This report was revealed in partnership with the Texas Observer.
The Texas Observer and Bellingcat have recognized the chief of a white nationalist group that distributed antisemitic and racist flyers in Weatherford, Mineral Wells, and Eagle Go, three small Texas cities, during the last yr. In a web-based dialog with the Observer, Rhett Murry Loftis, a 23-year-old resident of Weatherford, admits he leads the Parker County Energetic Membership.
“I’m a fascist, there’s no denying that,” Loftis mentioned in a sequence of direct messages.
Loftis, a former musician, mentioned he first obtained lively within the white nationalist motion in 2021 after spending a number of years lurking in on-line boards. In April 2023, Loftis fashioned the Parker County Energetic Membership, which he described as a “white nationalist struggle membership.” Loftis additionally admitted that he organises white nationalist activism below the title of the Texas Nationalist Community.
Parker County is situated within the Dallas–Fort Price metroplex in north central Texas and, along with the county seat Weatherford, comprises components of Mineral Wells and Fort Price. The native Energetic Membership is a part of a decentralised community of “Energetic Golf equipment” that has unfold throughout the USA and the worldwide since 2020.
Described by the Southern Poverty Legislation Middle as among the many nation’s most lively white nationalist teams, they use a mix of on-line propaganda, martial arts coaching, in-person gatherings, and small-scale demonstrations to drive recruitment and create new golf equipment. Bellingcat has beforehand reported on their presence in California and the Netherlands.
Jared Holt, a researcher on the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a suppose tank targeted on extremism and human rights, mentioned these white supremacist golf equipment “are more and more organised and resourced and will pose even higher threats to public security and group wellbeing within the instant future.”
Like different Energetic Golf equipment, the one in Parker County promotes white nationalist and neo-Nazi ideology, such because the “Nice Alternative Concept” and the white genocide principle, which proclaim the Jewish inhabitants and non-white immigrants pose an existential risk to the white race. Posts from the group’s Telegram chatroom quote Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Movies present members making stiff-arm salutes.
Loftis instructed the Observer that he doesn’t determine as neo-Nazi. However he acknowledged he collaborates with them.
“Though I imagine some type of Fascism is the reply, Nationwide Socialism is just not that,” Loftis mentioned. “I do admire Hitler and I imagine the Roman salute is a robust image of White energy….One among my essential passions is to assist facilitate cooperation and collaboration between numerous pro-White teams.”
The 2 lively golf equipment in Texas, the Parker County Energetic Membership and the Alamo Energetic Membership, gathered for demonstrations outdoors the state Capitol in Austin in 2023 and someplace close to San Antonio in 2024, in line with posts of their Telegram channels. Though the variety of Texas members is unclear, pictures and movies point out that at the least a dozen younger males are concerned.
Whereas Texas Energetic Golf equipment have maintained a comparatively low profile, Tennessee Energetic Membership members made nationwide headlines final yr once they acted as safety for a controversial right-wing mayoral candidate who was arrested on fees of selling prostitution within the mid-Nineteen Nineties in Dallas. Researchers have expressed rising concern in regards to the development of this extremist community.
Images and movies within the Parker County Energetic Membership chatroom doc overlap with different white nationalist teams, together with Patriot Entrance, the White Lives Matter motion, and the Goyim Protection League. One video exhibits Loftis distributing antisemitic flyers with members of the Goyim Protection League whom the Observer recognized in prior reporting.
“Energetic Golf equipment can greatest be understood as modern-day skinheads, as they usually have interaction in the identical networks, actions, and ideologies,” Holt mentioned. “They’re sporting a really skinny veil, however I fear it would simply be sufficient that it’s left some individuals confused as to what’s going on right here. This is identical outdated hate with a brand new wig and make-up.”
One of many earliest posts within the Parker County Energetic Membership chatroom emphasised the significance of sustaining good operational safety and never revealing figuring out info.
Loftis was confirmed to be the chief of the Parker County Energetic Membership by the Observer and Bellingcat due to social media posts, photos, and music he shared on-line.
Our investigation started with a pseudonymous account on X. The account bio learn: “Chief of Parker County Energetic Membership” and “Founder and Co-Director of Texas Nationalist Community.”
