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Black Hammer Party

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(Redirected from Augustus C. Romain Jr)
This article is about African American political organization. For other uses, see Black Hammer (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with The Hammer Party.

Black Hammer Party
LeaderAugustus Cornelius Romain Jr.
(a.k.a. Gazi Kodzo)
Founded2019
Split fromAfrican People's Socialist Party
HeadquartersAtlanta, Georgia
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[2]
Website
blackhammer.org

The Black Hammer Party, formerly the Black Hammer Organization and commonly known as the Black Hammers, is a Black nationalist group that advocates black separatism, conservatism, decolonization, and political violence. The organization was founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 2019, by ex-members of the African People's Socialist Party, and has undergone a transition from far-left politics to far-right politics. It rose to prominence in the early 2020s amidst the George Floyd protests and the 2020–2023 United States racial unrest, when it attempted to construct a compound in the Rocky Mountains which it named "Hammer City."[7][8][9]

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described the organization as mixing "Black nationalist rhetoric and a revolutionary message with hot-button issues like anti-vaccine myths and election conspiracies." Commentators, including former leaders and members, have referred to the organization as a cult.[7][8][9] The group reportedly recruits among the homeless population.[10][11] As of 2024, it is unknown if the organization is still active.

History

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Early history and ideology

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The group was founded as the Black Hammer Organization in 2019 in Atlanta by "a handful of activists with backgrounds in radical Black communist organizing." By 2020, membership increased significantly following the murder of George Floyd and the ensuing protests across the United States, with the organization amassing "hundreds" of members and chapters across the country. The group called for a black and Native American-led revolution and a separate homeland, as well as reparations from white "colonizers."[7] The Daily Beast described the group's rhetoric as both anti-white and antisemitic.[12]

One of the founding members, Gazi Kodzo (born Augustus Cornelius Romain Jr.), eventually rose as the organization's leader, which according to a founding member who defected, caused the group to go "from a vehicle of liberation to one of abuse and toxicity." Other former members have accused Kodzo of "overworking members in sweatshop conditions" and "[manipulating] members into breaking up with life partners and spouses."[7] Later allegations stated that Kodzo had infiltrated the Black Hammer Party and engaged in forced labor against party members.[11]

Kodzo is known for his controversial social media presence. On January 24, 2021, he released a video wearing Joker makeup and calling Holocaust victim Anne Frank a "bleach demon," a "colonizer," a "parasite", and a "Karen," and claiming that he was going to burn copies of her diary for warmth.[13][14][15] According to The Forward, the group's membership began to decline around early August 2021 due to "Kevin Rashid Johnson of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party [accusing] the organization of being an undercover right-wing group trying to sow division within leftist movements."[16]

The organization under Kodzo's leadership has also opposed vaccination for COVID-19, and on September 15, 2021, led a protest outside the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in support of rapper Nicki Minaj, who at the time claimed to not have been vaccinated.[17][18] In December of the same year, Kodzo also claimed to have formed an alliance with far-right organization Proud Boys, and hosted a podcast alongside Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, claiming to be forming a "coalition to defeat the disgusting pedo-loving, welfare economy demoncrats [sic] and their puppet master, Big Pharma."[19][20]

In 2021, Kodzo began to distance himself from Black Lives Matter. He stated that this was "because of my stance on pedophilia and the fact that I started reading the Bible more."[20] The group has since supported the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[9]

Attempts to establish Hammer City

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On May 3, 2021, the group announced that they had "liberated" 200 acres of land somewhere in Colorado, – later revealed to be Beaver Pines, San Miguel County – after raising over US$60,000 in donations (eventually reaching $112,000). Named the "Hammer City," they claimed through Facebook that the soil was "rich" and that "colonized people need their own land, their own space, their own modes of production [...]."[7][8]

