Joshua Matthew “JD” Croom Williamson, neo-Nazi carpenter, white power musician, and model for white nationalist clothing companies

This article is part of the #PanzerDox series, exposing the customers and owners of the Neo-Nazi clothing company Panzer Streetwear. #PanzerDox is a collaboration between Colorado Springs Antifascists, Utah 161, Panic! in the Discord, and Corvallis Against Fascism.

Before reading this, please check out the previous our articles on Panzer Street Wear and their ties to American Guard for context.

Content warning for violent, racist, and anti-Semitic language and imagery.

Joshua Matthew “JD” Croom Williamson was born in Charleston, South Carolina to parents who were into music. When he was a child, they took him to numerous live music events; he estimates he saw over 150 concerts before the age of 10. But like so many other kids, Josh inherited more than just a love of music from his family. In his own words, “Being from the south and my father and grandfathers on both sides being Southern boys I grew up with traditional southern values.”[1] Those two things – music and “southern values” – were a toxic combination for JD, who would grow up to be a racist skinhead gang member as well as a member of numerous neo-Nazi bands.

“Southern values” could mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so we’ll let JD explain what that means to him: “I was brought up with Nationalist values, good morals, work ethic, love for your family and love for your heritage.”[2] He seems to have left something out of that description, though; in a previous interview with GQ he stated that when he was a child, his grandfather “wouldn’t let him play with a black friend from school.”[3] At any rate, by the time Williamson was in junior high, his worldview was clearly trending in a racist direction. He moved to North Carolina as a teenager, where he went to schools he says were “85-90% black.” He remembers school as “Fighting, getting jumped. Watching these people knowing in my heart I was not the same [as them].” As a younger kid back in Florida he had gotten into the punk rock scene; as a teenager, he discovered hate rock and the racist skinhead lifestyle. He describes the “skinhead way of life” as “Everything I was taught as a boy. Everything I knew in my heart.”[4] Looks like those values he grew up with were racist after all.

Williamson was in several punk bands before he started his first skinhead band, “Definite Hate,” with a friend in North Carolina.[5] Other members of the band would include guitarist Wade Michael Page, who in August of 2012 attacked a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing several worshipers.[6] Definite Hate’s lyrics often make an explicit connection between southern heritage, racism, and violence:

Around 2001, Definite Hate landed a contract with Resistance Records, which was owned at the time by William Luther Pierce.[7] Pierce founded the violent white supremacist organization National Alliance, but is perhaps best known to the public as the author of the racist, anti-Semitic novel that inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.[8] As the head of Resistance Records, Pierce put JD Williamson’s band onstage at hate rock festivals and concerts across the country. Williamson saw these performances as a way to “wake up the youth and show them there was another way. They didn’t have to feel threatened, they could be the threat.”[9] He would go on to perform with many other hatecore bands, including Platoon 14, Red White and Black, Children of the Reich, Rebel Devils and, most recently, Aggravated Assault/Chaos 88.

Playing hate rock onstage brought Williamson into contact with other racist skinheads from around the country. He and his bandmates gravitated toward Hammerskin Nation, and Williamson would eventually get patched in as a full-fledged member of the Atlantic City Skins (ACS), despite never having lived in New Jersey as far as we can tell. Although he refers to ACS as “the best group of people I’ve ever known,”[10] they are in fact a group of violent neo-Nazis who have committed various hate crimes[11], been convicted of drug trafficking[12], and are responsible for at least one murder[13]. JD’s dedication to the group and their “cause” is illustrated in his numerous social media posts.

Williamson also attended the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally with a group of other boneheads from around the country.

Lately Williamson has done some modeling for Panzer Street Wear (the white power merchandise company profiled in a previous article), and Our Fight Clothing Co.

Our Fight describes itself as a company that supplies “American & European merchandise such as t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, cd’s, vinyl and much more.”[14] The description is accurate, if not precise; their merchandise promotes and supports white nationalist, fascist, and neo-Nazi groups. Williamson’s partner, Darlene, is also a fan of Panzer Street Wear – and of JD’s neo-Nazi bands.

In 2018 Williamson was arrested on weapons charges in Geneva, Nebraska, where he currently lives. He admitted to firing multiple shots pursuant to an “ongoing feud” with another Geneva resident[15], and eventually pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making a “terroristic threat.”[16] So, with a long history of racism and violence, membership in a violent racist bonehead gang, and a music career dedicated to valorizing racism and encouraging violence, what in the world is JD Williamson’s day job?

We’re glad you asked. He says he’s the owner of “Above the Rest Custom Carpentry,” and has posted Instagram photos showing the company’s logo and some of the jobs they’ve worked on.

“Above the rest” is the ACS motto, and Williamson’s company logo bears a marked resemblance to the “marching hammers” symbol used by affiliates of Hammerskin Nation. We were unable to find an active contractor’s or subcontractor’s license, for Williamson or his company, in Geneva or anywhere else in Nebraska. But if the guy installing your new kitchen floor has this kind of history, the fact that he’s unlicensed is probably the least of your worries.

We know Williamson has been kicked off of Facebook multiple times already, but given the current climate with social media organizations removing white supremacists, it looks like it’s time to get him kicked again. Be sure to tweet Facebook and Instagram, report for hate speech, and let them know that he currently has at least four active pages

Josh Williamson Facebook and archive:

“JD Acs Moxie” Facebook and archive:

“Johnny Thunders” Facebook and archive:

 

“Josh ACS” Facebook and archive:

plus his Instagram “Josh ACS” account:

Props to Antifascist Garfield, who published a Twitter thread about JD Williamson on April 24th.

Spread the word to make sure everyone knows what values Joshua Matthew “JD” Croom Williamson believes and shares. Antifascism is community defense, and everyone plays a part, even if it’s just by RTing, posting this article to social media, and reporting the pages for hate speech. We keep us safe!

Stay tuned for more articles in the #PanzerDox series.

If you have any additional tips about JD, Our Fight, or other fascists, please send them to UtahAntifascists (at) riseup.net or DM them to @utah161 on Twitter