Pro-Hitler Troll Outed to Community As “Director of Activism” for Identity Evropa

Posters warning about Justin Peek in Sandy Springs (L) and Roswell (R)

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

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 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.

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.

Justin Peek’s Personas: “Wayne Peek”/“Wayne” and “Finn” 

Justin Wayne Peek has used the names “Wayne Peek,” “Wayne” and then “Finn” while doing white nationalist organizing. In this section, we connect these different personas, and show them all to be the same person: Justin Wayne Peek.

We begin with Peek’s old Twitter account. The Twitter account @jwpeek88 was active in 2017 and initially used the name “Justin Peek” before changing to “Wayne Peek.” The profile picture for this account is an image of Peek. The same photo now appears on Peek and Amber Wojcik’s wedding website. An archive of this @jwpeek88 Twitter account – which was deleted in late 2017 following “Unite the Right” – appears as an appendix to this article.

The name “Wayne Peek” also appeared as an author on the white nationalist AltRight.com website, and in the Discord chat server that was used for planning “Charlottesville 2.0” (the “Unite the Right” rally of August 2017). The AltRight.com author “Wayne Peek” wrote an article celebrating the earlier white power rally and torchlit protest which took place in May 2017 at Charlottesville. Footage shows that Peek attended the protest. The “Wayne Peek” who appeared in leaked “Charlottesville 2.0” planning logs was affiliated with ATL-Right, an Atlanta-area umbrella group for Alt-Right sympathizers, whose membership overlapped with IE. The “Wayne Peek” Discord account has a profile icon featuring IE’s logo.

Finally, the same voice appeared as “Wayne” and then later “Finn” on IE’s “Identitarian Action” podcast. In Episode 14 of “Identitarian Action,” “Wayne” discussed the organization’s 2018 flash protest in Fort Tryon Park, New York City. “Wayne” mentioned accidentally wrecking IE’s drone at that event. Footage from Fort Tryon Park that day shows Peek holding a drone controller.

Beginning with Episode 30 of “Identitarian Action,” “Wayne” appeared under the new name of “Finn”. During that episode, IE’s leader Patrick Casey slipped and called “Finn” by his earlier name of “Wayne.” The voice of “Wayne” and “Finn” match, as does the title of Director of Activism. In Episode 33, “Finn” states that his fiancée “was the head of her sorority” in college. Peek’s fiancée, Amber Wojcik, was a President for Kappa Kappa Gamma at Georgia Southern University. As a side note, we have no evidence that Wojcik is involved in the white power movement beyond her personal connection to Peek.

Justin Peek’s Racist Organizing, Part One: Early 2017 to “Unite the Right”

In the “Identitarian Recruiting” episode (#33) of Identity Evropa’s podcast, Peek provided an account of his path to “Identitarianism”. (Briefly, “Identitarianism” aims to “preserve racial, ethnic, and cultural identity” – although Identitarians also talk about culture, their project is a racial separatist one.) Peek claimed that it was his experience traveling and his concern about demographic and cultural change in the United States upon his return that initially attracted him to “Identitarianism.” Later in the same podcast episode, Peek claimed to have stumbled across an IE YouTube video which had a profound effect on him:

“As soon as I had seen it, I knew that I had to be a member of the organization […] I felt that there was something about this organization that I could experience… that I couldn’t really get that type of experience anywhere else, whether it be in contemporary conservatism or any strange fringe group that might pop up on the esoteric or in the occult or whatever, and that’s just not who I am.”

The YouTube video in question featured footage from Season Two, Episode Four of “Dark Net,” a series on Showtime. The “Dark Net” episode first aired on April 27, 2017. Peek mentioned in the January 2019 “Recruiting” podcast episode that he had been in IE for “about a year and a half.” That claim would mean that Peek signed up in mid-2017. However, our documentation shows that Peek was active in broader Alt-Right circles and was in contact with IE members before the footage even aired. Although the YouTube video may have played some role in Peek’s decision to become a formal member of IE, it is unlikely that the video was Peek’s primary motivation to join the organization, since Peek was already involved in the Alt-Right at that point. Peek’s account of his journey to IE minimizes his connection to the broader Alt-Right – a movement which IE now tries to distinguish itself from, despite having been born of it.