On May 14, the group missed a deadline to sign the documents for acquiring the land. On May 17, following reports of group members still squatting on the land while carrying firearms and wearing military gear, and after a brief armed standoff with a local man, the group was escorted out of the property by deputies of the San Miguel County police in the evening. The San Miguel County Sheriff later inspected the property, finding an unfinished footbridge over a drainage ditch, a real estate sign riddled with bullet holes, and 4-inch screws scattered on the road.[7][8]

Fayetteville police raid

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On July 19, 2022, police in Fayetteville, Georgia received an anonymous call from someone claiming to be held against their will in a home rented by the Black Hammer Party. A SWAT team was sent to search the home, where there were ten people inside. Nine walked out willingly. An 18-year-old man identified as Amonte T. Ammons was killed by an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head.[21][22] The duration of the standoff was several hours, and the surrounding neighborhood received a shelter-in-place order.[23]

Gazi Kodzo was arrested and charged with aggravated sodomy, conspiracy, false imprisonment, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and street gang activity. Another man, an associate of Kodzo named Xavier H. Rushin, was arrested and charged with kidnapping, assault, and false imprisonment.[24][12] The group is under joint investigation by the FBI and local authorities. According to a local street gang investigator, the group had been under surveillance by police for months prior to the incident.[10][25][26]

Alleged Russian influence

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On July 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice made public information about alleged Russian influence operations involving collaboration with American political organizations. It did not name the groups directly. However, based on the released information, the Black Hammer Party (allegedly "U.S. Political Group 2" in the released document) was among the groups implicated in these activities, according to multiple media reports.[27][28][10]

According to these reports, the Black Hammer Party had received funding from Russian citizen Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, an individual with connections to the Russian government. This would have been used to fund the group's protest at the headquarters of Meta Platforms, Facebook's parent company, due to the latter's censorship of posts supporting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[27][28][26]

According to the released information, the implicated groups would have received "direction or control over them on behalf of the FSB", through Ionov.[29][30]

