Dustin Sargent, aka “Alan-PA,” member of the neo-nazi organization Patriot FrontSargent “training” with fellow PF members in October.
Patriot Front has rapidly become one of the most active neo-nazi groups in the region. Specializing in provocations designed to avoid confrontation, PF has defaced George Floyd memorials all around the mid Atlantic. They held a hilariously inept nighttime flash march through the city over the summer, managing to be driven into retreat by a handful of random bystanders (greatest city in the world!). PF and their allies have also done banner drops with “White Lives Matter” and pro-Kyle Rittenhouse messages around the city. PF engages in similar actions all over the U.S..
The George Floyd memorial in Olney after it was vandalized by Patriot Front in June.Patriot Front PA vandalizing a “Hate Has No Home Here” mural in Boyerstown, PA.
Fortunately, Unicorn Riot and Ddos Secrets have just released a comprehensive data dump of all the inner workings of Patriot Front. PF took great lengths to protect the anonymity of their membership, so this is a welcome breakthrough that provides invaluable information to Antifa everywhere trying to stop PF’s growth and increasing activity. Those responsible should be very proud.
Anti-Fascists unaffiliated with Philly Antifa have identified one member, known in Patriot Front chats as Alan-PA, as Dustin Sargent, owner of Sargent and Sons Masonry in Kunkletown, PA. We have independently confirmed the information sent to us through the above mentioned data leak and social media posts by Sargent.
“Alan-PA” (Sargent) lent his 02 Ford Pickup (PA ZRC8587) to “Jackson-PA” and “Erik-PA”, who drove it to DC for the Patriot Front march held there in December.
Dustin Sargent’s truck visible on the right at the Patriot Front camping area for their DC demo.
The same truck is visible in several pictures on Sargent’s personal FB page of his masonry work. Note the matching bluish-gray sticker on the upper left of the tailgate.
Dustin Sargent’s truck is visible in this picture posted on his personal Facebook
Once the truck from the DC meetup was linked to Sargent, it was easy to find plenty of evidence of his racist, fascist politics. His Facebook has videos of British Union of Fascists leader Oswald Mosley (a favorite among Patriot Front members) as well as an anti-Semitic video pushing the conspiracy theory of a Jewish cabal trying to destroy western civilization.
Video of British Fascist Oswald Mosley posted by Dustin Sargent on his personal FacebookAnti-Semitic video posted by Sargent on his personal Facebook.
Sargent’s FB friends list is riddled with fellow nazis as well. It’s worth noting that Sargent uses his FB for business, so his friends list includes people who may be unaware of his politics, though anyone who bothered to look at his profile should be able to spot it pretty quickly.
Just a cursory glance at Sargent’s friends list reveals a large number of fellow nazis.
Sargent was also identified as in a picture of PA Patriot Front on a hike together from his distinctively bent cap brim.
Sargent (right) at a Patriot Front group hike.
Sargent also trained alongside PF members from PA and nearby states in October.
Sargent at a Patriot Front “drilling” meetup in October
Sargent and Sons is registered to 111 Stone Lane in Kunkletown, PA. Dustin Sargent identifies himself as the owner on his FB.
Unfortunately, Sargent and Sons seems to be doing good business. His clients are mostly unaware of his affiliation with a neo-nazi organization, and we think that should change. Groups like Patriot Front survive almost entirely on member dues and contributions. Targeting their memberships’ wallets is an effective tactic at disrupting the organization as a whole.
Be sure to leave them reviews on google, yelp, and anywhere else possible. Anyone aware of Sargent and Sons working in the Philly area should contact us.
Sargent does have some criminal charges in the state for Corruption of minors, criminal mischief, and more recently for making false statements related to the transfer of a firearm.
This is a treasure trove of information that will take some time to work through. But rest assured that we will be combing through every picture, video and message to identify every last Patriot Front (or affiliated) nazi in our region. Any PF member feeling regretful (or like saving their own skin) should probably reach out and give us some info on their buddies before we get to them.
Leave it to the alt-right to besmirch something as classic as the The Mamas and the Papas. In contrast to the acclaimed American folk band, “The Mamas and the Pepes” has been making racist music distributed by the “White Art Collective” since 2017, with titles such as “Anchor Baby,” “Pride and Privilege” and “Fake American.”
Thanks to the recent breach of Nazi-friendly domain registrar Epik.com by the hacktivist collective Anonymous, we were able to track down the identity of the front person and lead singer of “The Mamas and the Pepes” who calls herself “Mama P.” Since the hack by Anonymous was in response to Epik.com hosting an anti-choice website, what we discovered in our investigation was surprisingly topical.
“The Mamas and the Pepes”
Logo for the alt-right folk duo “The Mamas and the Pepes.”
“The Mamas and the Pepes,” named as a spoof mash-up of the American band “The Mamas and the Papas” and the alt-right mascot “Pepe the Frog,” has been creating music with racist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, Islamophobic and fascist themes since 2017 . Fronted by “Mama P” with “The Handsome Horse” on guitar, the duo has produced such songs as “Hate Crime Hoax”:
HATE CRIME HOAX
They pay Blacks & Jews & Muslims the most
So if you need your race hate sub-sid-ized
Have yourself a HATE CRIME HOAX [archive]
Accompanying artwork for The Mamas and the Pepes’ song “Hate Crime Hoax.”
and “You Gotta Go Back”:
You gotta go back where you came from
You don’t like us
You just like our stuff
We gave some to you, but it’s never enough.