Peek’s @jwpeek88 account on Twitter shows that by March of 2017, Peek was a radical white nationalist. Peek declared that “America is at a race war” on March 2^nd, 2017 and on March 24^th claimed that other races “can’t even create for themselves.” In March 2017, Peek twice retweeted David Duke, a neo-Nazi and former Klan leader, and circulated posts by white nationalist leaders Richard Spencer as well as Nathan Damigo, who was then leading Identity Evropa. By April, Justin Peek’s rhetoric on Twitter had further escalated, with him stating that “Jew [sic] and arabs are disease to this planet.” Peek circulated pro-Hitler content, sharing a meme promoting the pro-Hitler documentary “Adolf Hitler: The Greatest Story Never Told!”. On Adolf Hitler’s birthday, Peek retweeted a message stating that “#HitlerWasRight”.

We first encountered Peek on April 18, 2017, when white nationalist leader Richard Spencer gave a speech at Auburn University in Alabama. Since Spencer was only able to speak on campus due to a court order issued earlier in the day, many of the Alt-Right crowd showed up ready to brawl. Peek was no exception, wearing a lacrosse helmet outside the venue. Although we did not know Peek’s identity at the time, it was clear that this individual was integrated within regional Alt-Right networks. Peek’s lacrosse helmet featured an “Alt-Right” sticker created by Atlanta Alt-Right organizer Patrick Sharp and distributed among Sharp’s associates. When Peek sat down for Spencer’s speech, he sat next to Bradley Dean Griffin, a notorious white power propagandist who maintains the “Occidental Dissent” website. Finally, when Peek left the University building after Spencer’s speech, Peek exited alongside Patrick Sharp. (Before Spencer at Auburn, we had commented on Patrick Sharp’s affinity toward Identity Evropa; at Auburn, Sharp wore an Identity Evropa “Dragon’s Eye” sticker on his helmet, openly broadcasting his affiliation with that organization.)

The next month, Spencer’s AltRight.com published an article by “Wayne Peek” arguing in favor of the Alt-Right movement and against conservatism, which Peek portrayed as weak and liberal-appeasing. Peek celebrated Spencer as someone who, unlike conservatives, possessed the American “warrior spirit.”

On May 13, 2017 – the day after his article was published – Peek surfaced in Charlottesville, Virginia for the white nationalist “#SaveJacksonAndLee” rally. This rally by white nationalists against the removal of Confederate statues had been organized in closed online groups and was not publicly advertised in advance. The rally is also known as “Charlottesville 1.0” since it was a clear precursor to “Unite the Right”, which was dubbed “Charlottesville 2.0”. Racist leaders such as Spencer and Atlanta attorney Sam Dickson gave speeches at the May rally at Jackson Park in Charlottesville.

The main organizer for the “Charlottesville 1.0” rally was Atlanta IE member Evan Thomas Anderson (Evan Thomas Kuettner before his legal name change). The “ATL-Right” group (now defunct) supported the May rally in Charlottesville, producing placards for the event and sending members to it. Peek is shown in video footage from Jackson Park on May 13, standing at the front of the white nationalist crowd as they taunted community members who arrived to counter-protest. That night, white nationalists held a second rally in Charlottesville, this time at Lee Park, where they gathered for a torchlit rally and chanted “You will not replace us!”, “Blood and soil”, and “Russia is our friend.”

Peek was clearly energized by the May 13 rallies in Charlottesville, rushing out an article as “Wayne Peek” for AltRight.com that was published May 17. Peek celebrated the “enormous [white nationalist] show of strength and power” that day which “overwhelmed the small southern town […] that is currently infested with some of the most disgusting and odious leftists in the country.” He ended his piece with “We hope to see you at the next rally” – a sign that there was more to come for Charlottesville.

Back in Georgia, Peek showed up on June 10 at Piedmont Park in Atlanta for the “March Against Sharia” anti-Muslim rally. The two largest groups at the Atlanta “March Against Sharia” were heavily-armed members of Chris Hill’s III% Security Force militia and a contingent from the Proud Boys. The event also attracted a small number of Alt-Right white nationalists, such as Peek and Jared Huggins. Another person who attended was Alex Michael Ramos, who is currently imprisoned for an attack during “Unite the Right” in Charlottesville.

