Leader of neo-Nazi group linked to Charlottesville attack was a US marine

[dixiegrrrrl]

Pic at link..

Dillon Hopper, the self-styled “commander” of Vanguard America, is a recently retired marine staff sergeant and veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Members of his white supremacist group marched in Virginia last weekend.

Hopper, 29, has been using his former name, Dillon Irizarry, when appearing in public for Vanguard America. But he officially changed his name to Dillon Ulysses Hopper in November 2006, according to court records in his native New Mexico.

Hopper’s active duty with the marines ended in January this year, according to a Department of Defense record. He has lived in California and Ohio since returning to the US. Hopper’s full service record could not immediately be obtained. His Facebook avatar is currently a cartoon image of Donald Trump building a wall.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/14/charlottesville-attack-vanguard-america-james-fields-dillon-hopper

[underpants]

1. Semper FU

[hatrack]

5. *SNORT*

[underpants]

9. :-)

[UTUSN]

2. Let's have a look at the a-hole

I've complained before that Deplorable-DRUMPF's p.o.s.FACE is plastered all over EVERY internet mention of him, including posts here at DU, so posting another a-hole is a change of pace: (Well, can't Copy/Paste)

[Motley13]

3. I wouuld like to ask him what he was fighting for in Iraq & Afganistan?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. There was an interesting comment in that article:

"Vanguard America is one of a handful of new white supremacist organizations that are attempting to radicalize young white men across the country." Isn't that exactly what ISIS is doing - trying to radicalize young men?

[MineralMan]

6. Retired? As a Staff Sgt.?

And at 29 years of age. I don't think so. Not retired. "Former," is more like it.

[underpants]

10. I was going to make the same comment.

[haele]

17. Could be a medical retirement.

But as you said, most likely a former Marine. 10 years and out.
He has a VA card, and that's about it.

Haele

[maxrandb]

31. Knowing something about military retirement

I think sedition or other serious crimes are grounds to review and revoke his benefits and downgrade his discharge status

[LeftInTX]

7. So, he ditched his Spanish surname............

[SweetieD]

12. Noticed that. He is from new Mexico too. I'd bet he has Mexican ancestry.

[TexasProgresive]

8. To Hopper, "You, sir, are no Marine.

I know Marines *, and you are not fit to lick their boots."

* (Both Grandfathers and one son plus friends, including one I see every week.)

[dalton99a]

11. He actually spent three years as a RECRUITER for the Marines

http://splinternews.com/leader-of-the-hate-group-linked-to-charlottesville-atta-1797828772
Leader of the Hate Group Linked to Charlottesville Attacker Was a Recruiter for the U.S. Marines

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. That "sorta skinhead" hair cut is so not flattering.

Makes him look like a Deliverance movie extra.

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. Now that's a real fucking moron. Clearly a case of oxygen deprivation at birth.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Time to break the wall of silence.

I am going to ask the question that we rarely hear. Does the military's autocratic style harbor racists? I mean, the environment is perfect for them. Especially with a chain of command that allow racists to slip into the officer's level where they get away with all kinds of abuses. Rank has its privileges.

I mean, where do you think these people go when they retire? Do you think those head trips are squashed in the civilian communities? Hell no. They're encouraged. They come in and try to recreate the environment they came from, taking over community leadership and continuing their bully, discriminatory ways.

Wake the hell up, people. There is a reason why racism isn't going to die out with the greatest generation, or the baby boomers for that matter. Over-simplistic thinking.

[Not Ruth]

15. You learn to kill, then you go into the public

[Baitball Blogger]

16. If I had to list factors that altered my American Dream, this would definitely

be one of the top three.

[HopeAgain]

29. That's why we shoulda stayed out of Iraq AND Afganistan

The effects of war extend long beyond the conflict...

[JonLP24]

21. I know Confederate flags & Nazi symbols are against military regulations

You're not allowed to have them though it probably doesn't stop some people depending on their chain of command(I never saw this kind of stuff while I was in though there were racists & bigots but 40% of the population at Fort Lewis were non-white I believe has the largest percentage of its population of African-Americans in the state of Washington. In AIT the Drill Sergeants made a point to say the only flag allowed is the American flag. Also similar tattoos weren't allowed and those you couldn't get away with. Mesa civilians 0are far more racist than the people in the Army were though Mesa is a pretty racist place -- home of Russell Pierce. I haven't seen any KKK but there are plenty of neo-nazis

I agree with your last paragraph 110%. These newer generation of racists are very scary and seem to be radicalized on the internet. This alt-right stuff is very immature among other things.

