On Saturday, June 8th, anti-fascists exposed a realtor named Paul Preston as being the leader of a local Neo-Nazi Group called the Houston Goylers. On the same day they confronted him outside his home in Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood where he lives with his Neo-Nazi girlfriend, Ariel Gherman. Before news even had a chance to spread about the confrontation, active members of Houston’s Alt-Right were already well into an uproar of infighting and blame on Facebook. Weeks prior to the event, tensions were already running high between “AK Lane”, an Alt-Right woman who was dating a Patriot Front member, and Paul Preston. AK Lane had vaguely accused Paul of being a “Nazi LARPer with a Jewish girlfriend” (Ariel bears a commonly Jewish surname), and Paul had in turn been making jokes about AK Lane’s body and appearance for some time. Preston further inflamed tensions by implying it was preferable to date an attractive non-white woman over an opinionated fascist white woman, angering the more “principled” Nazis. This infighting, driven largely by the hopelessly dramatic Paul Preston, ironically rendered him helpless and friendless just a few days later when a large bloc of anti-fascists arrived at their doorstep. Demonstrations continued for well over an hour, with Ariel hiding inside with no one to call upon for aid.
After finding out the hard way that being a Nazi in the real world won’t be tolerated, Paul and Ariel took their anger back to the internet looking for someone to blame for this series of humiliating defeats – while others made laughable claims they could have done something differently to stop us. Over the next few days arguments among fascists flared and it was revealed by AK Lane’s boyfriend that she had previously threatened to doxx Paul Preston.
Upon seeing this, Paul and Ariel became convinced that AK Lane had been solely responsible for doxxing them. Incapable of believing that anti-fascists could collect such extensive information on their own, a number of stories began circulating online about AK Lane working with anti–fascists and doxxing her former friends.
In actuality, Paul had doxxed himself by posting pictures from his home office, and by identifying himself as Wooderson on film during a fascist “Texas Is Ours” rally in Austin the year prior. AK Lane had not, despite her threats, communicated any information about Preston but it ultimately didn’t matter. His unprincipled, panicked, childishly dramatic demeanor lead him to doxx AK Lane as Kathryn Powell, a name not previously known to us. Both Paul and Ariel made a concerted effort to distribute this information widely online, including photos of Kathryn’s work badge as a TMS Transit Specialist for TAPS Public Transit in North Texas. It’s unclear if that is her current or former employer.
Throughout the weeks following, Kathryn Powell has been the target of continued harassment from her former Nazi associates. Memes, jokes, and threats about her have been circulating across fascist social media circles and are being shared by fascists not even originally involved in these disputes. She is no longer dating her boyfriend from Patriot Front, who appears to have betrayed her by releasing her threats to doxx Paul Preston. It’s no surprise that the first people they are ready to betray are women. The Alt-Right is deeply rooted in misogyny, and they will always seek to blame their own failures and weaknesses on women first.
Kathryn is still active in some fascist circles such as the “Othinn Folk” Nazi Pagan group which she administers on social media along with other Neo-Nazis. Paul Preston and his friends have gone out of their way to make a fake Facebook group where they make fun of Othinn Folk and Kathryn Powell herself. These events seem to have pitted Paul Preston and his friends in the Houston Goylers and Patriot Front against anyone who supports or tolerates Kathryn in other groups.
White supremacists, and in this case “Chad Nationalists” in particular, build themselves up as strong, disciplined fighters who put their “movement” above all else. In reality, these are fragile, childish white men terrified of being exposed and ready to throw each other under the bus at the first sign of trouble.
Paul Joseph Preston, often using the aliases Whit Wooderson and Woody White, is a co-founder of a local white nationalist organization known as the Houston Goylers, and a frequent contributor to the Alt-Right podcast Exodus Americanus. He has participated in numerous white supremacist and Neo-Nazi rallies including the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017, the attempted disruption of the Houston Anarchist Bookfair in 2017, and the attempted disruption of Bingo Against Borders in 2018, among others. He works in real estate and holds a Texas real estate license. His license is sponsored by Applied Real Estate Technologies, LLC, which does business under the trade name ListingSpark. Paul lives with his white nationalist girlfriend, Ariel Gherman, in Houston’s Near Northside neighborhood where he owns a house.