Just days before the “March Against Sharia” rally in Piedmont Park, “Wayne Peek” confirmed on the private “Charlottesville 2.0” Discord chat server that he planned to attend the “Unite the Right” rally in August. Making clear that he was involved in the “ATL-Right” umbrella group, Peek wrote:

“We’re going to be there! The Atl right lives for this. It’s going to to [sic] get wild. Bring your boots.”

At the time of writing, we have not located Peek within footage from “Unite the Right.” Regardless of whether Peek attended the rally after announcing he would, “Unite the Right” proved to be a turning point for his white nationalist movement. In the aftermath of murder and racist assaults at Charlottesville, the Alt-Right fractured. Lawsuits and criminal cases from “Unite the Right” continue to this day.

Reviewing Peek’s activity from before “Unite the Right” makes three things clear. First, despite IE’s claim to be motivated by high ideals and not mere racism, Peek is a clear bigot. Second, Peek’s public narrative about how he joined IE ignores his involvement with the broader Alt-Right during 2017. For example, Peek referred to being part of “ATL-Right,” which involved not only members of IE but also supporters of the racist/antisemitic TheRightStuff website. Third, Peek reveled in the intimidating displays of “Charlottesville 1.0” in May 2017. That rally – which in Peek’s inflated view “overwhelmed” the city – would become one model for how white nationalists could organize events, showing up without advance notice and controlling the space. In some of the events which Peek has organized as IE’s Director of Activism, Peek is clearly elaborating on that model.

Justin Peek’s Racist Organizing, Part Two: After “Unite the Right” to Present

Identity Evropa stumbled for a few months after “Unite the Right.” The organization’s first leader, Nathan Damigo, stepped down at the end of August following the rally. IE’s second leader, Elliot Kline (AKA “Eli Mosley”), lasted three months before being replaced by Patrick Casey, the organization’s current head. Since becoming leader, Casey has tried to distance IE from the broader Alt-Right. IE now organizes flash rallies involving just its own members, rather than working with other Alt-Right groups. In addition, Casey currently stresses “Identitarianism” as the official ideology of the organization, rather than using terms such as “white nationalism” or “Alt-Right.” Although IE is currently being sued for its role in the violence at “Unite the Right,” Casey labels his organization as non-violent and nominally condemns “extremism”.

According to Casey in Episode 33 of the “Identitarian Action” podcast, “Finn” (Justin Peek) was appointed as activism coordinator for IE “shortly before I [Casey] took over.” In the same episode, Peek states that “I’ve been pretty much all over the United States doing activism” for IE. Initially Peek’s role was described as “activism coordinator” but since mid-2018 this has changed to “Director of Activism.” In an October 2018 podcast episode (#30), Peek was also identified as IE’s “Georgia coordinator”.

IE’s main action in Atlanta in the wake of “Unite the Right” was dropping anti-immigrant/anti-DACA banners from four overpasses in a single morning, September 26, 2017. By the time Patrick Casey assumed leadership of IE a couple of months later, Peek was in place as the organization’s activism coordinator/Director.

The week after Casey became leader of IE, he traveled to Atlanta to participate in a banner action designed to generate maximum attention for the organization and his new leadership. As national activism coordinator, Peek was almost certainly involved in the Georgia Tech action. On Tuesday, December 5, 2017, IE members held a large – almost 200 feet wide by their account – “America First”/“End Immigration” banner across a bridge on Georgia Tech’s campus. Although the action did not last long and or involve many people – nine are visible in footage, with at least one other person operating a drone – the point of the flash protest was to make a splash on social media. The banner action also demonstrated to IE sympathizers that despite Casey’s tight control of the organization’s messaging, IE intended to ramp up its activity.

Georgia Tech was presumably chosen as the site for December banner action since it had been repeatedly targeted with IE propaganda in the past, although materials were quickly removed by antifascists each time. Further, in mid-September nonbinary student and activist Scout Schultz was shot and killed by Georgia Tech police officer Tyler Beck, with the campus erupting in protest in the immediate aftermath. A secondary goal of IE’s protest may have been antagonizing students while emotions were still raw.

