North Georgia: “American Patriots USA” Update

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.
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Report-Back: Opposing September 14th Far-Right Trump/“Patriots” Rally in North Georgia

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
Continue reading “Report-Back: Opposing September 14th Far-Right Trump/“Patriots” Rally in North Georgia”