Asatru Folk Assembly and Northwest Nationalist Network: A Tale of Two Masons

Welcome to Part IV of a series on the Evergreen Active Club (EAC) and the Northwest Nationalist Network (3N), a regional coalition of white nationalist organizations. This project is a collaboration between several antifascist organizations and individuls including ourselves, SunlightAFA, SoCal Research Club, FashFreeNW, Stumptown Research Collective, and other antifascist anons.

In our fourth installment, we will be identifying the former leader of Puget Sound Active Club, current White Lives Matter Washington and Evergreen Active Club member, and Asatru Folk Assembly “apprentice folkbuilder” Mason Howells. We will also be identifying Evergreen Active Club member and Asatru Folk Assembly “folkbuilder” Mason Johnson, providing a brief overview of Asatru and why they are cause for concern, and detailing the significant overlap between 3N and Asatru membership. For more background information on EAC and 3N, please check out the previous articles in this series:

Part I: Evergreen Active Club: Daniel Rowe and His Bonehead Crew

PartII: Larkin McIntyre & Vinland Rebels: Nazi Bonehead in Shoreline Schools

Part III: Spread of the Northwest Nationalist Network

ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY

The Asatru Folk Assembly is a white-separatist Odinist religious organization operating in North America and internationally in Oceania, Europe, Argentina, and South Africa. Over the last several years, the group has grown significantly, and has established three physical churches, or Hofs, across the US. The organization is considered a hate-group by the Southern Poverty Law Center  and categorized as an extremist group by the Anti Defamation League, and has been denounced by over 120 Pagan religious groups. Despite all this, when interviewed by MPN News, Asatru Folk Assembly High-preist Matt Flavel said the group is peaceful and does not condone violence or hold white supremacist views. This claim is categorically false, and the following article will detail how multiple officials within the organization are actively tied to militant neo-Nazi organizing in the Pacific Northwest. We encourage individuals to judge the Asatru Folk Assembly based on their members, associations, imagery, and political affiliations.

On January 21st, members of Evergreen Active Club, Puget Sound Active Club (PSAC), Asatru Folk Assembly and Rose City Nationalists (RCN) had a regional unity meeting at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood, WA. At this meeting they posed with a giant banner reading, “No White Guilt.” The same banner was dropped during the inaugural 3N action on Hooley Bridge in Portland, Oregon on February 18th, 2023.

 

These banners were produced and sold by Asatru Folk Assembly member Christopher Pohlhaus for a national banner drop in 2020. Pohlhaus has since become one of the US’s most notorious and dangerous neo-Nazis after announcing his intention to turn Maine into a white ethnostate, and his formation of the Blood tribe, a militant group targeting the LGBTQ community.

 

In addition to Pohlhaus, several Asatru Folk Assembly members with connections to violent neo-Nazi crews have been previously identified by a wide array of antifascist researchers:

Back in 2019, we identified one of their members, Sean Wulfe McCann  as the former leader of the Utah chapter of American Guard, and current member of Vinlanders Social Club. Additionally, late last year, we exposed Luke Winchester Kenna and Michael Brown, the men behind Aryan Compartmented Elements, a neo-Nazi terrorist cell that was busted for coordinating a bank robbery. Both of the men have ties to Asatru.

Frankie Moreira, a member of the neo-Nazi bonehead prison gang Peckerwoods, was identified as being a member of Asatru Folk Assembly by Bay161.

Antifa Sacramento exposed Joseph Simmons and his partner Anna Simmons as members of the Asatru Folk Assembly, and Joseph as a member of the neo-Nazi bonehead gang Golden State Skinheads. Additionally, he has connections to the Hammerskins and the Rise Above Movement.

Asatru Folk Assembly members Joshua and Terry Williams were identified as members of Identity Evropa/American Identity Movement, an org which played a key role in organizing the deadly Unite the Right rally in August 2017, by Ashville Anti Racism.

Ashville Anti Racism also exposed Christopher Pack as a member of the now defunct Traditionalist Worker Party and an associate of the Hammerskins, along with him and his wife Karissa Pack as members of the Asatru Folk Assembly.

Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists identified Patriot Front, Front Range Active Club, and Asatru Folk Assembly member William Planer in late May of this year

Additionally, the researchers with Southwest Washington Anti Racist Movement identified former Klu Klux Klan member Tom Herman as a member of Asatru Folk Assembly operating in Lewis County, Washington.

