Atlanta Antifascists

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

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.

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

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 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)*

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

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.

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.

Both Trent East and Dalton Woodward linked to Atomwaffen Division white supremacist Corwyn 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.

Ethan Jones: Racist Recruiter and League of the South Member in Cartersville, Georgia

Over the course of two years, Ethan Edward Jones of Cartersville, Georgia has gone from posting racist memes on the internet and fantasizing about the Confederacy, to membership in the white nationalist League of the South (LOS) and writing regularly for racist Southern secessionist websites. Jones is currently in his final year at Woodland High School in Cartersville. He is not only a prolific propagandist, urging others to join LOS, but he celebrates violence by white supremacists. Since Jones is now an adult and is deeply entrenched within the white nationalist movement, we are publishing this information to alert those around him.

Ethan Edward Jones

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.

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.*

John Lee Clemmer: Racist Propagandist, Identity Evropa member, and IBM Consulting Manager

Update 5/15/2019: We have received multiple indications that John L Clemmer is no longer working for IBM. We welcome more information on this white nationalist – please get in touch.

John Lee Clemmer, a metro Atlanta resident who works as a Consulting Manager for IBM, has a secret life as a racist propagandist and member of Identity Evropa (IE). In late 2017, Clemmer paid for an expensive flash protest by IE in Atlanta, designed to boost the white power organization’s profile. In early March of this year, independent media site Unicorn Riot leaked IE’s internal chats in which Clemmer’s alias “Why Tea” frequently participated. Soon after the leaks, IE held their second national conference in Kentucky, and rebranded under the name “American Identity Movement” (AmIM). It is unknown whether John Lee Clemmer is also a member of AmIM; leaked chats indicate that Clemmer was active in IE up to the time of the data leak.

Jared Huggins: Libertarian Turned Identity Evropa / “American Identity Movement” Racist Activist

Introduction

On Sunday, March 10, racist organization Identity Evropa held its first protest under its new name of “American Identity Movement” at the State Capitol in Nashville, Tennessee. The protest took place after the national conference of Identity Evropa (IE) / American Identity Movement (AmIM), held the Friday and Saturday beforehand at the Dale Hollow Lake State Resort Park in Burkesville, Kentucky. (Note: we use the acronym “AmIM” for the “American Identity Movement” out of respect for AIM, the American Indian Movement.)

Patrick Casey, the IE leader, announced the name change to “American Identity Movement” late on the Friday night of the conference. While Casey claims that AmIM is a completely new organization, all evidence supports AmIM being a cosmetic rebrand of IE. The rebrand was necessary since IE’s reputation is so tarnished by its role in the violent “Unite the Right” rally of Charlottesville, VA, 2017, and also by its association with the broader “Alt-Right.” This name change may also be an attempt by IE to evade legal liability, since IE is currently being sued for its role in Unite the Right (UTR). Shortly before IE’s conference, communications on their Discord chat server were leaked to the public by the Unicorn Riot journalism collective.

*AmIM Inaugural Protest, Nashville, TN 3/10/2019*

One participant in IE / AmIM is Metro Atlanta white nationalist Jared Alexander Huggins, who seemingly appeared in the crowd at AmIM’s rally in Nashville. Huggins has been involved with Identity Evropa – and has been on the radar of antifascists – since 2016. We have mentioned Huggins in passing several times, but until now have not profiled his activity in depth.

*Jared Alexander Huggins, 2016. Note the fasces – a symbol of fascism – on Huggins’ patch.*

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”