Following an explosive anonymous report by Eugene Antifa, Rose City Antifa and PNW Antifacist Workers’ Collective exposing Bethany Sherman of Eugene-based OG Analytical and her husband Matthew Combs as alleged white supremacists, Sherman said in a statement to The Oregonian that she is stepping down and selling the company.
In the article, “Introducing Mr. & Mrs. Blackhat: The Nazis in Your Neighborhood,” the anonymous antifa writers say they got access to logs from an app called Discord, commonly used by gamers, but apparently also used by neo-Nazis.
Using those logs, as well as photos and research on Twitter and social media, the antifa groups lay out a damning case with their allegations against Combs and Sherman. “Combs acts not only as an organizer for American Patriots Brigade, but he serves as a primary organizing leader for the individuals and groups participating in the server. He aims to bring white nationalists together in the region with the goal of establishing a whites only homeland in the Pacific Northwest,” they write.
The group shows a tweet from “Mrs. Blackhat” from an account they tie to Sherman, in which she says things like, “Jimmy I love how you always take the high ground no matter how much shit these libtards sling.”
The Jimmy in question is Springfield-based white supremacist Jimmy Marr, who tweets as @genocidejimmy.
In a Twitter chat, the “Blackhat” article shows an image of, she praises a love swastika sticker Marr created from a diversity emblem and offers to change the wording so “It doesn’t say stupid shit like we are all one race.”
The article has photos that the writers say are of Combs sieg heiling with Marr in front of his house, which is adorned with signs reading “The Holocaust is Hokum.”
Eugene Weekly contacted Sherman after seeing the “Blackhat” story. While she did not deny the allegations, she did threaten legal action if EW wrote about the story.
She writes:
“Thanks for reaching out. I’m incredibly shocked and appalled by all of this. I would love to meet with you to discuss, but this is a very sensitive matter; I’ve retained legal counsel and am waiting to receive advice back from my lawyer about how to handle communications around this event. We’re taking this matter very seriously in a legal regard, and I have to ask and advise you and the Eugene Weekly to refrain from publishing any information about this article or anything else regarding me, my family, or my company until we’ve addressed the matter internally. As I’m sure you’re aware, this article and any further attention to it puts me, my family, and my company at risk of financial loss.”
While she denied being a “neo-Nazi” to The Oregonian, the statement she issued speaks as to where Sherman stands on white supremacy.
I find it extremely disconcerting that it is admired and revered to have “Gay Pride,” “Black Pride,” “Asian Pride,” or pride in any other cultural heritage, but if you have “White Pride,” it automatically makes you a Nazi, and you are ostracized, attacked, and lynched by your community. I admit, I am proud that I am white, and I’m not ashamed of my heritage. And I admit that I have been so conditioned to feel shame about this pride that I discreetly sought community where I could.
The full statement is here, and Sherman also details the good she says she has done in the community and denies discrimination. “Neither myself, nor my company has in any way acted in a discriminatory fashion against anyone for their race, religion, politics, gender identity, sexual orientation, social class, disability or other,” she says.
EW, which has written in the past about Sherman and OG Analytical, has reached out to Sherman for further comment on the allegations as well as to Rose City Antifa, which sent the paper the story.
In the bio of the Twitter account the writers link to Sherman, they say Sherman describes herself as “”#nationalist mommy. Our children deserve to be raised in a wholesome environment free of oppression against whites.”