This concerning overlap further extends into the groups leadership roles; multiple Asatru Folk Assembly “Folkbuilders” have deep connections with various neo-Nazi organizations. A “Folkbuilder” is an official leadership position within the org, with the task of spreading their message and recruiting new members.

Asatru “Folkbuilder” Marc Macloed was exposed by Antifa Sacremento in 2020 as being a close associate of neo-Nazi gangs such as the Golden State Skinheads, Sacto Skins, and Blood & Honor.

Atlanta Antifascists exposed Asatru Folk Assembly “apprentice folkbuilder” Trent East and “Gothi” (priest) Dalton Woodward as associates of the neo-Nazi terror org Atomwaffen Division. Trent East was also identified as an associate of Operation Werewolf.

In this article, we will be adding two more names to this growing list of Asatru Folk Assembly members who are affiliated with violent white nationalist political organizations:

MASON ROSS HOWELLS

 

Mason Howells is a white nationalist, Asatru Folk Assembly “apprentice folkbuilder,” and member of Evergreen Active Club, who is currently operating out of Lynnwood, Washington. In this article, we will be detailing the timeline of Mason Howells’ presence in the PNW white nationalist scene, starting from his involvement with WLM Washington, to his leadership position within Puget Sound Active Club (PSAC), to his role in helping establishing the Northwest Nationalist Network, and eventually assembling into Evergreen Active Club.

Mason Howells – involvement with WLM Washington

White Lives Matter is a loosely organized white nationalist movement that aims to fight the conspiratorial “great replacement theory,” which has been the motivation behind several terrorist attacks. There are chapters in most states, and members typically center their actions around the second Saturday of each month, holding hate rallies, placing graffiti, distributing flyers, and holding banner drops. Another WLM Washington member – Frank John Baptist Bagley II – has previously been identified by WA Nazi Watch.

Mason Howells first came on the radar of Antifascist researchers as a previously unidentified member of WLM Washington that can be seen in the majority of their media releases. He first appeared in a WLM Washington video from July 20th, 2022, where members of Rose City Nationalists met up with the crew and engaged in a flag and book burning.

 

This WLM Washington member was additionally responsible for much of the white nationalist graffiti in Lynnwood, Washington and the neighboring communities.

 

A couple months later, this same individual can be seen in a WLM Washington propaganda video from 12/17/2022, where he was among a trio of neo-Nazis who distributed white nationalist propaganda to crowds departing from Lumen Field, and placed WLM stickers across downtown Seattle.

 

This unidentified members involvement with WLM Washington continued into 2023, and he can be seen in footage from a banner drop on 1/14. He was one of the two members who tore a pride flag, before the crew marched onto a highway overpass to unveil  a banner that contained a popular white nationalist slogan and a Celtic cross flag, before throwing up Nazi salutes.

 

This specific WLM member can additionally be seen in a propaganda release from a few months later on 3/12, where 7 neo-Nazis place a banner displaying “WHITE LIVES MATTER” over an I5 overpass in Pierce County. Similar to their prior actions, these fascists also placed white nationalist stickers around the area.

 

Researchers were able to determine that this was the same repeating individual due to wardrobe connections across the various events. They were able to connect Lynnwood, Washington resident and Asatru Folk Assembly “apprentice Folkbuilder” Mason Howells to this individual, through unmasked pictures of him from publicly available social media posts.

 

Mason Howells – Poster Behind the PSAC Telegram

One of the founding crews of the Northwest Nationalists Network, Puget Sound Active Club is a now defunct “3.0” style neo-Nazi organization that was responsible for distributing white nationalist propaganda across the Seattle-Tacoma region. Forming in late October of 2022, the PSAC telegram infrequently posted white nationalist graffiti members had engaged in, along with posting fascist propaganda supporting the Northwest Territorial Imperative.

 

We got our first look at the individual behind the telegram in November of 2022, when a video of an individual throwing away “enemy propaganda” was included in a media release.

Through matching up the countertop and flooring patterns and materials, researchers were able to determine that this video was filmed in Mason Howell’s kitchen.

 

Additionally, the filmer can be seen wearing the same pants that Mason Howells was wearing in the WLM actions on 12/17 and on 1/14, along with the same green undershirt Howells wore to the action on 3/12.

 

The scope of PSAC’s “activism” was very limited, only engaging in a handful of stickering efforts and hosting a few training sessions. A photo posted to the PSAC telegram from one of these workout sections was identified by researchers as being taken in the 24 Hour Fitness gym in Lynnwood, Washington – Mason’s hometown.