We famous the profile picture featured a person with a blurred face and a outstanding chest tattoo, which is seen in different pictures posted within the Parker County Energetic Membership’s Telegram channel. The deal with of the X account, AtlasKhan69, was an preliminary clue and looking for the username revealed the Spotify web page for Loftis’ former musical group, Atlas Khan. Writing credit for the group’s albums on Spotify revealed the title Rhett Loftis.
Credit for Atlas Khan’s music on Spotify point out Atlas Collective, an umbrella model for Loftis’ musical tasks. The Atlas Collective YouTube channel options Atlas Khan and different bands that additionally credited Loftis as a member.
In a 2022 podcast interview discovered on Spotify, Loftis spoke about his involvement with these bands and his time residing in Parker County. One of many movies on the Atlas Collective YouTube channel featured a band picture that exhibits Loftis with a chest tattoo peeking out of the collar of his shirt that matches one seen in anonymised pictures within the Parker County Energetic Membership chatroom and within the profile picture of the pseudonymous X account.
After we contacted Loftis for remark, the X account’s deal with was modified to “MrTedWilson,” which matches the username of a Telegram account below the title “Ted Wilson” that often posts within the Parker County Energetic Membership’s channel.
One other uncensored picture of Loftis was discovered on a Quora account profile related along with his title, the place Loftis requested questions on becoming a member of the Navy. A suspended account on Reddit named TheAtlasKhan posed related questions on becoming a member of the Navy, talked about residing in Parker County, and expressed racist and misogynistic views.
Loftis initially denied proudly owning the Reddit account, after which replied “can’t imagine somebody on the market has the identical tattoo as me…there’s a variety of Atlas Khans in Parker county I’m instructed” when requested about particular posts. “I imply come on bro you don’t want me to verify every part… I believe you’re doing a reasonably good job digging by yourself.”
The account talked about in a number of posts or feedback his issue producing a urine pattern throughout an entrance processing take a look at for navy service. “Bro what helped me severely is having a really trusted buddy stand proper behind after I piss,” one remark reads.
Many posts and movies within the Parker County Energetic Membership Telegram chat room function Loftis, whose face was sometimes blurred however who was identifiable as a consequence of his distinctive tattoos. Loftis’ face and arm tattoos are seen in a single video documenting the distribution of antisemitic flyers, whereas his hand tattoo, which reads “Muay Thai” after the title of one other of Loftis’s earlier bands, identifies him in one other. (The Reddit account TheAtlasKhan additionally refers in a single remark to a tattoo of “my bands huge fats emblem on my left hand”.)
Tying all of this collectively was a Redbubble internet retailer for merchandise affiliated with Loftis’ musical teams that additionally bought Parker County Energetic Membership and Texas Nationalist Community shirts, together with one that includes the identical emblem Loftis is sporting in profile pictures of different accounts tied to his title, together with a PayPal account. The shop was deleted shortly after the Observer contacted Redbubble for remark.
“The person and listings in query violate our content material tips and have been faraway from {the marketplace},” Redbubble mentioned in a press release.
The profile picture for Loftis’ PayPal account additionally seems to have been taken on the similar time and place as one other picture of Loftis that was posted on Telegram in September 2023. In each photos, a person sporting a black shirt exhibiting a Texas-themed design with Nazi iconography and bottoms with a camouflage sample, stands in entrance of the identical automobile, with an equivalent pickup truck within the background in each photos as properly. Within the PayPal account picture, Loftis’ tattoos are blurred.
In keeping with a 2022 podcast interview, Loftis mentioned he labored at Texas Metal Tech, a metal fabrication and building firm in Weatherford. Requests for remark to the corporate by electronic mail and telephone about whether or not the white nationalist struggle membership chief remains to be employed there went unanswered. Nevertheless, an electronic mail from Jason Lee Van Dyke, the Texas-based former Proud Boy chief and present lawyer for a number of Patriot Entrance members who hosted members of the white nationalist group at his property, inadvertently confirmed that Loftis remains to be employed at Texas Metal Tech.
“I obtained a phone name from Mr. Loftis immediately,” Van Dyke wrote. “I’m writing to ask you to please go away Mr. Loftis alone…you reached out to his employer.”
In a direct message dialog on X, Loftis subsequently confirmed that his employer had been contacted. He then deleted the account.
Tristan Lee and Michael Colborne contributed analysis.
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