Georgia National Guard and may still be a reserve member.

Jasper Collins

Jasper Collins has multiple ties to Legio Christi (LC), a far-Right antisemitic organization purporting to be “traditional Christian”. As we explained in a recent article, LC’s propaganda features typical white nationalist fantasies, for example that Boers in South Africa face “genocide” and that the United States government is controlled by a Jewish conspiracy. LC seemingly involves far-Right racist Catholics as well as Orthodox Christians. 

Jasper Collins’ profile on Legio Christi forum, describing his politics as “Legionnaire” (i.e. someone following the ideology of the fascist Iron Guard)
Continue reading “Far-Right in Chatham Emergency Services, Part 1: Jasper Collins”

Arieana Love and Ryan Burchfield: White Power Militants in Savannah, Georgia

Update 1/19/2020: According to a new article, Matthew Ryan Burchfield is currently in Ukraine.

Burchfield’s 2019 profile on the Fascist Forge networking site was connected to the profile for Luke Austin Lane, who has now been arrested with other Georgia members of “The Base” for an alleged murder conspiracy.

Introduction

A Savannah-area couple are heavily involved in white nationalist networks, ranging from Christian far-Right organizing to apocalyptic neo-Nazism. Arieana K Love, who is currently studying pre-Medicine at Georgia Southern University and was a member of the Georgia National Guard , and Matthew Ryan Burchfield, who moved to Georgia from Virginia last year, are well-connected in regional and national far-Right channels. Love is a member of Legio Christi, an antisemitic and far-Right “traditional Christian” group, while Burchfield describes himself as an “Esoteric Hitlerite” – someone who couches his devotion to Nazism in mystical terms.

Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love

Both Love and Burchfield are friends with Haralson County jailer Trent East, whose racist involvement and neo-Nazi affinities we recently documented. Online photos show Ryan Burchfield engaging in what appears to be racist paramilitary training with East.

Photo from Brandon Trent East’s Instagram account, March 2019. L-R: Matthew Ryan Burchfield, Arieana Love, Trent East and East’s fiancée Madison French.

Both Arieana Love and Burchfield are connected to internet profiles for Dalton Woodward, Trent East’s associate in the whites-only “Ravensblood Kindred” of the Asatru Folk Assembly. Another figure who was linked to both Love and Burchfield on social media is Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member and ideologue of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group linked to at least five killings.

Profile for Corwyn Carver, a Satanist and neo-Nazi, linked to both Matthew Ryan Burchfield and Arieana Love (profile as “Katherine Ludwig” in screen-capture).

Although they have friends and political associates in common, Love and Burchfield also operate in somewhat different spheres. For example, Arieana Love declares herself to be a Catholic rather than a racist heathen (East and Woodward), a neo-Nazi Satanist (Carver), or a Hitler devotee (Ryan Burchfield). This difference does not diminish Love’s racist and far-Right commitments, but it does give her white nationalist activity a slightly different character. We will discuss Catholic antisemite Arieana Love first, then her Hitler-worshipping boyfriend Ryan Burchfield.

Continue reading “Arieana Love and Ryan Burchfield: White Power Militants in Savannah, Georgia”

Update on Haralson County Jailer and Alabama National Guard Member Trent East

Update 5/21/2019: Approximately two weeks ago, Trent East was allowed to quit his job as a jailer in Haralson County, to avoid being fired.

Last month, we exposed Haralson County Deputy Sheriff Brandon Trent East as an active white nationalist and as part of the racist “Ravensblood Kindred”, alongside active duty Georgia National Guard member Dalton Russell Woodward. The Ravensblood Kindred is a regional branch of the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a whites-only heathen organization with close ties to organized racism. AFA has been designated as a hate group by the anti-extremist Southern Poverty Law Center.

A few days after we published our documentation on the “Ravensblood Kindred”, independent journalist Nate Thayer exposed Corwyn Storm Carver, an active duty Army member, as a member and influential propagandist for Atomwaffen Division (AWD). AWD is a neo-Nazi terrorist organization whose members have committed at least five murders since its formation in 2015. Following Thayer’s expose, we released documentation showing that both Trent East – working as a jailer in Haralson County – as well as Dalton Woodward were connected on social media to AWD white supremacist Carver.

Despite this, Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon initially defended his employee Trent East when interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, stating in the AJC’s April 17 article that everything “should stand the way it is” with East not facing discipline, because East is not on a Federal Bureau of Investigation watch list. The next day, Mixon backtracked on his support for East, after his initial public stance generated outcry. A new investigation has now been launched. Trent East is receiving paid leave while the investigation proceeds.

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Lies, Damned Lies, and Cameron Padgett: The Secret Life of the Atlanta-area Racist Who Books Richard Spencer’s Campus Visits

Update 5/1/2018: Padgett’s lawsuit against Penn State has been thrown out. Padgett has also dropped his lawsuit against University of Cincinnati.

Summary: Cameron Padgett, who books speaking events for white nationalist leader Richard Spencer on US campuses, has cultivated a media persona as a clean-cut, law-abiding student who cares deeply about free speech and advocacy for white people. In reality, the campus events organized by Padgett for Spencer show military-style coordination with white nationalist groups and predictably lead to racist violence. Contrary to his friendly media face, Padgett is an active participant in the white supremacist movement. Padgett took part in a racist torchlit rally in Charlottesville, Virginia during October – eight weeks after the “Unite the Right” rampage there – and soon after livestreamed himself harassing a working class Latinx community in Atlanta. Padgett frequently rails against the “degeneracy” of the modern age, while being careful to conceal his own history of forgery and drug charges in Chatham County, Georgia. When Padgett received a ticket while driving to the October white power rally in Charlottesville, Padgett gave the address of Safety Net Recovery, a sober living program. Drug use and addiction do not deserve contempt. We condemn Padgett’s racism, his scapegoat politics, and his hypocrisy. Continue reading “Lies, Damned Lies, and Cameron Padgett: The Secret Life of the Atlanta-area Racist Who Books Richard Spencer’s Campus Visits”