Paul Preston and Ariel Gherman marching in the white supremacist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, 2017.
Paul Joseph Preston isone of the two original founders of a Houston-based Neo-Nazi organization called the Houston Goylers. The name is an antisemitic play on the name of the old Houston football team, the Houston Oilers. Goy is a Hebrew word that was historically sometimes used to refer to non-Jews, and is often used today by white supremacists and Neo-Nazis today to emphasize how not-Jewish, and in fact how anti-Jewish, they are. Among Houston Neo-Nazis, the Goylers are generally regarded as the “main guys” who organize as explicit white supremacists in Houston, alongside Patriot Front. In 2016 the Goylers boasted a membership of around 25 people, with about 10 of them reported as being highly active according to Paul Preston, though it is unclear if they have maintained the same membership over recent years.
The Houston Goylers logo, featuring the Neo-Nazi “Black Sun” symbol on top of the Houston Oilers logo.
Wooderson (Paul Preston), featured as a Co-Founder on the Goylers website, which may no longer be active.
Paul Preston uses the alias Whit Wooderson online (and variations like “Woody White”), and credits himself as “one of the founders of Chad Nationalism” as well. Like many other Alt-Right terms, Chad Nationalism is really just a meme-based rebranding of white nationalism, centered around building up one’s identity as an “alpha male” as featured in Chad memes online. Under his Whit Wooderson alias, Paul is also an administrator to the “Boartex of Power” Facebook group, which serves as a private social group for the Alt-Right talkshow “Exodus Americanus”, a channel on “The Right Stuff” (TRS) fascist podcast platform. He has participated in a number of TRS podcasts under the name Wooderson, discussing the social activities of the Houston Goylers, his love of Confederate Flag regalia, work and life advice for fellow Neo-Nazis, and his contempt for everyone who isn’t a white, straight Christian male with racial slurs littered throughout. Here is a short clip of Wooderson laying out his beliefs on Exodus Americanus Episode 112:
Whit Wooderson listed as an admin for the private “Boartex of Power” Facebook group where Exodus Americanus listeners congregate.
On top of just talking on The Right Stuff podcasts, Paul helped organize “TRS Pool Party” meetups around Houston. These are basically just real-life social meetups for Alt-Right Nazis who listen to or are involved in the podcasts, but they have played a role in networking different fascist groups together and bringing in new members. Paul also joined the white supremacist group “Identity Europa” when they were around in 2016, and put up some of their flyers around Houston which FreePress Houston reported about at the time.
Paul showing off the Nazi pins he says he wears around town.
Paul Preston showing off the 1488 sign in his house.
He also posted about having made shirts with the same 1488 design.
Racist memes are commonplace on Paul’s timeline.
References to Rhodesia are popular among Neo-Nazis, including Dylan Roof who committed the Charleston shooting at a black church in 2015.
In 2017, Paul traveled to Charlottesville to participate in the Unite the Right demonstrations that culminated with James Field’s deadly car attack. During Friday’s torch-lit march, Paul could be seen dressed in a white polo shirt and khaki pants–the uniform of the now-defunct white nationalist group Vanguard America. He held hands and walked with his girlfriend Ariel Gherman (who sometimes uses the alias Ariel Sherman). You’ll remember last year we exposed Ariel for renting the house that the Texas Neo-Nazi contingent stayed in during their trip to Charlottesville. After our expose, Ariel was promptly fired from her job at a right-wing graphic design and media strategy firm, Harris Media (which has its own ties to international fascism), and soon after moved back to her hometown of Houston, where she took up residence with Paul.