 

Reminiscent of the Northwest Nationalist Network’s networking efforts, PSAC met up with Pride and Combat, on the night of 11/18/22. Pride and Combat is a defunct Idaho-based white supremacist sparring group formerly ran by neo-Nazi cult member Nick Stamolis. The PSAC and PAC telegrams posted a selfie of representatives of PSAC and PAC following the meeting, accompanied with the crews lofty goals for the future.

 

Anti-fascist researchers were able to identify the person on the right as Mason Howells through publicly available social media posts, where Howells can be seen wearing the same zip-up University of Washington hoodie.

 

This connection was strengthened when the same individual posted another selfie later on in the channels lifespan, where they can be seen wearing the same green undershirt from the WLM event on 3/12

 

The day following this unity meeting, on 11/19/22, members of PSAC, along with members of WLM Washington, Idaho, and Montana held a hate rally in the city of Spokane. About a dozen neo-Nazis paraded around the streets and vomited out white nationalist rhetoric at residents. Among this group of fascists was Mason Howells, wearing the same hoodie as the night before.

 

As a distinct organization, Puget Sound Active Club was short lived. While clearly being an instrumental force in establishing 3N, the PSAC telegram was deleted in early February of 2023, and they were last listed as a 3N member crew on a telegram post from March 5th. Given this, and their overwhelmingly young membership, researchers had been operating with the assumption that PSAC was subsumed into EAC, being taken under the wing of their older and hardened Nazi bonehead membership. This assumption was confirmed on June 10th, when Mason Howells and other suspected former PSAC members were spotted disrupting a pride event Centralia, Washington, repping Evergreen Active Club.

Mason Howells – the “Push-up” Nazi

Keen readers may have already recognized Mason Howells as the pathetic neo-Nazi who got utterly humiliated at Lewis County Pride in Centralia on June 10th. Video captured from the event – which would later go viral on multiple platforms and was used in news coverage – shows Howells losing a push-up contest in perhaps the most embarrassing way possible.

Evergreen Active Club and Rose City Nationalists made a paltry showing at Lewis County Pride last weekend, and were clowned out of town by the locals.

In this first video, you can see one of the EAC nazis being brutally murdered by a Pride attendee as the crowd cheers. pic.twitter.com/FdQLHmmEsj

— StumptownResearch (@Stumptown161) June 14, 2023

While this is extremely ironic coming from a member of an active club, with the core of the movement being centered in physical fitness and martial arts, we do not want to distract from the very real threat that these people and the ideology they push bring to our communities. To that end, in photos from Centralia it also appears that Mason Howells may have been concealed carrying a handgun, although this is currently unconfirmed.

This is also the first time Mason had ever been seen without a mask on at a white nationalist rally, giving researchers a clear facial match to images sourced from publicly available social media posts, positively confirming his identity. During this hate rally, Mason hurled genocidal, anti-LGBTQ rhetoric at community members celebrating queer joy. Howells was seen wearing EAC merch sold by Daniel Rowe, whom he followed around like a scared dog throughout the day.

 

Mason Howells went on to attend another anti-LGBTQ hate rally wearing an Evergreen Active Club shirt, disrupting the annual Pride in Perry in the city of Spokane (where Mason had previously attended a WLM rally) on 6/24/23. Mason can be seen in photos from the event holding a shield provided by WLM Montana.

 

Utilizing a mountain of evidence collected over several months, Antifascist researchers were able to definitively identify this member of White Lives Matter Washington, Puget Sound Active Club, and Evergreen Active Club as Asatru Folk Assembly “apprentice Folkbuilder” Mason Howells. Despite Howells’ strikingly young age, he is deeply immersed into the neo-Nazi and white nationalist movement, and gaining membership into four separate organizations over the course of just over a year represents a vast commitment to this genocidal movement.

 

 

MASON JOHNSON

Mason Johnson is an Asatru Folk Assembly “Folkbuilder” based out of Lakewood, Washington. Johnson first came on our radar in early 2022 when we determined that he was associating with neo-Nazi murderer and children’s Jiu-Jitsu instructor Justin “JT” Laks in Vancouver, Washington. We were able to effectively shut down JT’s jiu-jitsu school and, as an added bonus, crushed Mason Johnson’s dreams of a career in game development.