So let’s coexist
With you OVER THERE
Over the wall, out of our hair [archive]
The Mamas and the Pepe’s encouraged snitching on undocumented immigrants to ICE on the web page for their song “You Gotta Go Back.”
In “Bad Optics” the lyrics reference the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory:
I took a trip back to my old hometown
and lo and behold – the children are brown!
I’m wonderin’ where all the white people went
This is the goal of the GREAT REPLACEMENT [archive]
Accompanying artwork for the song “Bad Optics.”
Neither members of the duo show their real faces publicly, with “Mama P” using a literal sock puppet for her online appearances on neo-Nazi podcasts.
A “Mama and the Pepes” album cover. “Mama P” is represented by the sock puppet on the left.
“The Mamas and the Pepes” are closely affiliated with the White Art Collective (WAC), a group of musicians and visual artists who promote white supremacist themes and other right-wing beliefs. “Mama P” conducts many interviews with other alt-right personalities (and even one of themselves) for their website and also hosts a music show on the WAC’s DLive channel.
One of the interviews “Mama P” conducted was with the Global Minority Initiative (GMI), a group that seeks to provide legal, financial and moral support for whom they call “political prisoners” (ie. neo-Nazis and other white supremacists who are incarcerated). She ends the interview with:
So please, whatever your belief system, taking care of our guys matters. It matters to me, and it should matter to you, too.
While there is much to criticize about the prison industry, by “our guys” “Mama P” means the white supremacists who are incarcerated for committing violence upon non-white persons and other minorities. “The Mamas and the Pepes” even did a promotional piece for the GMI in which you can hear their speaking voices:
“The Mamas and the Pepes” also have a Gab account operated by “Mama P” on which they promote their material and post racist and LGBT-phobic messages, as well as anti-vaccination messages.
[archive]Racist post on Gab by “Mama P.”Transphobic post on Gab by “Mama P.”Anti-vaccination post on Gab by “Mama P.”
They may not have known at the time but “The Mamas and the Pepes” was quickly attracting some unwanted attention by some nosy antifascists (us).
An Epik Fail
On September 13, 2021 the hacktivist collective Anonymous announced that they had breached the systems of Epik.com, a domain name registrar known for catering to extreme right-wing customers, in response to their hosting of an anti-choice website and would allow access to this information. The info dump proved to be a treasure trove for researchers and provided what we needed to track down “Mama P.”
An “Epik Fail” for Epik.com; An epic win for antifascists [archive].
The official website for “The Mamas and the Pepes” was registered through Epik.com and the registrant’s information was present in this info dump, as shown below. (We have redacted some details, although this information is now publicly available):
“Julie Green”,”+1.215694****”,”in****@gmail.com”,”59 S ********** Rd, Wallingford, PA 19086″
Information for the registrant of “mamaspepes.com” was found in the Epik.com breach.
A password used by “mamaspepes.com” and stored in plain text by Epik.com was an appreciative nod to violent right-wing extremist “Based Stickman” Kyle Chapman.
While this was a tremendous lead, by itself it was not enough, especially considering that some of the customer data in the Epik breach was deliberately falsified by customers who wished to avoid identification, so further scrutiny was necessary. A quick search of public records indicated that a “Julie S Green” was indeed a real person residing at the registered address, but we needed more proof to ensure that this was the person behind the account. A search of popular social media sites was not fruitful with such a common name. What we did have, however, was an email address: in****@gmail.com.
Upon researching this email we learned that it was also present in another information breach, that of the blogging website Livejournal. While this particular blog had been deleted, the username found in this data set was an important clue: “jewelsgreen.”
We located another now-deleted blog on an archive site belonging to a person calling herself “Jewels Green.” One of the images displayed on a blog post was also an image used on the Google profile for the in****@gmail.com email address, though its orientation had been rotated by 90 degrees.
Public Google reviews made by the email address “in****@gmail.com.” Note the profile image above.An image found on an archived blog by “Jewels Green” is also used on the Google account associated with the email address “in****@gmail.com” found in the Epik breach (orientation rotated) [archive].
While this was simply a stock photo, we found no other instances of this particular cropping elsewhere on the internet. We also found a website, The Burgenland Bunch, in which she is listed with a surname “Sem” and the in****@gmail.com email address is linked. In this case, that email was publicly attached to “Julie Shana Sem” of New York, New York, born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Altogether, these were very strong indicators that we had found the person we were looking for. Further research made this indisputable.
Photo of “Jewels Green” found on an archived blog [archive].
“Jewels Green” was very active in anti-choice circles regarding abortion for a period of time between 2011 and 2017. She claimed to have had an abortion as a teen and to have worked at an abortion clinic, but came to regret her past. As such, there are numerous videos on the internet of her speaking appearances. We were able to compare her voice on these videos of her speaking appearances with the voice of “Mama P” found on the many examples of her speaking and singing. One of them may be found here, on her own YouTube channel.
Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” in a video on her YouTube channel.
If that video happens to disappear, other examples exist:
We have these videos archived locally in case they are removed.
We compared Jewels Green’s speaking voice with the speaking voice of “Mama P” on her various white-supremacist podcast appearances such as one called “The After Party,” a short clip of which may be viewed and listened to below.
We concluded that the voices were undeniably the same; Julie Shana Green, of Wallingford, Pennsylvania, aka “Jewels Green” was the person behind the voice and (literal) sock puppet of “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”
From Anti-Choice to White Supremacy
With the knowledge that “Mama P” was in fact anti-choice activist “Jewels Green,” much of the Twitter activity of “The Mamas and the Pepes” Twitter account (@MamasPepes) made clear sense, showing very specific knowledge of anti-choice talking points.
