MA Hate Group Founder: Students Should Bully 'Kids Who Race Mix'

MASSACHUSETTS — The 22-year-old Massachusetts man who founded a hate group with branches around the world suggested college students should bully "kids who race mix" in video clips posted on Twitter Tuesday.

"If you're in college, you should be getting together with all the other guys that think like you and start circling the frat parties and bullying the kids that race mix," said Chris Hood, who founded NSC-131 in 2019, in one of three clips posted by a Waltham-based anti-hate group. "Just start dominating the parties, take over the campus. Same policies as out here, just on campus with the youth."

Hood made his comments on Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging platform. The videos were posted on Twitter by Waltham Night's Watch, a group that says it documents "hate groups, hate crimes, and far-right activity in Waltham."

Hood made his comments in a group chat while seated next to Liam McNeil, another NSC-131 member who graduated from Waltham High School in 2018, according to Waltham Night's Watch.

"We're pretty much a frat, just racist," McNeil said of NSC-131. "If you're going to start a frat, we suggest the name Kappa, Kappa, Kappa."

In another video clip, the four chat participants talk about resurrecting the Ku Klux Klan in Massachusetts. "I'm definitely burning some crosses," said a speaker identified only as Brian. "But, also, it would be really tight to have some hooded robes."

"We want to bring it [the KKK] back for New England," Hood said.

NSC stands for "Nationalist Social Club," according to the Anti-Defamation League, and 131 is the alphanumeric code for ACA, or Anti-Communist Action. There are chapters around the United States and in France, Hungary and Germany. Members of the group participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C.

"Originally named the New England Nationalists Club (NENC), the group was started in December 2019 by a handful of neo-Nazis in Eastern Massachusetts," the ADL says in its dossier on NSC-131. "Led by Chris Hood, the group's original focus was covering up anarchist and gang graffiti with their own graffiti in the areas of Worcester, Boston, Quincy, Rutland and Sturbridge."

The group renamed itself the Nationalist Social Club in early 2020 and expanded in May 2020 when the white supremacist group Legion of St. Ambrose fell apart and many of its members joined NSC-131. Since then, according to ADL, the group has added chapters in Florida, Kentucky, Texas and Virginia. ADL said it also identified members in Arizona, Indiana, New Hampshire and New York.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S., says at least one member of the group put up stickers during a May 29, 2020 protest in Boston. The group's Tennessee Chapter posted a photo of "WHITE LIVES MATTER" spray-painted on the Rock, a landmark at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, on the same day.

"We're just a few guys who started in the [Black Lives Matter] riots who said 'F--k that. We're not going to let them burn down our city and, if they do, we're going to be there to say something about it'," Hood said. "We attract people who are definitely down to be the white defense force."

"Known NSC tactics include antagonizing social-justice protesters, vandalism, and posting stickers and other propaganda," the Counter Extremism Project says in its entry on NSC-131. "NSC members have joined right-wing and pro-police rallies where they have displayed Nazi flags and symbols, as well as engaged in physical altercations."

'A Great Success Story'

In 2017, Hood graduated from Henry Owens High School, a Chelsea school for behaviorally and academically challenged students and adults run by the Shore Educational Collaborative. In 2016, the nonprofit featured a photo of Hood on its annual report.

"Chris is a good student, respected by his teachers, counselors, support staff, and peers," the photo's caption reads. "He is involved in Shore's Student Council and is on the Track Team. Chris attributes his high school success to the individualized support he has received from his teachers and counselors at Shore. Chris plans to attend college after he graduates in June 2017 and intends to become a police officer. Chris's effort and self-determination, combined with the opportunities offered by Shore, has made for a great success story."

Hood was linked to hate groups in December 2017, just months after he graduated from high school, when he was photographed participating in a "free speech" protest in Harvard Square as a member of the Patriot Front.

In addition to Patriot Front, Hood was affiliated with other white nationalist groups — including the Proud Boys and the Base — before forming NSC-131 in late 2019, according to the ADL. The New England chapter of NSC-131 was active in Black Lives Matter rallies in Boston earlier this year and provided security at a June 27 anti-Black Lives Matter rally on Boston Common, the ADL said in its dossier.

In Feb. 2019, Hood and two other men were arrested after police said they spotted them wearing masks and posting racist fliers in East Boston. Police found about 50 fliers reading "Keep America American. Report any and all illegal aliens. They are not immigrants. They are criminals. Call: 1-866-DHS-2ICE."

Police said they found a knife and brass knuckles on Hood and Tylar Larson, 20, of Rochester, New York. A third man, Matthew Wolf, 26, of Lowell, was charged with assault and battery on a police officer.

Anti-fascist groups dug up information on Hood after his arrest and urged members to call Dick's Sporting Goods in Saugus, where Hood worked. The campaign reportedly ended with Dick's firing Hood. More recently, the groups have identified McNeil as a student at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.

Both Hood and McNeil discussed having their personal information shared on the Internet in the videos posted Tuesday.

"I tell the guys, you definitely don't want to get doxxed, but when you get doxxed, it's not the end of the world," Hood said. "You know, everyone is talking s--t on Twitter, but nobody recognizes you in real life."

McNeil said he was majoring in economics at UMass-Lowell and that he plans to finish his degree.

"My spot's been kind of blown up. Everybody knows where I am now," he said. "But they're just, you know, going to have to physically remove me. They're going to have to kick me out."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).