 

Mason Johnson has been present in the Northwest Nationalist Network from the beginning. He was present at the preliminary 3N meetup in Lakewood, Washington, and can be seen in the pictures circulated after the event. The gathering was held at Fort Steilacoom park, less than one mile from Mason’s house.

Johnson’s presence was also documented at the aforementioned disruption of Lewis County Pride. He went to the event wearing the same goofy-ass flatcap he always wears.

 

 

3N AND ASATRU FOLK ASSEMBLY

Mason and his wife Rachel Johnson are active organizers for the “Nordvestri Kindred” of the Asatru Folk Assembly, centered in Pierce and King counties. A kindred is an official body within the church that must consist of at least three households. It should be noted that the flag of this kindred, a vertical green, white, and blue tricolor is made directly in reference to the Northwest Territorial Imperative, a white supremacist plan to establish a whites-only ethnostate in the Pacific Northwest. The same colors are used by the Northwest Nationalist Network in almost all of their propaganda.

 

 

 

Regardless of their claims of being a benign religious organization, the Asatru Folk Assembly is ideologically united with genocidal neo-Nazi politics. The incorporation of such beliefs into their religious practices and cultural identity ensures a deep commitment to the white supremacist movement, and poses a threat to any community in which the group is active.

Along with Mason Howells and Mason Johnson, there appears to be multiple other members of 3N that are part of the Assembly. The most involved of them is EAC member Zachary Altona, who was recently exposed by Southwest Washington Anti Racist Movement. Altona can be seen in a plethora of Asatru Folk Assembly group photos.

Christopher and Alena Mack of Olympia, Washington, are also heavily involved with Asatru. Chris and Alena are associated with Vinland Rebels, and were featured in our recent article exposing Vinland Rebels member Larkin McIntyre. Additionally, they are both members of Operation Werewolf, and Chris Macks brother, Edward Mack, is affiliated with the NorthWest Hammerskins and PNW Wolfpack.

Chris and Alena Mack can be seen in a photo from the Asatru Folk Assembly May Day celebration in Washington along with EAC member Zachary Altona. Among this group is Justin O’Leary, aka “Ethan WA”, a Patriot Front Network Quatermaster who was exposed by WaNaziWatch last year. Multiple other 3N members are present in this picture, and will soon be exposed to the world.

 

One thing worth noting about the above photo is the large amount of young children who are present. A major part of the Asatru Folk Assembly’s mission is to indoctrinate youth into their hateful cult. In our earlier article on Vinland Rebels, we showed Alena Mack making a group of children perform a Nazi salute. This was done during a PNW Wolfpack event, a group that lists Nordvestri Kindred as a member on their website.

 

Mason’s wife Rachel Johnson is also actively grooming children into neo-Nazism. She works with the “Asatru Academy”, a homeschooling network run by the church that began offering classes in fall of 2022. The Academy cites a desire to educate “Aryan” students in an environment free of critical race theory. Rachel works as the Assistant dean state compliance officer, meaning that she is working to get the, “school” recognized and credentialed where it is operating.

One victim of this Nazi influence is Mason Howells; In internal documents circulated within the Asatru Folk Assembly’s Odinsof district pertaining to Mason Howells’ conversion to Asatru, Howells describes how Mason Johnson was the person who introduced him to Asatru, and that Johnson made him feel “inspired.” It is clearly evident that Mason Johnson is actively attempting to radicalize disaffected and vulnerable young people into the greater white nationalist scene. The Asatru Folk Assembly provides such people with a sense of community when they typically have none, built on the shaky premise of a shared ethnic and cultural identity, and a common heritage. This setting provides the infrastructure necessary for white nationalist political organizations — most notably militant neo-Nazi bonehead gangs — to recruit new members. As a young person, Howells had tremendous potential to succeed in life, but due to the pernicious influence of Mason Johnson, that has been completely squandered.

These connections make is clear that the Asatru Folk Assembly serves as a conduit for violent neo-Nazi organizing and as a vector for young people to get funneled into militant fascist group, providing the foundation needed for such groups to recruit new members. The increasing growth and influence of Asatru Folk Assembly, particularly in the Pacific Northwest, is cause for great concern, as it ultimately strengthens the militant white nationalist movement by providing avenues for networking and collaboration between various groups. We encourage antifascists across the country to address Asatru kindreds with the same fervor.

More info about both of the Masons may be obtained by emailing us at [email protected]