April 24, 2019 News » Local News
Antifa group calls out Schriever master sergeant for alleged white supremacist activity
Airman gets doxxed
By Pam Zubeck @PZubeck
Nico Wilkinson
Identity Evropa materials have popped up around Colorado Springs, including on Indy distribution boxes.
Schriever Air Force Base is investigating allegations that a master sergeant serving there is part of a white supremacist group, as first reported by The Denver Post.
Master Sgt. Cory Reeves stands accused of being affiliated with Identity Evropa, which has rebranded as the American Identity Movement. The former pasted its symbols around Colorado Springs and on the Independent's newspaper boxes in January. The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies them as a hate group.
The Indy tried unsuccessfully to reach Reeves for comment, both through Schriever and by knocking on the door of a home listed under his name by the El Paso County Assessor's Office. The Post was able to reach Reeves and he declined to comment. He then hung up when asked if he was a member of Identity Evropa.
Evidence of Reeves' involvement can be found on a website created by the Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists group.
Asked about the accusations, Cheri Dragos-Pritchard, chief of Media Operations and Community Engagement for the 50th Space Wing Public Affairs Office at Schriever, issued this statement:
"The Air Force is aware of this allegation and Air Force officials are looking into this information at this time. No further information or details of this allegation can be released until the facts involving this allegation are fully reviewed. Racism, bigotry, hatred, and discrimination have no place in the Air Force. We are committed to maintaining a culture where all Airmen feel welcome and can thrive."
Dragos-Pritchard referred the media to the Pentagon for more information. The Indy was unable to reach anyone to address the Reeves case.
The goal of the Antifa group: to identify white supremacists and extremists and expose them, a process called "doxxing," one member of the group tells the Indy (see capsule on right). Exposing extremists, the member says, can destroy careers and ruin friendships and family relationships — that's the point.
"If you let Identity Evropa control the narrative," the source says, "they're going to organize, recruit and hold big rallies. They're going to eventually gain office and use their power in office to target minorities, the LGBT community, the Jewish community."
The Antifa member isn't being identified due to that person's fear that their family members could be physically harmed (see our anonymity policy).
From the Antifa website: "As a Master Sergeant, Cory Reeves is a bit far into his military career. As a senior non-commissioned officer, he should know better than to organize with these extremist groups. He bet his retirement, his GI Bill benefits, his security clearance (and with it, post-military employment) on the hope that he would never be identified. He was incredibly careful, but in the end he was caught. Antifascists will continue to disrupt racist and fascist organizing."
The military bars its members from extremist activities. Specifically, an Air Force instruction states, "Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that advocate or espouse supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes, including those that advance, encourage, or advocate illegal causes; attempt to create illegal discrimination based on race, color, gender, religion, national origin, or ethnic group; advocate the use of force or violence; or otherwise engage in the effort to deprive individuals of their civil rights."
Violations could lead to disciplinary action or charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Reeves, the website says, allegedly used the username "Argument of Perigee" — a term used to describe the angle within a satellite's orbit plane — on the Identity Evropa Discord server, recently leaked by an alternative media nonprofit called Unicorn Riot.
The website says Reeves used his real name in a podcast with Patrick Casey, the Evropa leader who later rebranded the group as American Identity Movement. Reeves, the website claims, appeared in Evropa activities in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Florida, New York, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Groups that seek to preserve "white rights" have gained traction in recent years and grabbed headlines, such as the August 2017 "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacists held a rally and clashed with counter-protesters, triggering violence that left one dead and 30 injured. Identity Evropa participated in that rally.
One expert, Carter Smith, told The Post the military can be a place of recruitment for white supremacists and far-right nationalist groups, due to training in communications and firearms and the fact that many soldiers and airmen are young and still forming opinions and beliefs. Smith is a former Army criminal investigator who's a professor at Middle Tennessee State University, where he studies gangs and criminal activity in the military.
Earlier this year, a Coast Guard lieutenant who's a self-described white nationalist was arrested in connection with a plot to kill journalists and Democratic politicians. He's pleaded not guilty, according to news reports.
Former Gazette reporter Dave Philipps, who now works for The New York Times, wrote about extremists in the military in February. The story notes that the Pentagon's "posture has generally been that the number of troops involved in extremist activity is tiny, that there are strict regulations against discrimination and extremist activity, and that military commanders are empowered to discipline and discharge troops who break them."
What's doxxing anyway?
Dating from the Ku Klux Klan days of the last century, doxxing is the practice of exposing someone's personal information, usually with an intent to do harm. It has been used to target Neo-Nazi groups, abortion doctors and even Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees after President Donald Trump's policies caused families to be separated at the border, according to The New Republic.
The Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists used its website to dox Air Force Master Sgt. Cory Reeves, who serves at Schriever Air Force Base.
The Independent may choose to grant anonymity:
• to protect sources' or their families' safety, freedom, livelihood or major assets (such as a lease);
• to protect the privacy of victims of certain crimes (such as sexual assault);
• to guard the privacy of vulnerable individuals (such as children);
• because vital information provided by an anonymous source cannot be obtained any other way.
In rare cases, editorial leadership may grant anonymity under other circumstances; however, the story will always explain why a source was not named.
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Tags: Local News, Antifa, air force, white supremacist, schriever air force base
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