Tag: Stephen McNallen

White Nationalist “Ravensblood Kindred” Features Haralson County Jailer and Active Duty National Guardsman


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.

See our 5/7/2019 article for more info on Trent East and neo-Nazism.

Update 4/20/2019: On April 18, the Haralson County Sheriff’s Department backtracked on its earlier support and clearing of racist Trent East and have re-started an investigation. The Alabama National Guard is also investigating East, while Georgia National Guard is investigating Dalton Woodward.

Update 4/17/2019: Haralson County Sheriff Eddie Mixon is defending his white nationalist employee Trent East. Read our statement here.

Introduction

A small whites-only, heathen “kindred” includes a jailer with the Haralson County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia, as well as an active-duty member of the Army National Guard currently stationed in Afghanistan. The “Ravensblood Kindred” is affiliated with the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a Germanic neopagan/“heathen” organization which refuses membership to people of color but embraces the far-Right and organized racists. By “heathen,” we mean worshippers of the pre-Christian gods of Germanic Europe. Many heathens are anti-racist. However, the AFA states that its gods are for white people only. The Southern Poverty Law Center’s anti-extremist Intelligence Project lists the AFA as a “hate group” due to the AFA’s insistence on racial purity and its unapologetic ties to white nationalism.

Trent East
Dalton Woodward

The small Ravensblood Kindred – it began with three members – is even more clearly political than other AFA groups. Ravensblood Kindred describes itself as having an “alt-right agenda”, supported white power leader Richard Spencer when he gave a talk at Auburn University in 2017, and circulates “white genocide” and anti-immigrant propaganda. Ravensblood leaders Brandon Trent East – a jailer in Haralson County, Georgia – and Dalton Russell Woodward – currently in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard – are both also connected to the Wotan Network, an explicitly white nationalist project which operates parallel to the AFA. East and Woodward’s social media accounts reveal that both are deeply immersed in white power and neo-fascist circles.

Dalton Woodward and Trent East leave speech by white nationalist leader Richard Spencer at Auburn University, April 2017.
Continue reading “White Nationalist “Ravensblood Kindred” Features Haralson County Jailer and Active Duty National Guardsman”

ALERT: Racist Heathen Gathering in Union Point, Georgia this Weekend — Ask Camp Swamp to Cancel Booking

pagans against fash

Note 3/28/2017: While Camp Swamp provided a venue for the racist Asatru Folk Assembly this year, they state they will not rent to the AFA in the future. Camp contact details removed from post.

Note 3/17/2017: Camp Swamp has clarified that they are concerned about litigation if they cancel, and that they do not share the values of the AFA. Our statement makes a political and ethical case for cancelling. However we note that racist organizers seem to be breaking agreements with the Camp, by tolerating weapons if kept hidden.

This weekend, the Asatru Folk Assembly — a racist neo-pagan/heathen organization — plans to hold its annual “Ostara in the South” gathering at Camp Swamp at Union Point in Georgia. The racist heathen gathering is set to begin on Friday March 17 and continue through Sunday March 19. Anti-racists ask that you contact the venue and demand that they cancel their booking for the bigoted Asatru Folk Assembly.

afa south 2017
Event Facebook page

The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) was founded by Steven McNallen in 1994 (although its history traces to earlier efforts by McNallen from the ‘70s onward). The organization subscribes to a racist variant of Heathenry/Germanic Neopaganism that is exclusively for white people. Current AFA leadership have explicitly stated that people of color and sexual minorities need not apply. Over 170 Heathen organizations have signed a declaration rejecting the AFA’s clear racist and anti-LGBTQ bigotry.

The AFA is clearly intertwined with the organized white nationalist movement. A new video from AFA’s founder McNallen titled “What Stephen McNallen Really Thinks About Race” cries that whites are facing “extinction” and calls on others to say “I will fight for my race.” McNallen claims that the “system” is rigged against white people and he cites the Fourteen Words, a white power motto coined by terrorist David Lane. McNallen’s statement has been widely circulated in white nationalist circles. The Asatru Folk Assembly has not disavowed McNallen’s statement, because it also reflects their organization’s worldview. Before this, Asatru Folk Assembly members were found at the conference of the racist National Policy Institute, demonstrating the AFA’s overlap with political (rather than “spiritual”) white power organizing.

Identity Evropa AltRight Stephen McNallen
Recent statement by Stephen McNallen circulated by white nationalist projects Identity Evropa and Altright.com

The special guest for last year’s “Ostara in the South” gathering was Henrik Palmgren, who heads a far-Right media company named Red Ice Radio. Palmgren’s speech was on “Wotan, Jung, and Our Duty in this Age of Ultimate Degeneracy.” Palmgren is now a leader in the new Altright project, which unites key institutions of “Alt-Right” white nationalism.

At the time of writing, Camp Swamp in Union Point is allowing their venue to be used for the white power gathering. Camp Swamp is a private entity and does not face the same ‘free speech’ issues as a government body. Camp Swamp can cancel the event at its discretion, but so far it prefers to let the racist event go ahead. By helping the AFA organize, Camp Swamp is bringing committed racists into the community and tarnishing its own reputation.

We are also concerned that AFA event organizers are stating that they will turn a blind eye to violations of the Camp’s weapons policy, if the firearms carried by their attendees are not flaunted.

ostara in the south 2017 weapons discussion
Discussion of firearms at event

We believe Camp Swamp should the right thing and abide by their own mission statement — which stresses safety, respect and diversity as core values. They should  follow the example of the Minnesota venue that canceled its booking to the AFA last year due to concerns about organized bigotry.

[Contact information for Camp Swamp removed.]

Spread the word in your community! We also encourage you to learn more about opposition to racism in the Heathen community by visiting Heathens United Against Racism.