At some point Julie “Jewels” Green went from conservative anti-choice activist to full on fascist, as demonstrated by this awful parody of a Partridge Family song:
Julie Shana Green was born on August 26, 1971 and claimed to have been “a 17-year-old drug-using high school drop-out” who was forced into an abortion by her then-boyfriend. She then claimed to have “worked at an abortion clinic for five years (from age 18 to 23)” and claimed to have been a pro-choice activist during this time. She graduated from Kutztown University in 1995 (under her surname previous to her marriage to Green, “Sem”) and then claimed that she quit working at the abortion clinic and became an anti-choice (so-called “pro-life)” activist.
Julie Shana Green, aka “Jewels Green,” in an anti-choice promo.
Julie “Jewels” Green at a speaking appearance in 2013 [archive].[archive]
Her anti-choice activism continued through around 2017, and during this time she made many public appearances at anti-choice demonstrations. After around 2017 “Jewels Green” seemed to disappear from the anti-choice activism scene.
We can only speculate why such a notable anti-choice speaker who claimed to have converted from a pro-choice stance and who claimed to have had an abortion herself in the past left the scene so suddenly and thoroughly, but the slide from anti-choice into full-blown white nationalism is unsurprising. The crossover of racism and xenophobia into anti-choice circles is a well documented one. As Alex DiBranco, writing for The Nation, notes:
In recent decades, the movement mainstream has been careful to protect its public image by distancing itself from overt white nationalists in its ranks. Last year, anti-abortion leader Kristen Hatten was ousted from her position as vice president of the anti-choice group New Wave Feminists after identifying as an “ethnonationalist” and sharing white supremacist alt-right content. In 2018, when neo-Nazis from the Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP) sought to join the local March for Life rally organized by Tennessee Right to Life, the anti-abortion organization rejected TWP’s involvement.
The mention of Kristen Hatten is interesting since we found that Green (perhaps unsurprisingly) seemed to be a close associate of Hatten, as evident by their appearances together at anti-choice events.
Julie “Jewels” Green (center) with Kristen Hatten (right) [archive].Tweet from Kristen Hatten “liked” by Jewels green as it appears on archive.org.
Green also associated with several other extreme right-wing Twitter accounts, such as Ashley Rae Goldenberg (aka “@Communism_Kills) who is known to associate with white supremacists and Robert Spencer, operator of the Islamophobic website “Jihad Watch,” as evident by archived Twitterposts.
Twitter post by Julie Green operating the “@MamasPepes” Twitter account [archive].
In 2017 the white-nationalist folk musicians “The Mamas and the Pepes” appeared, with presences on Gab and other right-wing-centric internet platforms. While having strong opinions about abortion is one thing, Green obviously feels that her racist, white nationalist views are more dangerous to her social standing since she has only appeared from behind a cheaply made sock puppet. She has expressed on various racist podcasts that she cannot show her face. Apparently, she would much rather express her racist views with poorly written jingles and cheap cotton socks.
Julie “Jewels” Green
While we don’t know what made Julie “Jewels” Green disappear from the anti-choice activism scene to become a white nationalist folk singer who hides behind a sock puppet, we do know that she can put those socks back on her feet because she can’t hide behind them anymore.
Julie Shana Green of Wallingford, Pennsylvania.Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”Julie “Jewels” Green, aka “Mama P” of “The Mamas and the Pepes.”Julie “Jewels” Green at a Star Wars event. Interesting that she chose to side with intergalactic fascists, no?(Photo by Lawrence Lucier/Getty Images) [archive]
A big shout-out goes to Anonymous, whom we are not affiliated with in any way, despite our name. Thank you for your service!
Originally published in Anathema, an anarchist publication from Philadelphia, the following interview talks about the realities of the Brooklyn Center riot that kicked off in the wake of the police murder of Daunte Wright in the spring of 2021.
This interview was conducted two months ago, which was already two months after the events this spring in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The riot in Brooklyn Center took place in the context of the Derek Chauvin trial, almost a year after he murdered George Floyd. This interview was an attempt to reflect on one participant’s experience of the events in Brooklyn Center and consider what they tell us about how things might unfold in the future. For many of us, the George Floyd uprising has weighed heavily on our minds as we try to imagine next steps to take. What became clear to me in this interview was that between the George Floyd uprising and the Brooklyn Center riot — despite the direct influence and geographic proximity — was an expanse.
Although the Brooklyn Center riot was an outgrowth of the George Floyd uprising, it was also a reminder that the previous summer’s events would not be repeated. Now, after a relatively quiet summer, it seems all the more important to be looking toward the future rather than fixating our gaze on last summer’s uprising. In this interview, we explore some of the developments and unique characteristics of uprisings in the aftermath of the George Floyd uprising.
You were in Brooklyn Center in April. Can you describe what happened?
Yes, there was a police murder: Daunte Wright, 20 years old. He was basically trying to flee the scene where he got stopped. There was two nights of rioting — I am going to say rioting. Some people want to say “it’s not a riot, it’s a rebellion.” I am just going to say it was a riot.
People were throwing stuff at the cops. There was looting by car in the Brooklyn Center area, also in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. The first night the neighboring police station got shot up; someone shot the front doors of it. Someone else shot at a cop — maybe 3 days after it started.