Paul in Charlottesville (1)
Paul in Charlottesville (2)
Ariel and Paul in Charlottesville (1)
Ariel and Paul in Charlottesville (2)
In the summer of 2017, Paul attended a white nationalist “Texas is Ours” rally in front of the Texas Capitol in Austin. With his organization “The Houston Goylers”, Paul participated in the attempted disruption of the Houston Anarchist Bookfair in September 2017, alongside Patriot Front and other fascists. He also was one of the white nationalists who attempted to disrupt the SURJ Bingo Against Borders event at a Houston bar in August 2018. He was caught on camera daring onlookers to “Take my picture, try to get me fired!” Aside from trying to disrupt various left wing events, the Goylers focus mostly on physical fitness training and do a lot of group activities in private, such as going on “Hate Hikes” with Patriot Front members and other Nazis.
Azzmador from the Daily Stormer (Left), talking to Paul Preston (Right) at the “Texas Is Ours” rally in Austin.
Paul Preston and other Nazis were filmed by multiple people when they tried to disrupt a “Bingo Against Borders” event at Alabama Ice House.
There are a number of things which we will feature below that help prove Paul Preston is the real person behind the “Whit Wooderson” alias:
On his “Woody White” account, which is a backup account for his other “Whit Wooderson” profile, Paul posted this picture from his front porch. The picture was determined to be taken from the porch of 1205 Morris Street, the house Paul Preston owns. The black fence in the photo is the northern edge of Near Northside High School.
A cached photo from Paul’s old twitter account, featuring a young version of him with a face that matches his current appearance.
Also from his Woody White account, Paul posted here about telling his dad he went to an Andrew Yang presidential campaign event. Though he obviously cropped out his and Ariel’s faces, you can see them wearing the same clothes in other peoples photos of the Yang event (in the photo to the right).
Joffre Cross, Ariel Gherman, and Paul Preston can be seen more clearly from another angle.
Realtors,White Supremacy, and Gentrification
Paul and Ariel live in a house Paul owns in the Near Northside, a historically Latino and Black neighborhood in central Houston, just north of downtown. It was the site of the 1978 protests and rebellion following the police murder of Jose Campos Torres.It’s also a neighborhood which, like much of inner loop Houston, has been struggling with gentrification and displacement, especially since the construction of the Red Line MetroRail in 2013. Additionally, the Near Northside has been the base of Paul’s real estate business activities.
Paul currently holds a real estate license sponsored by Applied Real Estate Technologies, LLC, which does business as ListingSpark. It’s unclear whether Paul is an employee of ListingSpark or just an independent contractor. In either case, Texas law makes ListingSpark legally accountable for all the actions of the agents it sponsors. Sponsoring the license of an open Neo-Nazi like Paul or any of his associates therefore creates a huge liability for ListingSpark or any other sponsoring brokerage.
The Fair Housing Statement by ListingSpark states that they “fully support the principles of the Fair Housing Act … which generally prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, [and] religion,” and that they “are committed to, creating and fostering an environment of diversity throughout their … organization and franchise system.” Additionally, Section 531.19 of the Rules of the Texas Real Estate Commission prohibits real estate license holders from indicating “any preference, limitation, or discrimination” based on race, color, religion, national origin, or ancestry, among other characteristics. Article 10 of the Texas REALTORS® Code of Ethics (of which Paul is a member) contains a number of anti-discrimination provisions as well. But how can they expect an openly white supremacist Neo-Nazi to abide by these Fair Housing and non-discrimination laws?
Before his current gig with ListingSpark, Paul was the co-owner of Bayou City Properties, LLC, together with Daniel Nelan Starr. During that time both Paul and Daniel had real estate licenses sponsored by Granite Point Realty. The registered address of Bayou City Properties was 1205 Morris Street, the very house that Paul purchased in 2018 and for which he used Daniel as the real estate agent.
Dan Starr clearly had a close relationship with Paul and is still Facebook friends with Paul’s openly fascist account “Woody White,” and he “likes” or interacts with some of Paul’s Nazi posts. Dan Starr’s wife, Olivia, is also Facebook friends with Ariel Gherman. Dan Starr still owns and lists a number of other properties in the Near Northside as well, but appears to currently work for an Austin-based real estate company called Jovio.
