Zachary Babitz and the AFA

Zachary Babitz as a Heathen
and member of the AFA

Last week, I was contacted by a reporter from Santa Fe, New Mexico who wanted to talk about the Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA) and the case of Zachary Babitz.

Here's the story: Zachary Babitz was arrested in Las Cruces on August 11th after robbing an Arby's restaurant. He had recently been released from prison on parole in March (which of course has local politicians calling for tougher sentencing.) He has also been charged for an earlier bank robbery in Albuquerque on July 31, 2024 as well as a carjacking in which he shot and killed an elderly man. Just horrible stuff. This statement from the U.S. Attorney General District of New Mexico contains a link to the official criminal complaint. So evidently, Babitz was released and tried to stay straight. He lasted for about four months and then fell back into criminal activity. Babitz's prison tattoos indicate his white supremacist connections. He has "1488" tattooed on his fingers: "14" stands for the 14 Words of infamous racist murderer David Lane, and "88" represents the double letter "H" the eighth letter of the alphabet, signifying "Heil Hitler."  

The reporter contacted me because Zachary Babitz was a member of the AFA. Not only that, but in mid-July just a couple of weeks before all this went down, Babitz had been named an apprentice Folkbuilder for the AFA in New Mexico. (All references to this had been deleted from the AFA's social media, soon after Babitz went on the lam. A Google search found links to those posts, but they had been deleted on the actual webpages.)

 

Screenshot of my Google search results
for the Folkbuilder announcement

So what happened and how was the AFA involved? Please note that I did reach out to a local Folkbuilder for a comment about this case, but have received no response. What I am writing here is my own current interpretation based on what I know, although could and probably will change. I think the case shows us a few things about the AFA as an organization.

The Asatru Folk Assembly has always been a folkish Asatru group, meaning that they interpret Heathenry as a religion for those of Northern European heritage. It was founded specifically as a folkish group by Stephen McNallen in the mid-1980s, primarily to combat the rise of "universalist" Asatru as represented by the Ring of Troth organization, now The Troth. (See my book Being Viking for more discussion of this history.)  For the AFA, this has come to mean "white Americans" in particular. So they have always been attractive to working-class people with a racial or a racist worldview. Since 2016, the AFA under Matt Flavel has been very open about this and has sought to raise its profile on the far-right, by appearing on far-right internet shows and courting white nationalist groups.

However, the AFA has always presented itself as a family-oriented religious group, a church so to speak. That is, it has never been a skin-head group like the Hamerskins, nor a militia like the 3 Percenters, nor a far-right white nationalist group like the KKK or Proud Boys, nor a neo-nazi group like the National Socialist Movement. 

Babitz (on the right in cowboy hat)
at the AFA New Mexico moot

Babitz is actually pictured as a family man on the AFA social media in a photo of the New Mexico moot on July 1,2024. The photo shows two seemingly happy families enjoying a social event. The photo tones down, or even washes out the white supremacist and violent felon image of Babitz. This is in keeping with the AFA ethos. The photo in no way signals what Babitz was about to do one month later. (The day that Babitz cut off his ankle bracelet and began his crime spree, he actually left a note on the door of his home stating that his wife knew nothing about what he was about to do.) 

Babitz likely made contact with the AFA while in prison and formalized that connection after his release on parole. I believe that he became a part of the AFA in his attempt to re-enter society, jump start his family life, and stay straight. But in the end he couldn't hack it - he ditched his family, went on a drug-fueled crime spree, murdered an innocent man, and significantly embarassed the AFA.

When Stephen McNallen talked about "coming home" to Asatru - he had in mind middle-class white American families. McNallen started his Asatru Community Church in a branch of the local library, after all! That says a lot about his intended audience. He believed in mainlining Asatru for the average white American nuclear family. 

Matt Flavel, the current Alsherjargothi of the AFA, has a slightly different idea. For him, "coming home" refers to the "lost" boys - down-and-out young white Americans with racist tendencies who are struggling with life, who can't hold a job, who struggle socially, perhaps have been in prison or in racist groups. Coming home means finding the AFA, entering a community that will accept and affirm them, that will give them a structure, a sense of meaning and community, order and purpose, help them get on their feet, find a job, start a family, and become a productive and contributing member of society. And the AFA hofs serve as these regional face-to-face communities where people can come and connect with a strong community of "like-minded" others. Probably, Flavel sees himself and his own life trajectory in that story. This means that the AFA is reaching out and taking risks with people on the margins, with racist, violent, and criminal histories. They see those lost, overlooked whites as their own people. They believe that Asatru can help. They see the struggles and criminality in part as a result of anti-white sentiment in America - that America has turned against white people, especially working class whites. That is part of the social narrative the AFA is telling. Largely, this strategy has been successful for the AFA - many of their members were struggling, lost in life, then found the AFA and are doing better. 

So the AFA became that for Babitz - a struggling guy who wanted to go straight. He evidently had someone in the AFA vouching for him, to account for his rapid appointment into an entry-level leadership position. The apprentice Folkbuilder in the AFA is sort of a test-run, trial position. So I think that the AFA was trying to help Babitz aspire to a better life. But obviously, they misjudged him and couldn't really help him. This can happen to an organization that is expanding too rapidly and promoting marginal people into leadership positions without significant vetting and time.