All throughout people were calling for the burning down of the police precinct (that was the focal point of the riot). They never succeeded. People tried. The police set up a gate. It was similar to what happened in Portland at the courthouse. But they didn’t actually breach the gate.
After the first two days of looting, arson, street fighting, and property destruction, there was basically a week of confrontational protests in front of the police precinct.
From what you witnessed, what have been the most significant changes since last year?
What’s been happening since the fall of last year, the police have been really ready for riots. So, when people engage in riot tactics, they need to outmaneuver the police. It can’t be this kind of frontal assault the way it happened in Minneapolis at the 3rd precinct.
That started with the Breonna Taylor revolt of late September. There isn’t 1000s of people in the street fighting the cops. That’s not happening.
Also, in Brooklyn Center, you would see people in black bloc or this “frontliner” aesthetic trying to stop young, mostly Black kids from setting things on fire and building barricades.
Wait — what would motivate people to dress up in black bloc attire in order to stop riots?
I don’t know. I just think it’s become a popular aesthetic and people have adopted it that have never experienced revolts before. It’s weird, this group called Minnesota Freedom Fighters — it’s basically like a nonprofit. Their goal is to deescalate riots, but they all dress in black bloc and wear gas masks and have umbrellas. It’s a strange thing that’s been imported from Portland, and originally from Hong Kong and Chile. It made sense in Portland and Seattle, but then once it makes it to places like Philly and Brooklyn it gets isolated from the insurgent activities happening. It’s very bizarre.
In Brooklyn Center, it’s almost exclusively young, Black, poor and working class still out there willing to engage in insurgent tactics. And they are becoming isolated.
Brooklyn Center is 20 minutes outside of Minneapolis and it’s very suburban. That’s what made the terrain really hard for rioting to happen. It’s pretty much a residential neighborhood with apartment buildings. There were two gas stations and a strip mall — that all got fucked up.
You say it was difficult terrain. What was the rioting like in the suburbs?
It made it harder to have a sustained riot that would breach the gates since there weren’t 1000s of people there. There were isolated forms of struggle: shooting at cops, the national guard. Winston Smith is an example of this. It’s not something everyone can participate in — it’s dangerous. But it’s also what’s happening in the absence of mass uprising.
A dollar store got set on fire. That whole strip mall got fucked up and looted. There was a really interesting moment: the owner of a pizza shop was like: I will make you guys some pizza. He started making pizzas for the crowd of potential looters. And that’s how he avoided his store getting fucked up.
There were a couple of militia people with assault rifles trying to protect the dollar general and they quickly got surrounded by young people who were like: you are not going to stop us. And they just walked around them. That was a very intense moment.
There were other people who didn’t have guns who tried to protect property and they just got beat up. The people who were rioting on the first two nights were still in the minority but they were able to do things.
What changed on the third night? Were the militias and peace police more successful at stopping rioters?
I think it was that in combination with police repression: the National Guard was out there; the FBI was out there. We got stopped by people who said they were working with the FBI.
We were just leaving an area where all the stuff was happening and got stopped by like 5 different squad cars. They took pictures of us, our tattoos, our injuries. We had all this stuff in our car (gas masks, body armor), but we didn’t have anything illegal on us. So, they couldn’t actually do anything. They were gathering intelligence. They interrogated us.
Each of us got separated; there was 4 of us. We got put in a different car. They tried to scare the shit out of us saying “you are all getting booked, you are getting processed and fingerprinted, we are impounding the car.” They asked us questions about how we knew each other and how we were connected. Then they just let us go.
People like got away with so much shit last summer that people got comfortable. The terrain has changed and people can’t get away with the same kind of stuff. People weren’t as aware as they should have been
Last year, especially with the pandemic, the State was not ready. That changes what people can do. There will continue to be smaller localized uprisings with short duration, and there’s a limit they will reach very fast.
Beginning with the Breonna Taylor protests in September and confirmed by the Walter Wallace riots in October, the cops got a lot more violent. One result of it is the multi-racial dimension has diminished. Because of the repression. The first time I noticed that was when I was in Louisville in September and it was mainly young Black people out there.
Were there anarchists in the riot?
Out of any political tendency, the anarchists went the hardest, but they were still a small minority. And they weren’t relevant “as anarchists.” The starting point should be what the people in the street that are fucking shit up want to do. It hasn’t been anarchist politics that has pushed people to be confrontational with the State.
What needs to happen next is burning down every police precinct in the United States. So that’s what we push for. We don’t push for people to become anarchists.
Brooklyn Center riot was localized and several months ago. Is it relevant to people in Philly now?
There’s things to learn from it. Things are becoming more atomized, more dangerous and falling into a more general outlaw culture. The impasse experienced in Brooklyn Center is happening in Philly too. There is not a full-blown uprising; instead, you see these more diffuse forms of struggle. When the Chauvin trial concluded, in Philly there was groups of young people on dirt bikes throughout the whole city, with cops chasing after them. It was clearly a form of resistance.
Final thoughts?
People don’t care what you say you are about. It’s whether you are perceived to be part of the riot. It’s those who are loyal to the spirit of revolt and everyone else. That’s the divide. If you are just being a spectator, you might not be so welcome. More than anything, it’s what you communicate by your actions.
