Kodzo’s, whose real name is Augustus Cornelius Romain Jr., grew up in Stone Mountain and attended Perimeter College before moving to Los Angeles where they (Kodzo identifies as gender non-conforming and uses the pronoun “they”) attempted a career as a lifestyle blogger on YouTube under the stage name Smiletone. The group used explosive rhetoric that called for an anti-capitalist revolution, a separate homeland and financial reparations from white “colonizers.” From the beginning, Kodzo was the fire starter. By the end of 2020, there were reportedly hundreds of Black Hammer members in chapters across the country, linked by social media and meeting on video conferences, according to extremist watchdogs and members who defected.Īs an organization, Black Hammer sought to inspire and lead Black and native American people. Membership skyrocketed the following year as the nation was roiled by a series of African-American deaths at the hands of white police and young people began searching for more radical solutions to America’s longstanding issues of racial justice. ![]() ![]() The Black Hammer Organization, as it originally was known, was formed in 2019 in Atlanta by a handful of activists with backgrounds in radical Black, communist organizing. “We don’t know what they are going to do next, which makes it important to watch them,” she said. The “extreme personality” of its leader and the radical nature of its politics make it hard to predict the group’s next moves, she said. Rebecca Federman, an analyst with the Anti-Defamation League, said the Black Hammer Party has consolidated in Atlanta, pivoting toward viral messaging and flirtations with far-right populism. He basically took over the organization.” “It was pretty much whatever Gazi wanted to do,” said Kodzo’s former chief of staff, a woman who goes by the name Savvy. Many of Kodzo’s projects and initiatives resulted in high-profile failures, leading to defections and blistering exposés from other radical groups.Ĭritics, including a number of defectors, say the Black Hammer Party is a cult and Kodzo’s stunts are an attempt to build social media clout and online donations to support his lifestyle, according to interviews and online statements. Last year, its members got in a brief armed standoff in Colorado in a failed attempt to create a self-sustaining compound in a remote area of the Rocky Mountains. Kodzo often is accompanied by an armed security detail and brags about the group’s guns, such as at the anti-police protest last month in Atlanta. The display earned the appreciation of reputed Kremlin influence man Alexander Ionov, who posted about it on his Facebook page, linking that post to Kodzo’s own Facebook page where he has 41,000 followers. ![]() The group livestreamed their protest on YouTube, complaining that Facebook had censored accounts siding with the Russian government in the invasion of Ukraine. He and three of his followers traveled to Menlo Park, Calif., where they staged a protest last month in front of the the headquarters of Meta, the parent company of Facebook. (Daniel Varnado/For the Atlanta Journal-Constitution)Ĭredit: Daniel Varnado for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ![]() Representatives from the group Black Hammer protest Thursday, Jan.
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