References

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  1. ^ a b @BlkHmmrTimes (May 6, 2021). "Black Hammer Party is conservative thru & thru. – We do not accept Groomers whether trans, gay, or whatever – Critical Race Theory is an abomination and teaches children they must hate themselves based on their race – We believe in the Second Ammendment. #MAGACommunism" (Tweet). Archived from the original on December 25, 2022 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b Center on Extremism (July 27, 2023). "The Black Hammer Organization". Retrieved May 21, 2023. By 2021, while still promoting their "Land Back" goals, the group's leader, Gazi Kodzo, began advancing a more far-right narrative. After failing to acquire land in Colorado in July 2021, the organization has since pivoted to focusing on their objection to Covid vaccine mandates as well as voicing support and staging protests for the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists whom Gazi refers to as "Freedom Fighters." Kodzo has also promoted the Proud Boys and appeared on Gavin McInnes' (the Proud Boys' founder and former leader) show, advocated for formalized segregation in a video titled, "Why I agree with MAGA," touted election conspiracy theories, and voiced support for Marjorie Taylor Greene after she was removed from Twitter.
  3. ^ Hammer, Cheem (August 13, 2021). "Happy Black August Marcus Garvey! Rest in Piss W.E.B. DuBois!". Black Hammer Party. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  4. ^ "Ditch The Democrats Before They Dig You a Ditch!". Black Hammer Party. November 20, 2022. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  5. ^ @BlkHmmrTimes (May 6, 2021). "We personally want to say rest in pi$$ to #colonizer kkkarl marx. Marx's ku klux kkkommunist #manifesto has created a generation of kkkrackkka leftists who think they're on the side of Colonized peoples while lining up to be the first to genocide, enslave and kill us" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. ^ Hammer, Tureyel (March 2, 2021). "Let's be frank. Is Black Hammer Antisemitic? Hell no!". Black Hammer Party. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Joyner, Chris (April 15, 2022). "The radical rise and cultish fall of the Black Hammers". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Archived from the original on April 15, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c d Stringer, Grant (February 8, 2022). "A Black separatist group's utopian dream for land near Telluride withered after an armed standoff". The Colorado Sun. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c Thomas, WF (July 29, 2022). "Ex-Black Hammer members detail Gazi Kodzo's abusive 'cult,' which culminated in arrests for kidnapping and sexual assault". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c "Investigation with Florida ties focuses on separatist group Black Hammer". The Associated Press. The Tampa Bay Times. August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  11. ^ a b DiRienzo, Rob (July 22, 2022). "'I could have been next': ex-members of extremist group on deadly hostage standoff in Fayetteville". WAGA-TV. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Sommer, Will (July 20, 2022). "Infamous 'Cult' Leader Arrested After Dead Body Found in Home". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  13. ^ Wu, Crystal (January 28, 2021). "Tweets calling Anne Frank, holocaust victims 'colonisers' spark disgust from NZ Jewish representative". Newshub. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  14. ^ Keene, Houston (May 5, 2021). "Communist group touts plans to burn Anne Frank's diary, calls her 'bleach demon'". Fox News. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  15. ^ Fox, Mira (September 13, 2021). "How could anyone ever hate Anne Frank — why a fringe group declared war on the Holocaust's most famous victim". The Forward. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  16. ^ Fox, Mira (September 13, 2021). "How could anyone ever hate Anne Frank — why a fringe group declared war on the Holocaust's most famous victim". The Forward. Retrieved July 30, 2022. Black Hammer has not tweeted about Anne since May, and the group began to publicly hemorrhage members in early August, after Kevin Rashid Johnson of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party accused the organization of being an undercover right-wing group trying to sow division within leftist movements.
  17. ^ Fung, Katherine (September 15, 2021). "Fueled by Nicki Minaj's vaccine tweet, Atlanta protesters gather outside of CDC headquarters". Newsweek. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  18. ^ Asarch, Steven (September 16, 2021). "A viral Nicki-Minaj-themed anti-vaccine protest outside the CDC was led by a fringe political group called Black Hammer". Insider. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  19. ^ Goforth, Claire (December 14, 2021). "Black-led group claims it's formed a coalition with the Proud Boys—that doesn't seem likely". The Daily Dot. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  20. ^ a b Fox, Mira (December 15, 2021). "Did the Proud Boys just embrace an antisemitic, anti-white group?". The Forward. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  21. ^ "Suspect arrested in Fayetteville SWAT standoff identified as leader of controversial 'cult'". FOX5 Atlanta. July 21, 2022. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  22. ^ Nunez, Gabriella (July 20, 2022). "2 men face kidnapping, aggravated assault charges following Fayetteville subdivision SWAT scene". 11 Alive. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  23. ^ Chheda, Manthan (July 26, 2022). "Who is Gadi Kodzo? Anti-White Cult Leader Arrested After Cops Find Dead Body at His Home". The International Business Times. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
  24. ^ Burns, Asia Simone; Joyner, Chris; Prince, Chelsea; Hollis, Henri. "Atlanta fringe group linked to Fayetteville home at center of deadly shooting". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ISSN 1539-7459. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  25. ^ Joyner, Chris (August 16, 2022). "Feds investigating Black Hammer Party in wide-ranging criminal probe". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved August 18, 2022.
  26. ^ a b Montgomery, Ben (August 22, 2022). "The rise and fall of Gazi Kodzo, the leader of a liberation group linked to Russia". Axios. Retrieved August 23, 2022.
  27. ^ a b Joyner, Chris (July 29, 2022). "Atlanta group implicated in Russian influence scheme". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  28. ^ a b Kan, Michael (July 29, 2022). "Russian Agent Paid US Group To Protest Facebook's Parent Meta". PCMag. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  29. ^ Strozewski, Zoe (July 29, 2022). "FBI Raids Florida Office Allegedly Used by Russia for Election Interference". Newsweek. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
  30. ^ "Russian National Charged with Conspiring to Have U.S. Citizens Act as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government". Office of Public Affairs. U.S. Department of Justice. July 29, 2022. Retrieved July 30, 2022.
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