What role can anarchists in the United States play in popular uprisings like the ones of 2020? While many of us made solid contributions to the riots, the events of last year also highlighted some of our significant deficiencies. Anarchists’ attempts to show up to riots in the ways in which we’re accustomed, at least here in Philly, often felt ineffective and at best out of touch with those around us. I still believe that anarchists have the potential to contribute in crucial ways to destroying this system and making another end of the world possible. At this point, though, a willingness to reflect on and question our views is needed in order to really move in that direction.
This question of anarchist participation is fundamentally intertwined with issues around race and whiteness, and the past year’s discourse on the topic has felt typically inadequate in addressing these questions. Leaving the bad-faith nature of many of the critiques aside, many white anarchists have found it easier to dismiss criticisms by automatically conflating them with liberalism or political opportunism. While this is often accurate, it shouldn’t allow us to not take questions about our relationship to whiteness seriously. Whiteness isn’t just a skin color that non-white people happen to be skeptical of. It’s also a particular kind of colonized (and colonizing) mentality that restricts our imagination and can affect everything from how we interact in the streets to what we as individuals personally envision as our insurrectionary future (or lack thereof).
Aside from the anarchists who were radicalized over this past year, most anarchists today came into radical politics through resistance to Trump’s presidency (which centered on an “antifa”that was majority white in the public imaginary, and often in reality), an Occupy movement dominated by white progressives, or what are now called the anti-globalization struggles of the early 2000’s. Throughout these movements, anarchists of color have also appeared alongside white anarchists in the streets, though not necessarily identifying with them, and have tried to carve out space for the primacy of anti-racist struggles. But this past year has been a visceral and unavoidable reminder that Black (as well as Indigenous) radical struggles against the state have always been and continue to be far more powerful than most anarchists’ occasional vandalisms, or even our more targeted (but isolated) acts of property destruction.
This article tries to take seriously the claim that white people, including white anarchists, will not be the protagonists of liberatory struggle in the United States —not in order to marginalize anarchists’ uncompromised visions of freedom from the state, capital, and white supremacy, but instead to reveal some under explored strategies for how we might actually get there. Today we face an unprecedented crisis of capital and the state, and despite our best efforts none of us can predict how any of it will shake out. Despite the Biden administration’s best efforts to restore order and recuperate rebellion, it feels like the chaos that boiled over last year is fated to return, especially as ecological and economic collapse creep closer and the everyday executions of Black people continue with no particular changes that we can observe. In this context, we look around and take our inspiration from the resistance we see actually happening, even if it counteracts some of our inherited assumptions and desires. Right now, all possibilities are on the table.
This essay begins with some brief reflections on anarchist activity in the context of uprisings in several cities in the U.S. over this past year. In cities like Portland and Seattle, anarchist activity has shown both the potential and the limits of some tried-and-true tactics of the insurrectionary anarchist approach that’s been established in the U.S. over the past couple decades. The rest of the essay explores other traditions that might expand our sense of how insurrections occur and how we might personally participate in moving things in that direction. We also include [not in the online version]a Philly-specific map that we hope will provide a useful resource for readers in Philly. Maybe it’ll also inspire others elsewhere in how they approach future moments of potential insurrection and State collapse.
Announcing a collection of new writings and analysis from the Vaughn 17, a group of prisoners who faced charges following an uprising at the James T. Correctional Center in Delaware. Most of the Vaughn 17 are still being held indefinitely in solitary confinement in Pennsylvania. The following text is from the preface of the new publication.
On February 1, 2017, prisoners in C–building at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in Delaware took control of the building and held guards hostage in an uprising that lasted over 18 hours. That morning, several prisoners had put on masks and rushed the guards who were letting them back into the building from yard, while another prisoner ensured that the counselor on duty was kept safe and held off a CERT team that sought to retake the building.
The prisoners leading the uprising called the media and released a list of demands; the prison eventually retook the building by breaching one of its walls with a backhoe. One prison guard, Steven Floyd, was killed by prisoners during the uprising.
The Vaughn 17 are seventeen of the eighteen prisoners who were subsequently indicted on charges including multiple counts of murder, kidnapping, assaulting an officer, and conspiracy, by the state of Delaware. The eighteenth person charged, Royal “Diamond” Downs, a notorious Black Guerrilla Family leader, turned state’s witness and provided much of the State’s case against the prisoners.
Despite that, the indicted prisoners, most of whom did not know or deal with each other prior to the uprising, organized their own defense and almost completely beat the State’s case at trial. Dwayne Staats and Jarreau “Ruk” Ayers represented themselves at court and took responsibility for their part in planning the uprising and with assisting with keeping everyone safe during the takeover itself, respectively. Both were already serving life sentences.
The other prisoners in the first two trials —Deric Forney, Kevin Berry, Abednego Baynes, John Bramble, and Obadiah Miller —were acquitted in court of all charges (the last two had a hung jury on charges of assaulting an officer, which were later dropped). Roman Shankaras, who had helped organize nonviolent protests prior to the uprising and whom the State hoped to frame as the “mastermind” behind the prison takeover, was tried separately and acquitted on all charges. The State was forced to drop the remaining charges against the rest of the defendants.
The shared mission of the Vaughn 17 is to disrupt, dismantle and destroy the prison industrial complex. Many of the V17 are revolutionaries or insurrectionaries taking up the incendiary and blood–soaked tradition of figures like Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, and George Jackson. The rest stuck together when indicted and made enormous sacrifices in the process.
Prisoners were physically tortured following the uprising and experienced extreme pressure from the state to cooperate. After Delaware failed to beat the collective in court, most of the Vaughn 17 were shipped to Pennsylvania, where the state could continue to keep them in solitary indefinitely with no way out. They have now all been in solitary for at least four consecutive years (most for much longer).
