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S. Indiana white nationalists working to shut the door on multicultural America
Author: Shay McAlister
Published: 7:29 PM EST December 19, 2016
Updated: 11:25 PM EST December 19, 2016
SPECIAL-REPORTS 1 Articles
CHAPTER 1

PAOLI, Ind. (WHAS11) -- It’s a national movement that is now gaining steam in southern Indiana. One group of people says it's ready to shut the door on multicultural America. Those with the Traditionalist Worker Party want an all-white community, living separate but equal lives from other races. It’s a future they’re fighting for from Paoli, Indiana.

"Racist, Nazi, white supremacist, all the buzz words the left likes the throw, I actually enjoy them all. Keep ‘em a coming,” Jason Augustus said.

Augustus is a member of the Traditionalist Worker Party. After living in New York City for 32 years, he said he decided he wants to live in an all-white society.

He said, "I’m the minority. I'm the bad guy. I'm the one with privilege. So I just decided at some point, I have to do something."

Augustus lives 45-miles outside of Louisville in Paoli, Indiana. There, he lives on a shared property with Matthew Heimbach and Matt Parrot, who are leading the Traditionalist Worker Party, a registered political party.

Chairman of the Traditionalist Worker Party Matthew Heimbach said, “We want to be able to put forward the interests of white Americans to be able to not only give us this political voice, but to be able to support our heritage, and support our culture, and be able to have a future where we're in control of our own future nation."

At 25-years-old, Heimbach is the founder of the party.

You may remember him as the man who was charged with harassment and misdemeanor physical contact after allegedly assaulting a protestor at a Donald Trump rally in downtown Louisville in March 2016.

The Maryland native now lives in southern Indiana on the shared property with his wife, child and several other men who, he said, are just like him.

"It’s a very hard life to be a white activist. So for us to be able to have a community that's family friendly, that's a safe space, that's a very positive and family-oriented thing,” Heimbach said.

Matt Parrot, 34, Heimbach's father-in-law, is the oldest member of the party. Heimbach married Parrot's 22-year-old stepdaughter after meeting her through Parrot. Parrot owns the property that he and several other white nationalists call home.

"It’s definitely for somebody who is a white advocate... the national underground railroad of white advocates,” Parrot, who is the Chief Information Officer of the Traditionalist Worker Party, said.

Augustus said he met Parrot on the internet earlier this year. He is one of four who moved to Paoli from New York City in September. Members said they are expecting several additional nationalists to re-locate to the Paoli property in the coming months.

"I can't just sit here and just be quiet anymore. White people like me are being openly discriminated against. And where I can't say anything. So I came to a place where there's people like me,” Augustus said. "I would like to live around people only like myself."

The members’ thoughts on ending racial strife in America starts by dividing the nation into ethnic communities.

Heimbach said, "Current trends make it so we have to be able to have a political voice. We have to be able to change current policy. These global policies that are displacing us.”

He said he fears his way of life is being threatened by growing acceptance of multicultural America.

When asked if minorities have a place in their ideal future, Heimbach said, "Yeah, the future of them being able to have their own nation states here in North America where they're going to be independent in sovereign, and we're going to do the same."

He said to make their ideas a reality, the party plans to run five candidates on the state and local level in 2018.

"It’s extremely scary,” Tiffany Martin, who grew up in Paoli, said.

The members’ beliefs are not on par with most community members who explained that Orange County celebrates diversity.

Andy Mahler said, "It’s a shame that we get national exposure for views that are not consistent with the views of the majority of people who live here."

"White nationalism is another phrase for white supremacy and that’s not something that’s ok. That’s not a view that we really want to be associated with,” Brad Pickens said. His family has lived in Orange County for 200 years.

The group's presence in Paoli has created a small town divide on what is a big issue across the country.

"We’re not telling anyone else how to live, were simply trying to opt out of the multicultural American experiment, to be able to have our own home. So we don't want to force anyone to abide by our principals. We just want to be left alone."

The Traditionalist Worker Party has chapters across the country but is primarily based out of the Midwest with three chapters in Kentucky, two in Ohio and one in Indiana.

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S. Indiana white nationalists working to shut the door on multicultural America

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