George Raymond Haynie III is a Skilled Craft Supervisor at the University of Georgia who earned $83,627.10 in 2023. He has utilized the stability his salary provides him to contribute to the growing neo-Nazi presence here in Georgia, a salary paid for by our tax dollars. He is a member of the Aryan Freedom Network, a neo-Nazi group formed in Texas with a growing presence here in Georgia. Additionally, his wife is the founder and president of Schatzkind Services Co., a nonprofit that preys on those seeking pregnancy crisis housing to cultivate white supremacist and fascist ideas.

On October 26, 2024, the Haynies’ hosted an Aryan Freedom Network gathering at their home in Lexington called “Aryan Fest”. The event was advertised as a neo-Nazi festival and featured a giant flaming swastika, a horrifying reminder that the legacy of white supremacy in Georgia is far from a thing of the past. George and his wife Shannon hosted this white supremacist event in their own backyard, thereby avowing their commitments to the neo-Nazism espoused by the Aryan Freedom Network. Haynie’s continued employment by the University of Georgia is not just a threat to students and staff on campus, but endangers the wider Georgia community by signaling that white supremacist, ultranationalist rhetoric and violence does not preclude someone from obtaining and retaining employment at state institutions. We demand that the University of Georgia promptly terminate George Raymond Haynie III’s employment as Machine Shop Manager for the College of Engineering and release a statement condemning the “Aryan Fest” hosted on October 26th and the white supremacism and ultranationalism it celebrated.

The Haynies’ efforts to cultivate white supremacy in the state of Georgia go much deeper than just this most recent event. As mentioned, Shannon Haynie is the founder and president of the nonprofit Schatzkind Services Co., a neo-Nazi homestead posing as a pregnancy crisis center. Despite featuring Nazi iconography and language on its now archived site, it was approved as a Maternity Supportive Housing Residence by the Georgia Department of Human Services. Featured prominently is the Lebensrune, or “life rune”, which was popularized by the racist and eugenecist SS-initiated Lebensborn. Furthermore, the site’s “About Us” page emphasizes that Schatzkind is a German word meaning treasure child, and makes reference to our kin, our folk, and our folkways. It is evident that the Haynies intend to take advantage of families in crises to spread the same neo-Nazi ideas that they platformed at their home on October 26. If the Haynies succeed in this project, they will not only be exposing vulnerable women and children to a population notorious for domestic abuse and racial violence, but will also expand the reach of their white supremacist and ultranationalist ideas. We demand answers from the Georgia Department of Human Services on their approval of a neo-Nazi homestead as a Maternity Supportive Housing Residence and call for its immediate removal from their online resource directory.

Clearly, the Haynies are unabashed neo-Nazis and white supremacists whose presence in our community should not be tolerated. As Georgia’s flagship state institution, UGA has obligations not just to its student body and the Athens-Clarke County community, but to the state of Georgia as a whole. The Haynies’ commitment to fostering white supremacy and ultranationalism throughout Georgia poses an immediate danger to people of color and those sharing other marginalized identities across the Southeast. The Athens-Clarke County community will not stand by while UGA employs a known white supremacist and neo-Nazi, even as it continues to skirt accountability for its own racist legacy. White supremacy in the surrounding community cannot be divorced from the white supremacy still permeating the university, which is evident in UGA’s continued disregard for the displacement of the Linnentown community and its desecration of the slave remains discovered beneath Baldwin Hall. We must persistently reckon with the continued legacy of racism in the South and to root it out wherever it rears its head, first and foremost in ourselves and the communities and institutions we inhabit.

STAND WITH ATHENS AGAINST WHITE SUPREMACY, FASCISM, AND ULTRANATIONALISM IN OUR COMMUNITY!