We support the Vaughn 17 because as aspiring insurrectionaries, we are inspired by their physical struggle against prison and systemic oppression and by their unflinching refusal to cooperate with the State. The writings in this zine come from captive revolutionaries whose analysis, experience, and abilities extend far beyond what most radicals on the outside have dared to explore. Struggles out here against authority have a lot to learn from prisoners’ experiences on the inside. Bringing these two very different insurrectionary currents together has the potential to enrich us all in unimaginable ways, open up our vision, threaten the State, and bring us closer to collective liberation.
So far, we’ve identified two of the individuals who attended a 2020 neo-Nazi meetup at Ringing Rocks Park in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Photo’d below are neo-Nazis Matthew Robert Guse & Gregory Anthony Cristiano (who is also a pedophile & sex offender). A ????… /1
Scranton resident Matthew Guse was exposed by @discord__panic in 2019 as a member of white nationalist organization Identity Evropa (then rebranded as “The American Identity Movement”). Below is a summary of Panic’s article from @IGD_News column TWIF. /2 panicinthediscord.noblogs.or…
Despite his Nazi affiliations, Guse was allowed to graduate from Lackawanna College in May 2020. Unfortunately, the photos here prove that (despite scrubbing the internet of accounts using his real name or Identity Evropa username) Guse is still involved in Nazi organizing. /3
Next is Upper Black Eddy, PA resident Gregory Anthony Cristiano. Cristiano is not only a neo-Nazi. He is also a pedophile and sex offender, according to public records which you can access here: /4 offenderradar.com/offender-d…
Ringing Rocks Park is located in the town of neo-Nazi Gregory Cristano’s residence — Upper Black Eddy — so it is likely that he was the one to suggest this meetup with his fellow neo-Nazis. FYI Cristiano also has connections to the NY town of Massapequa. /5
All attendees proudly display roman salutes in 2 separate photos. Photo’d also, a medallion featuring a Nazi Eagle, with the swastica replaced by an Edelweiss flower. See ???? below for more info about the fascist imagery displayed by these neo-Nazis. /6
[Thread Link]
We’re still looking into the identities of these three neo-Nazis. Their meetup was in Bucks County, Pennsylvania so it is likely that they live somewhere in eastern PA or western/central NJ. Feel free to send tips via DM or ProtonMail. /7
We don’t tolerate Nazi organizing in our region. If you get together with your Nazi friends in public, we will let the world know who you are. Cut ties with all supremacist contacts and begin your journey toward deradicalization, or we WILL expose you. #WeKeepUsSafe /8
The many faces of Brian P. Haughton: left, as a Philly police officer, center as a law enforcement coordinator, right as a member of Arresting Officers (red circle).
Imagine if you will, you being a person of color that learns you were arrested or assaulted by a cop who for a good chunk of his life before he became one was a neo-Nazi musician who playing in a band called Arresting Officers! You just might feel a way about that. So should your attorney who should question how fair your arrest was.
While his name was not mentioned, an article in the current edition of Rolling Stone about White supremacy in American policing makes reference to a former Philadelphia police officer and trainer who used to be in a well-known band associated with the neo-Nazi scene in the city.
“A Philadelphia cop played drums in a racist skinhead band through the mid- to late-Nineties before joining the police force, serving until his retirement a few years ago,” the article read, noting further that he did not respond to interview requests. While this was a vague reference in the article it is well known that Brian P. Haughton was the drummer for the ironically named band Arresting Officers before becoming a police officer for 21 years, later retiring and becoming a police trainer, a role that he is prominently in today.
The first Arresting Officers album.
Formed in 1987, Arresting Officers was a Philadelphia-based Oi!/RAC (Rock Against Communism) band that put out two albums for the German label Rock-O-Rama Records, as well as a 7-inch for Street Rock N Roll, a sub-label for Rock-O-Rama. Both labels were known for releasing albums by neo-Nazi bands such as Skrewdriver before Rock-O-Rama was reportedly shut down in a 1994 police raid. Haughton also contributed to the band Break the Sword, which released an album on Resistance Records. This project included not only Joe Rowan, the lead singer of Nordic Thunder who was killed on his birthday in 1994, but also Scott Stedeford, a member of the Aryan Republican Army who was alleged to have conspired with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh before he bombed the federal building there, and who committed a series of bank robberies in the Midwest from 1992 to 1994. Stedeford is reportedly due to be released from federal prison this summer after serving over twenty years for his role in those robberies.
Haughton graduated from the police academy in 1995 and embarked on a 21-year career as a Philadelphia police officer which included working on SWAT teams. When he retired from the force he became an instructor and now works with the Middle Atlantic-Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network (MAGLOCLEN), which is part of a communication and information sharing network in law enforcement. Ironically, while a police officer he was tasked to work the Democratic National Convention in 2016, which saw some controversy when Officer Ian Hans Lichterman was observed during a Black Resistance March sporting a tattoo of a German eagle beneath the word “Fatherland” on his left arm. Lichterman, who was cleared of any wrongdoing by Internal Affairs but is no longer a Philadelphia police officer, saw earlier controversy when his name showed up in data from several neo-Nazi and Klan websites that were hacked and leaked.
The investigation Rolling Stone conducted revealed that police chiefs and unions frequently fail to address racism and White supremacy within in the ranks, thereby creating a climate where White supremacists have been free to infiltrate police forces and grow their numbers and influence.