Dan Starr’s facebook profile, where you can see he has friended “Woody White”
Below, we can see Paul Preston’s realty friend Dan Starr jokingly post “WE STAND WITH ISRAEL” in the comments of one of Paul’s posts complaining about Donald Trump supporting Israel.
The presence of an openly white supremacist real estate agent on the Near Northside, along with his other realty connections, is an enormous threat to all the non-white people still trying to hang on in this neighborhood. Like all U.S. cities, Houston has a long history of racial discrimination, segregation, and white supremacy in the real estate and housing industries, from redlining neighborhoods for disinvestment; blockbusting and white flight; discrimination in lending; and many other practices–both overt and subtle–used to arrange urban space to reflect and reinforce the larger racial hierarchies in society. The recent efforts at gentrifying the Near Northside follow this legacy closely.
As Atlanta Antifascists noted in their 2017 expose of a white nationalist lawyer and real estate developer, “Involvement in property development and gentrification has several obvious appeals to white nationalists. First, insofar as it builds white enclaves at the expense of communities of color, this parallels the larger-scale political goals of white nationalism. Second, it generates funds and material resources that may be put at the disposal of the racist movement. Third, being perceived as a successful businessperson can itself generate political capital and greater opportunities to spread one’s message.”
To be clear, the serious problems of racist development strategies and gentrification, housing and lending discrimination, and the displacement and subjugation of communities of color is so much bigger than a handful of avowed Neo-Nazis in the real estate business–just like a handful of Neo-Nazis in law enforcement or the military are not the cause of the white supremacist and colonial/imperial function of policing and the military. The attraction of white nationalists and Neo-Nazis merely illuminates the white supremacist structure and function already existing in these institutions. The structural white supremacy that exists in these industries and institutions creates attractive work opportunities for overt white nationalists, lends them an appearance of legitimacy while they enact their white nationalist agenda, and provides fertile ground for recruiting people steeped in the same culture.
#YangGang
On March 10th,2019, Paul and Ariel, along with fellow Nazis William Fears and Joffre Cross (both currently under indictment for being felons in possession of firearms), attended a Houston campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Paul later bragged on social media about getting memes signed by Yang and sent a picture he had taken with Yang to his dad. At first glance, white nationalists supporting an Asian-American Democratic party candidate is entirely incomprehensible, but there are several forces at play in this. First is the alt-right’s disillusionment with Trump, partly because of his lack of follow through with the border wall and his support for Israel. Organizing support for an opposition candidate is partly a way to punish Trump for these betrayals, an attempt to prove that he and other Republicans need the alt-right to win.
William Fears and Andrew Yang
Ariel Gherman and Andrew Yang
Yang Gang memes that Paul Preston had Andrew Yang sign.
The comments from Paul’s signed yang memes post, where he shows his and ariel’s clothes.
Paul Preston, Ariel Gherman, and Will Fears can be seen at the Yang event.
Joffre Cross, Ariel Gherman, and Paul Preston can be seen more clearly from another angle.
Having given up on Trump, and presidential candidates in general in some cases, many people on the Alt-Right are “ironically supporting Yang” because they say they just want the free $1000 per month (from his platform focused on a universal basic income) to fund their attempts at activism. The funny Yang Gang slogan, ripe opportunities at endless Yang memes, the fashwave aesthetic of Yang’s hats, and the irony of white supremacists appearing to back an Asian candidate are all factors that have combined into a large support base for Andrew Yang by the Alt-Right.
For his part, Yang has denounced the Alt-Right support, but has hardly done anything to make his campaign inhospitable to them. And signing his name on print outs of Pepe memes seems, at the most generous, extremely naive for someone who wants to run for president, and at worst looks a lot like when Trump feigned ignorance about David Duke and his endorsement of Trump. Additionally, the Alt-Right YangGang phenomenon creates opportunities for the muddying political lines and dangerous left-right cross-overs. Traditionally left-wing positions like a universal basic income can easily be co-opted by fascistic movements, especially when they exist in isolation of a larger political analysis of capitalism, the state, and fascism.
