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Abbreviation | VA |
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Formation | 2015 |
Type | Neo-Nazism Neo-fascism White supremacism White nationalism |
Purpose | Promoting neo-Nazism/fascism and a white supremacist version of American nationalism |
Location |
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Members | 200+ (2017) |
Key people | Dillon Irizarry Thomas Rousseau |
Affiliations |
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Website | vanguardam.us |
Part of a series on |
Neo-fascism |
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Vanguard America is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, neo-fascist organization. The organization is also a member of the Nationalist Front. [1] [2] The group gained significant attention after it was revealed that James Alex Fields had marched with them at the Unite the Right rally before being arrested on murder charges. [3] [4] The group has its roots in the alt-right movement. [5]
Vanguard America (VA) had no national presence or coverage until in 2016 when Dillon Irizarry gave a speech at a neo-Nazi gathering in Pikeville, Kentucky stating he was the leader of the group, and that they had 200 members in 20 states. [6] Irizarry would go on to say that VA was founded in 2015 in California and that he wasn't the founder of the group, rather he took over leadership. [6] Irizarry, who legally changed his name in 2006 to Dillon Hopper, is a Marine Corps veteran who had served in Afghanistan, also claimed that "many" members were veterans but active duty service members were barred from affiliating with the group until their contract had ended for their "safety". [7] [note 1] Hopper also states that local branches exist in Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. In July 2017, it also created a women's division. [1] [2]
In June of 2017 the group held a "Texas is Ours" rally in Austin, Texas and during the event the leader of the Texan branch, Thomas Rousseau, gave a lengthy speech and largely sidelined VA's leader Dillon Hopper. After the rally Hopper began to engage in a public feud with Rousseau, accusing him of attempting to portray himself as the leader of VA. [8]
The group had a presence in the Unite the Right rally in August 2017 led by Thomas Rousseau with Hopper entirely absent. James Alex Fields, who was later responsible for killing a counter protester and injuring 19 others in a vehicle-ramming attack, was seen marching with the group and carrying a shield displaying a symbol associated with Vanguard America. [9] The leadership later disavowed him, stating that he was not a member of the group. [1] [3] [4] The group took part in the "White Lives Matter" rally in October 2017. [10] On December 18, 2017, its account was suspended by Twitter. [11]
After the rally, as Hopper was largely dealing with the fallout of Fields' action, Rousseau and his Texas branch of the VA split in August to form Patriot Front. As Patriot Front siphoned off most of the VA's more moderate Neo-Fascists, the remaining Neo-Nazis within the VA again started a feud with Hopper, with the remains of the Texas, as well as the Tennessee branch, splitting in January 2018 to form the National Socialist Legion. Since then, the Anti-Defamation League has stated that VA "has shown very few signs of life." [8]
The group supports the Nazi concept of blood and soil. [6]
The group is best known for its racist and anti-Semitic flyers they put up in various towns. [12] This strategy would be carried over by Patriot Front.
The National Socialist Movement is a Neo-Nazi organization based in the United States. Once considered to be the largest and most prominent Neo-Nazi organization in the United States, since the late 2010s its membership and prominence have plummeted. It was a part of the Nationalist Front and it is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017. Marchers included members of the alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and far-right militias. Some groups chanted racist and antisemitic slogans and carried weapons, Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols, the Valknut, Confederate battle flags, Deus vult crosses, flags, and other symbols of various past and present antisemitic and anti-Islamic groups. The organizers' stated goals included the unification of the American white nationalist movement and opposing the proposed removal of the statue of General Robert E. Lee from Charlottesville's former Lee Park. The rally sparked a national debate over Confederate iconography, racial violence, and white supremacy. The event had hundreds of participants.
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Dillon Irizarry is an American far-right activist known for founding and leading the alt-right and white supremacist group Vanguard America and being one of the principle coordinators of the Unite the Right rally.
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