In another action primarily intended for an online audience, in February 2018 IE posted a video on its YouTube page, showing IE flyers being thrown from a propeller plane as it flew over Orlando, Florida. In the video, Peek throws the propaganda from the plane.

IE’s March 8-9, 2018 national conference in Kentucky – with a rally the day after at the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee – was the organization’s most ambitious event since its changes in leadership. IE put conference attendance at 150, with almost 70 appearing in a group photograph from the event. White nationalist elders Sam Dickson (who lives in Atlanta) and Jared Taylor both gave speeches at the conference. An IE “Year in Review” video shows that both Peek and Patrick Sharp of Atlanta’s IE chapter gave presentations at the conference. In the group photo from the conference, Peek appears behind national leader Patrick Casey. Two key Atlanta Identity Evropa activists – Patrick Sharp and Casey Cooper – appeared on either side of Patrick Casey.

Approximately sixty people participated in IE’s flash protest at Nashville’s Parthenon the next day, Sunday March 10. In footage captured by an onlooker, Peek approaches the local and gives his typical line: “No matter what you do, we’re not going anywhere, bud.” The footage also shows Peek piloting the IE drone, apparently one of his standard duties.

Peek yet again traveled for an IE protest in April, this time for flash protests in Washington, DC.  In the first episode of “Identitarian Action,” Peek discussed how he spent approximately one month planning the protests at the South African embassy with “Matt”, the current IE Chief of Staff. The IE protests were intended to draw attention to alleged systematic violence against white farmers in South Africa. The tale of extermination campaigns against Afrikaners is a white nationalist fantasy which serves broader racist narratives of international “white genocide.” Later in 2018, this same racist narrative on South Africa was repeated by Trump.

The flash protests at the South African embassy were held on Saturday, April 21, 2018. From the podcast, it is apparent that Peek not only planned the event but also attended. Since Peek does not appear in footage, he likely played a support role.

The first demonstration at the embassy that day was a theatrical “die in” in front of a statue of Mandela, who is hated by white nationalists for his leadership against the Apartheid regime. Approximately six hours later, IE returned to the embassy. Members briefly held up a banner while Patrick Casey delivered a short speech through a megaphone. Others drove crosses into grass on the other side of the street, to symbolize victims of the alleged anti-white murder campaign. According to the podcast, the next day Peek led a third flash protest in Washington, DC, where IE members held a “No sanctuary – build the wall” banner near the Watergate Hotel.

In addition to organizing white power flash rallies and banner drops, Peek appears to be pushing racist politics within the Republican Party. In Episode 6 of “Identitarian Action” (released June 2, 2018) “Wayne” stated during a conversation about the Republican Party that “I work with a few political campaigns as well,” and that work within electoral politics is “a great way to network,” to “plant seeds” and “to get our rhetoric in-between people’s ears.”

Peek proceeds:

“As far as political activism goes, at the end of the day, we’re kind of all shooting for the same goal as a lot of people who are in the GOP, so it makes a lot of sense to team up with these people. My end goal here… I want to influence legislation, I want to change certain types of legislation […]

“I was speaking with a campaign manager recently, and I told him ‘I have a group of guys who are America First, we get together, we hang out, we go on rafting trips, we fish and we hike’ and stuff like this… I didn’t tell him it was my IE chapter but he was like ‘Oh wow. So these guys, they’ll vote?’ ‘Yeah, absolutely they’ll vote.’ We start appealing as a voting bloc.”

Peek seems to have only helped campaigns in low-level ways such as phone canvassing. However, he appears enthusiastic about white nationalist entryism within the GOP. We ask that anyone with information on Peek’s involvement in Georgia conservative circles to send it our way.

In addition to flash protests and behind-the-scenes work to influence Republican politics, a third element of E’s activist strategy appears to be acts of “service” designed to improve their organization’s reputation. Toward this goal, IE held a “weekend of service” in June 2018, with coordinated actions in several cities. A picture from Atlanta showed Peek and two other group members painting over graffiti. According to Peek (“Identitarian Action” #9) the anti-graffiti action had broader ideological justification:

“As far as doing graffiti clean-up, like we do in Atlanta […] This is erasing leftist culture. Leftist culture is graffiti – it is this rap music – it is all of these things manifest. I mean: ultimately it is a communist or a Marxist ideology, and these art forms take life inside of those ideologies. You know, it’s up to us to wipe it out – to do away with it.”