But Charlottesville Was A Long Time Ago And I Thought The Alt-Right Was Dead?
After Charlottesville and the other big fascist rallies of 2017, much of the Alt-Right retreated from grandiose public displays–a reflection of their declining power and legitimacy and also a strategic attempt to regroup.They have made some strides in bolstering their tactics, messaging, and security, such as switching to moreunannounced flash-mob style actions, flyering campaigns, and organization building. Our tactics have to evolve as well.
Unfortunately, the lack of a visible fascist spectacle has lulled some on the left into a sense of complacency on a false assumption that what can’t be seen either doesn’t exist or isn’t a serious threat.
Also much of the left has simply been re-captivated with the spectacles of a new election cycles and official investigations of the president. While Donald Trump’s candidacy and election lent momentum and legitimacy to the Alt-Right and white nationalist politics more generally, an electoral defeat of Trump cannot, by itself, defeat an autonomous fascist movement that no longer believes in him. Radical, creative, and expansive anti-fascist movements are more important than ever.
When it comes to fascists, we don’t forget and we don’t forgive. Stay vigilant and stay anti-fascist!
Update (4/15/2018): We received word from an employee at a neighboring business that Ariel was quickly fired when Harris Media learned of her Nazi activities. In addition, on Friday, Harris Media posted a job ad on facebook looking to hire a new graphic designer.
Summary: Ariel Michelle Gherman is a 24-year-old white supremacist living in Austin, Texas. In August 2017 she participated in the white supremacist “Unite the Right” demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia, where fellow white supremacist James Fields murdered anti-racist protester Heather Heyer. She also helped organize logistics for the group of Texas fascists and white supremacists who traveled to the “Unite the Right” demonstrations, and is connected to numerous Texas neo-Nazis and white supremacist organizations on social media. She works at a mainstream right-wing graphic design and media strategy firm in Austin called Harris Media LLC.
In August 2017, a group of fascists and white supremacists from Texas organized a caravan of vehicles to travel to the white supremacist “Unite the Right” (UtR) demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia. According to inside information, one van picked up people in Austin and Houston, then met two other vehicles from north Texas in Texarkana. The group included notorious Texas neo-Nazis like William Fears (subsequently arrested in October for involvement in a shooting outside a Richard Spencer event in Gainesville, Florida), “Azzmador” (Robert Warren Ray, a contributor to the neo-Nazi website Daily Stormer), and Thomas Rousseau (founder and leader of the white supremacist group “Patriot Front”).
The Texas group also included Ariel Gherman. She had RSVP’d as “Going” on the UtR Facebook event page several months prior along with other Texas fascists like Colton Fears (arrested with his brother William in Florida) and Ken Reed. Upon arriving in Charlottesville, they planned to stay at an AirBnb which had been rented under Ariel’s AirBnb account and with Ariel’s credit card. They over-stuffed the AirBnb house with Texas white supremacists, but wanted to be careful not to draw unnecessary attention and reminded each other to only perform Nazi salutes inside the house, not outside. After all, they were planning to bring a variety of weapons including poles, torches, pepper spray, and concealed handguns.
Once in Charlottesville, Ariel participated in Friday night’s torch-lit march on the University of Virginia campus. In videos of the event she is seen wearing a white dress that went down to just above her knees, a denim jacket, and white shoes. Her very long dirty-blonde hair was worn in a single braid down her back, and her brown and gold glasses frames are readily apparent. She can be seen carrying a torch for the duration of the march while participants chanted neo-Nazi slogans like “Jews will not replace us” and “Blood and soil.” She is also often walking next to and sometimes holding hands with a young man dressed in khakis and a white polo shirt—the uniform of the neo-Nazi group Vanguard America. When the torch march arrived at a Thomas Jefferson statute, the march surrounded a small group of anti-racist counter protesters. The white supremacists then assaulted the anti-racist counter protesters. Ariel was there for all of it.