Acrid Black Smoke: Revisiting Blessed is the Flame in Insurrection and Anti-Politics
From the introduction:
“The purpose of this zine is to revisit a particularly influential piece
of contemporary anarchist and nihilist writing in Blessed is the Flame by Serafinski, with heavy focus on history, and apply some of the concepts explored to the uprisings of 2020.”
The essays in Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse (AK Press, 2021), many published here for the first time, cover the shifts in rhetoric and tactics of the Alt Right since their disastrous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, and the explosion of antifascist, antiracist, and revolutionary organizing that has risen to fight it. Burley unpacks the moment we live in, confronting the apocalyptic feelings brought on by nationalism, climate collapse, and the crisis of capitalism, but also delivering the clear message that a new world is possible through the struggles communities are leveraging today. Burley reminds us what we’re fighting for not simply what we’re fighting against.
This free online event will be in conversation with Kim Kelly and George Ciccariello-Maher. Zoom link will be shared soon.
We’re happy to announce the publication of a new zine 215 Rioters: Heroes Forever. This zine is a compilation of analyses and reports from the 2020 Walter Wallace uprising. The authors have revised their pieces and written an introduction to give context to their thoughts. Two anonymous action reports are also included to bring to light some less publicized aspects of the rebellion. As the police make it clear that they will continue to kill Black people it is our intention that these kinds of reflections and histories help us sharpen our struggle to free ourselves from the forces of anti-Blackness and social control.
On Wednesday March 31 individuals showed up to a call to eviction defense at the 13/15th & Locust PATCO Station, where some Philadelphians have created an encampment for themselves.
People started offering their support as early as 7:30AM (Food Not Bombs). Followed by other autonomous individuals who spent the day in the terminal to combat and resist the city’s planned “service day.” “Service days” are long known to be the misleading term the city uses for sweeps. This is widely understood amongst people plugged into housing issues and people living outside or on public property.
Defenders spent the day in the terminal monitoring the police presence, getting to know the people in the encampment, arguing with city workers to maintain possession of unaccounted for items, and guarding people’s tents and belongings to prevent them from being deemed trash or getting ruined while workers power-washed the terminal. Workers unsurprisingly had a host of disrespectful things to say about the Philadelphians living in the terminal and their belongings.
Housing services showed up to suggest that residents leave the terminal for other housing options. Supporters remained present and directly over-heard city services proclaiming that we were there to use the residents for publicity. An interesting interpretation considering no one was photographing, recording or otherwise taking it upon themselves to tell residents what to do. Some supporters checked in with residents after their conversations with city workers. Heard were sentiments such as “they’re trying to get us to go into rapid rehousing but I’ve been through this before and it’s a bunch of bullshit, we’ll be out of there and back on the street by next week.”
At the end of the day, several occupied areas were successfully defended and were untouched by city workers, who originally told residents they would have to at least remove all of their belongings. Unhoused people often lose their belongings in sweeps because they are unable to watch their things all day, unable to move all their belongings themselves, or unsuccessful at resisting city workers who are intent on proclaiming that any personal items that aren’t on private property or on ‘your person’ are trash.
While the defense on the ground happened in solidarity, the discussion online surrounding it beforehand raised relevant issues, especially as moratoriums end and eviction defense becomes an increasingly pressing issue and way to show up against capitalism and for each other.
On March 29th and 30th a flyer started to circulate on anarchist, housing-support and eviction-defense networks (such as Signal and Telegram), as well as on social media. The simple B&W flyer stated “Block the eviction” / “Stop the city from clearing the encampment at 12/13th & Locust PATCO station” / “Meet at 10am — Defend at 11am” / and “Share widely.”
The “action words” included “Block,” “Stop,” “Meet,” and “Share.” The flyer did not mention black bloc, nor did it suggest defenders “throw down,” or “fight the police.” A discrepancy that makes the critical comments following the flyer’s appearance important to question, analyze and address.
Visually it referenced the accidental blockade of the Suez Canal by the Evergreen ship — which is popularly known to have been a temporary (and celebrated amongst anti-capitalists) disaster for commerce. It was relevant (albeit somewhat tangentially) in that eviction defense/illegal occupation of city-owned property is inherently threatening to capitalism and often involves literally blocking government workers from carrying out sweeps.
When the flyer was shared on the popular social media platform Instagram (IG), Individuals and activists added commentary by way of clarifying “re-posts” and comments about the flyer. For example:
“Hey it isn’t an eviction, it is a sanitation event. Please don’t show up to fight the police. The department of Housing Services have promised that people’s belongings won’t be thrown away as long as their owner is with them.”
“Honestly delete this post (re: flyer/call to eviction defense). We’re worried about people showing up in black bloc to fight the police for an eviction that isn’t happening”
“Clarity: it seems that folks are *not* being evicted tomorrow. However encampment residents are asking that people are there ONLY to make sure they are not displaced. They have been told they will not be during tomorrow’s routine cleaning.
DO NOT ANTAGONIZE ANY POLICE. Showing up and being SUPPORT is fine, but anything else goes against the graces for brutality from the police. So show up, be kind to the encampment workers, protect them and their things if you HAVE to, and that’s it.
Do not put people’s lives in danger with your own agenda.”
“So so important that folks not antagonize or escalate on their own impetus with houseless comrades in the crossfire.”
These statements, while not necessarily wrong or made in bad faith, are representative of misunderstandings, as well as misrepresentations of direct action and those who carry it out.