Ironically, one of the Atlanta IE members pictured in the “clean-up,” Patrick Sharp, was responsible for leaving graffiti against “anti-whites” in November 2016. Peek’s comments reveal that his true goal is cultural cleansing of whatever he deems “leftist”.

In his position as Director of Activism, Peek coordinates and approves all major IE activism. This is clear from other podcast episodes in which IE members discuss clearing their plans with Peek ahead of time. Last year, Peek traveled to at least two more large-scale actions by IE. The first of these was titled “Defend Identity,” which took place in New York City in late July. According to IE’s podcast, Peek planned “Defend Identity” in collaboration with Louis, the organization’s Assistant Director of Activism and its New York coordinator. The action had two parts: first, a demonstration at the Mexican Consulate in downtown New York City, followed by IE members unfurling a large banner in Fort Tryon Park (uptown NYC) later that day. According to IE’s podcast, the aim of the “Defend Identity” actions in New York was to “make our presence known” in the city and to “show force,” reminiscent of the way May 2017 white nationalist flash demonstrations in Charlottesville attempted to “overwhelm” city space.

In the first New York City protest, dozens of IE members held up letters spelling “BUILD THE WALL” while chanting anti-immigrant slogans outside the Mexican Consulate. Moving to Fort Tryon Park in uptown New York, IE members displayed an “End the Invasion” anti-immigrant banner over the Park’s archways. Later, IE members celebrated the national media attention they had garnered from the flash rallies and gloated about causing alarm to locals.

Over Veteran’s Day weekend in November, IE members assembled in Colorado for a weekend of activities including a reception on Friday night, a group hike in Eldorado Canyon State Park on Saturday, and a flash demonstration in downtown Denver on Sunday. Peek appears in footage from the Saturday hike, which suggests he also participated in the rest of the weekend.

Finally, Peek’s move to an apartment complex in Sandy Springs with his fiancée coincides with an uptick in IE activities in nearby locations. For example, IE posted on Twitter about a trip by Georgia IE members to Barrington Hall in Roswell, which seemingly took place at the end of September 2018. The Hall is approximately a ten-minute drive from Peek’s current residence. In mid-October, Peek and one or more others from IE placed posters against Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms near the State Capitol in Atlanta, in response to Bottoms ordering the city jail to not hold people for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the IE podcast, after leaving posters around downtown Atlanta, Peek and company then left for Roswell Road to place materials. Peek described Roswell Road as having a “heavy Latino base” – people who Peek seemingly wished to agitate with posters calling them “Illegals.” Peek’s apartment is just off Roswell Road in Sandy Springs. In late December, IE members decided to place “Merry Christmas from Identity Evropa” posters in downtown Roswell, Georgia, which is only a ten-minute drive from Peek’s residence.

Conclusion

Justin Wayne Peek is one of the most active members of Identity Evropa. As Director of Activism, he manages its public displays and creates spectacle to draw in new members. In some of the larger rallies organized by Peek – for example, the ones in New York City – Peek revels in the alarm caused by his organization’s flash mobs.

Although Identity Evropa claims that it is not about hate, violence, or neo-Nazism, Peek shows the true face of the organization: he is a blatant racist who took a plea deal to avoid facing sexual battery charges and whose social media account celebrated Hitler. The organization scolds the broader Alt-Right for accepting participants of poor character, holding itself as the moral alternative. In reality, Identity Evropa members simply have richer parents and better lawyers than the average neo-Nazi.

We hope that by setting out Peek’s activity in detail, we also have provided insight into how IE currently operates and attempts to build. If you have further information on Justin Peek, Identity Evropa, or other racist organizing in our region, please get in contact.

Appendix 1: 2012 Fulton County Battery Case (Originally Charged as Sexual Battery)

Download as .pdf here.

Appendix 2: @jwpeek88 Twitter account archive

Download as .pdf here.