[Baitball Blogger]

24. I think we have a story of two American militarys to run parallel with the Two Americas.

Last edited Tue Aug 15, 2017, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

I grew up in the Canal Zone on a military base, in a small community that was heavily populated by civilians. To be more specific, we lived in a segregated part of the Canal Zone, where they housed Americans who married non-American spouses. Obviously, in those times, we are talking about Latino or White males married to mostly Panamanians.

Despite this, I grew up in the sixties thinking that racism was something that occurred in the U.S. between white and black Americans. I didn't see our community as segregated primarily because I was the same color of the majority of inhabitants in the country of Panama. I didn't even know that our little town was viewed as a segregated community until later, when someone told me that one of our classmate's mother wrote a book about the Canal Zone and described our community as a place where you couldn't tell the difference between the mothers and the maids.

I haven't read that passage, myself, but it's certainly on my to do list to hunt down one of those books. It was such tripe. The mothers were beautiful by anyone's standards.

Anyway, I lived in a shoebox of a house. It was a concrete block duplex, maybe 1750 sq. ft. My dad added a room to take care of the space for five kids, a grandmother and two dogs. The point is, that even when he became a Lt. Colonel in the Army Reserve we didn't change housing as a commemoration to his accomplishment. There was no complaints. I loved my community. I loved my house that backed up to the baseball and softball fields. I loved playing in the tall sawgrass that grew along the airport strip. It was a heavenly childhood.

In sum, my expectations for officers in the military is very different than what I found once I moved to the States. And I think that my humble view of life at an early stage set me on a far different path than many of my friends who moved to the States and followed a very different trajectory.

At the Reunions, when I hear many of the Canal Zone ex-residents talk about any number of subjects, I realize how different we really are. We are all an extinct species, but our lives have followed the separate parallels that exist in the U.S.

Go figure.

[Blue_Tires]

27. I know it was a different time, but

there was an excellent piece in the mid-90s in the NYT about the neo-Nazi culture which had settled in at Ft. Bragg (this was printed not that long after Oklahoma City, so I think '95 or '96) and the neo-Nazis there kind of segregated themselves, but lived pretty openly...

And twitter pointed out the sick irony of a vet from the 82nd Airborne (or at least he had the patches) attending the march...

[JonLP24]

28. I don't doubt it

There were definitely racists & bigots in the Army especially during deployment where most of the people (not me) called the people there "hajis" which is very offensive and my Platoon Sergeant who also was the unit Equal Opportunity Rep chewed my platoon out for this saying "You wouldn't go around saying n-". He is African American himself when he first got there he made anyone with the same last name add an initial to avoid calling people "White Smith" or "Black Smith" instead going for M. Smith or C. Smith.

At the time I had an African-American wife and found that white people had a problem with this rather than the black people in my unit so I mostly hung out with them. I had white friends who weren't like this but it took a deployment to figure out who my real friends are. I remember I took my wife to a mandatory fun Christmas Party and a whole bunch of people were just staring at us made us uncomfortable to the point I wanted to leave. Overall the Tacoma-Lakewood area is pretty liberal so there wasn't much problems overall. Mesa though is a different story. Home of Russell Pierce (SB 1070), JT Ready (Neo Nazi * border militia who murdered his family in Gilbert), and the general attitudes of the people that live here. I was much happier in Pierce County, Washington as far as that goes.

[Blue_Tires]

30. here it is:

Link to tweet

[Not Ruth]

14. Zero surprise

[marylandblue]

18. I was curious why he changed his name from Irizarry

Turns out to be a Basque name, the people who inhabited Spain prior to the Celts and who do not speak an Indo-European language. In other words, NON-ARYAN.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. ahhh....good find.

Wonder how many others have name changes.

[Iggo]

19. Nazi piece of shit.

[obamanut2012]

20. He is absolutely not retired military -- wtf

[GaYellowDawg]

25. His initials are DUH lol lol lol

How. Appropriate.

[dixiegrrrrl]

32. It was the Ulsseys that did him in.....

Good catch!