The UtR weekend culminated the next day when white supremacists James Fields, also seen wearing the white and khaki uniform of Vanguard America, drove his Dodge Charger into a crow of anti-racist counter-protesters, injuring 19 and killing Heather Heyer.
In an attempt to avoid surveillance and detection, Ariel, like many of the neo-Nazi participants in the UtR demonstrations, deactivated her Facebook account several days before the rally and didn’t reactivate it for several weeks afterwards. In videos of the event, she is seen trying to hide her face from the cameras. But our memory is long and our resolve is steadfast. Avoiding the limelight and promoting white supremacy and fascism only from the background shadows will not protect you. We don’t forget and we don’t forgive.
Far from being a passive or unsuspecting attendee, Ariel was fully aware of the fascist and white supremacist nature of the rally, as well as the plans for violence. By using her credit card to book the AirBnb, traveling to Charlottesville in the Texas caravan, and walking in the torch march, Ariel intended to facilitate UtR’s white supremacist agenda, violence, and racist terror.
Harris Media LLC
When not helping facilitate racist terror around the country, Ariel works a day job as a graphic designer for Harris Media LLC, a digital media firm in Austin that brags about placing tens of millions of dollars in digital advertising content. But Harris Media doesn’t create media for just anyone, they focus their effort on conservative and right-wing clients. They boast about creating content for the electoral campaigns of candidates like Senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as right-wing advocacy groups like Secure America Now (anti-Islam) and Texans for Natural Gas (pro-fracking).
Harris Media is not quite as vocal about their work for groups like the Alternative for Germany (AfD), a nationalist and alt-right affiliated political party in Germany that ran a campaign focused around Islamophobia and anti-immigrant positions.
Harris Media has featured Ariel on their social media as their firm’s “biggest Trump supporter,” but they should probably change it to say “most active alt-right white supremacist.” It’s one more example of mainstream right-wing politics creating fertile political territory for insurgent white supremacy; and how insurgent white supremacists are helping pull the mainstream right-wing even further right. We are really curious how Harris Media’s current and past clients feel about their digital media being created by a firm that hires violent white supremacists!
Background
Ariel grew up with almost every advantage in an upper-middle class suburban neighborhood west of Houston. She went to Texas State University in San Marcos and doesn’t seem to have suffered much setback from her arrest for marijuana possession while in college. Her parents are both college educated professionals in the medical field, but are also Trump supporters and may or may not be surprised or disappointed in their daughter’s neo-Nazi activities. What’s the saying about apples falling from trees?
Facebook Associations
With all this information, it’s unsurprising that Ariel is connected to numerous white supremacists and neo-Nazis on social media, where she sometimes uses the alias “Ariel Sherman.” Whether she’s liking William Fears’ posts about being a neo-Nazi and trying to defend confederate monuments in Dallas or having neo-Nazi Ken Reed liking her profile picture, she is deeply intertwined in the Texas white supremacist movement.
Snapshots of her facebook “Likes” from the summer show her evolution from right-wing libertarian—groups like “Students for Liberty,” “The CATO Institute,” and “Charles Koch Institute”—to alt-right white supremacist—groups like “Identity Europa,” “Traditionalist Workers Party,” and “AltRight.com.”
Conclusion
We imagine this information will invite the usual stammering defenses from Ariel and her less Nazi-inclined friends—that she has “friends” and coworkers who are people of color; that it was all a “joke” or a “misunderstanding;” that she was misled. But the evidence refutes that. The people Ariel is associating and politically organizing with—people like William Fears, Ken Reed, Azzamador, Thomas Rousseau, Syndey Crabtree, Chef Goyardee—make no secret of their vision of creating a whites-only ethno-state and the genocide they fully intend to carry out against everyone else.
It’s the background people like Ariel who lend cover and a veil of legitimacy to this violent racist project—whether using their “good” names and professional salaries to rent houses for racist mobilizations or just dressing neo-Nazism up as regular “mainstream conservativism.”
So happy birthday Ariel. We hope you get fired. We hope your friends don’t like you anymore. We hope everyone who ever googles your name again knows what fucking racist Nazi scum you are.