The intentions of the private networks who participate in direct action are frequently critiqued, often in bad faith, because the government, mainstream media and liberal agenda encourages a disdain towards them. This is tactical on the governments part, as these individuals often make a life-style out of resisting and combatting government oppression. The goal here is not to point fingers and declare which statements were from whom, but to discuss why the commentary was premature, misguided and harmful.
People claiming that the city does not mean to harm individuals living in encampments and squats —on any occasion — is, first of all, mislead. Secondly they are directly supporting the city government in being free to terrorize the housing-insecure population uninhibited. Even if an eviction is not happening at all, people showing up en masse to demonstrate their support and willingness to fight evictions in general deters the city from dishing out eviction notices.
When it comes to encampments or people living on public property, the best eviction defense is building relationships, sharing resources, and offering aid on a regular basis. This lets the government know who is in solidarity with them. This may include community aid, street art, combative action towards oppressive government programs/officials and much more.
However none of those things can stop evictions if we do not make a practice of showing up on the day and time that they’re rumored to happen AND demonstrate our willingness to not take the city government’s orders. Showing up to “support” only goes so far. At some point what matters most is who is prepared to keep standing and keep guarding belongings when city workers demand we back down. This is why we take issue with the cautionary language contained in the comments.
Eviction defense is anti-gov, anti-cap and anti-property. It ultimately involves combative/non-compliant action verses cooperative/lawful support. Participating in & defending encampments, squats, and even non-gov-approved mutual aid is conflictual, disobedient, and risky. It predicates a power struggle with the government and city services. Showing up to an eviction defense requires a willingness to not cooperate with the government and to possibly accrue legal penalties. It also potentially creates grounds for police to justify targeting, taking note of, and repressing you.
You are supporting people in resisting laws, zoning and city operations. For some, this warrants “bloc-ing up” and for others it might not. This can depend on countless factors, some of which might be if individuals are involved in other illegal activities and anti-state efforts, if they are already on the police’s radar or facing police repression, or if they are inherently targeted by police.
Eviction defense is about more than preventing people from losing their possessions and having to find alternate shelter. It’s a relevant fighting ground for undermining capitalism, state power and its entities – most notably, private and government-owned property, both being extensions of colonization.
Encampments are already illegal because they overwhelmingly exist on public property owned by city government. Encampments exist in the first place because the city hoards property, fuels gentrification and refuses to allow anyone to make shelter out of the countless vacant homes capable of providing it. The reason the city doesn’t allow these homes to be used is because all government systems are invested in capitalism.
Capitalism works by placing monetary value on the things people need to survive — like housing, food, and healthcare — making them unavailable to those without adequate capital. Capitalism is maintained by creating consequences like homelessness, hunger, loss of autonomy or death for those who do not acquire and maintain the level of capital needed to acquire those things.
As such, the city government, including the OHS has an obligation to make sure people are unable to “live for free” by occupying public spaces instead of paying for private property or surrendering their autonomy to be granted a spot in a shelter.
People made many anticipatory and presumptuous claims about those behind the flyer and the call for eviction defense. Critical responses to the flyer were based on a fear of black bloc, escalation, conflictuality, as well as the private networks that organize and plan direct actions. Publicly encouraging a narrow and uninformed understanding of black bloc is a fantastic way to bolster police repression. It alienates willing and active individuals who may already be on the police’s radar and need to obscure their identities to keep themselves safe in settings monitored by police.
A clear misunderstanding of what conflictual and combative tactics are for was also evident. The people in our networks seek to destroy systems of oppressive. Sometimes this does involve literal destruction of property but that’s just one of many tactics in the arsenal. Eviction defense is a defensive action that may or may not involve direct confrontation with the police. The goal (which was clearly communicated in the flyer) was to prevent eviction and protect the people in danger of being evicted. It is with a lack of understanding and solidarity that what occurred in response was an expectation for people to throw down, start a “street fight” with cops, and harm individuals in need of defense.
Lastly, a common thread in the critiques was for individuals to not show up “with their own agenda,” or act “on their own impetus.” Believing that people should not show up to eviction defense as part of their own struggle is disempowering. People commonly show up to actions because they are personally interested in seeing something through. This is usually because it is a part of their personal agenda for resistance against larger systems.
It is short sighted to think eviction defense and housing justice only concern those who are currently unhoused in a specific situation. Property is violence because the state owns and controls land and punishes people for trying to survive by making the things they need inaccessible through capital. Anyone with an interest in resisting or combating capitalism’s grip on our lives has a personal interest and agenda when it comes to eviction defense. Defending someone’s home, when their residency is illegal is joining them in their resistance. Defense isn’t a passive action. It is patronizing to not recognize that people living in encampments, squats and on public property are already involved in resistance, regardless of if it is only for themselves or part of a larger agenda against oppressive systems.
![Public Google reviews made by the email address "insula@gmail.com." Note the profile image above [a baby's hand with an adult's hand].](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/Screenshot_2021-09-22-Contributions-by-Julie-Green.png)
![An image found on an archived blog by "Jewels Green" is also used on the Google account associated with the email address "insula@gmail.com" found in the Epik breach [a baby's hand with an adult's hand]](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/Screenshot_2021-09-22-Blog-Jewels-Green.png)
![Julie "Jewels" Green at a speaking appearance in 2013 [https://archive.is/lO2BB].](https://accollective.noblogs.org/files/2021/09/julie-green-crp.jpg)
