Thomas Linton Metzger (April 9, 1938 – November 4, 2020) was an American

white supremacist White supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White supremacy has roots in the now-discredited doctrine ...

neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

leader and Klansman. He founded

White Aryan Resistance White Aryan Resistance (WAR) is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization in the United States which was founded and formerly led by former Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Tom Metzger. It was based in Warsaw, Indiana, and it was also incorpora ...

(WAR), a neo-Nazi organization, in 1983. He was a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. Metzger voiced strong opposition to immigration to the United States, and was an advocate of the Third Position. He was incarcerated in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

, and

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, Ontario, and was the subject of several

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

s and government inquiries. He, his son, and WAR were found liable for a total of $12.5 million in damages as a result of the murder of Mulugeta Seraw, 28, an Ethiopian student, by skinheads in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

, affiliated with WAR.

Early life

Metzger was born and raised in

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. He served in the U.S. Army from 1961 until 1964 when he moved to

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

to work in the electronics industry. For a short time, he was a member of the

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

group the John Birch Society, and attended

anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, when th ...

luncheon meetings sponsored by the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. However, he eventually left the group when it rejected his antisemitic views. By 1968, Metzger had moved to Fallbrook, California, and he supported independent George C. Wallace for president. Metzger stopped paying taxes in the 1970s, and by 1972 his tax protest over the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

had destroyed his thriving television business but introduced him to other tax protesters who, he said, were "

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

racists,

Christian Identity Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or the Aryan race and kindred peoples, are ...

racists,

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

, all kinds of people." From 1971 to 1980, Metzger was the pastor of a Christian Identity church.

Ku Klux Klan

During the 1970s, Metzger joined the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which was led by David Duke, and he eventually became the Grand Dragon of the State of California. In the summer of 1979, he organized a patrol, the Klan Border Watch, to capture illegal Mexican immigrants south of Fallbrook, California. Metzger's Klan organization also had a security force which was involved in confrontations with

communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

and anti-Klan protesters. Metzger's branch of the Klan split from Duke's organization in 1980 to form the California Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Also in 1979, he took Greg Withrow of the White Student Union "under his wing", which later became the Aryan Youth Movement (AYM), for youth associated with

. In 1985, Metzger attended a

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

rally in

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, led by

Louis Farrakhan Louis Farrakhan (; born Louis Eugene Walcott; May 11, 1933) is an American religious leader who heads the Nation of Islam (NOI), a Black nationalism, black nationalist organization. Farrakhan is notable for his leadership of the 1995 Million M ...

. During the rally, he compared America to a "rotting carcass" and praised Farrakhan for "understanding" that

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

are "living off the carcass" and called them "parasites."

Views

According to Steven Atkins, author of ''The Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism in Modern American History'', Metzger's ideology "differs from other white supremacists by rejecting the basic tenets of the

movement because he considers himself to be the champion of the Third Position. The Third Position is a form of racism that is oriented towards attracting the white working class and it is also

anti-capitalist Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism ...

in orientation. Metzger believed that the United States should be divided into designated areas for different racial groups except

Asian Americans Asian Americans are Americans with Asian diaspora, ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are Immigration to the United States, immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). A ...

, who should be expelled from the United States." In 1988, Metzger recorded this message on his WAR Hotline:

"You have reached WAR Hotline. White Aryan Resistance. You ask: What is WAR? We are an openly white-racist movement—Skinheads, we welcome you into our ranks. The
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
is the number one enemy of our race. When was the last time you heard a
politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...
speaking out in favor of
white people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...
? ..You say the government is too big; we can’t organize. Well, by God, the SS did it in
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and if they did it in Germany in the thirties, we can do it right here in the streets of America. We need to cleanse this nation of all nonwhite mud-races for the survival of our own people and the generations of our children."

White Aryan Resistance

In 1982 Metzger left the Klan to found a new group, the White American Political Association, a group dedicated to promoting "prowhite" candidates for office. After losing the 1982 California Senate Democratic primary, Metzger abandoned the electoral route and reorganized WAPA as White American Resistance in 1983 and then reorganized it as White Aryan Resistance, to reflect a more "revolutionary" stance. In 1985 Metzger attended a rally of the Nation of Islam. Despite Metzger's open racism towards blacks, he alleged the two groups had common ground based on their desire for racial separation and their hatred of Jewish people. Metzger and an NOI representative claim Metzger provided information on the alleged violent plans of the Jewish Defense League, a far-right extremist organization. Metzger donated $100 to the Nation of Islam, to which a Nation of Islam representative said, "''I don't think that when you give $100 you form an alliance." Metzger made numerous television appearances in addition to hosting his own

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...

public-access television Public-access television (sometimes called community-access television) is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is Narrowcasting, narrowcast through cable tele ...

show, ''Race and Reason''. In one of his first cable episodes, Metzger invited the

gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The first post-punk bands which shifted toward dark music with gothic overtones include Siouxsie an ...

band Radio Werewolf onto the show, during which a confused Metzger was given an honorary membership in the band. In November 1988, his son John appeared on an episode of the '' Geraldo'' show in which a brawl broke out and

Geraldo Rivera Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Rivera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, and political commentator who worked at the Fox News Channel from 2001 to 2023. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He g ...

's nose was broken. Metzger also appeared on Wally George's '' Hot Seat'' show with Irv Rubin, the chairman of the Jewish Defense League, in what was a very contentious debate. The debate ended when Rubin threw water in the face of Metzger. Security intervened and the

Anaheim Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the tenth-most ...

police were called. Art Bell interviewed Metzger on his overnight call-in radio show, and mentioned his Filipino wife, asking: "'I am married to a brown-skinned Asian woman. What does that make me?' To which Metzger replied, 'A traitor to your race.'"Jesse Robertson (November 22, 2022)
The Truth Was Out There: On the Legacy of Art Bell
The LA Review of Books, accessed 13 October 2024

Oregon civil trial

The group was eventually bankrupted as the result of a civil lawsuit centered on its involvement in the 1988 murder of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man who had moved to the United States to attend college. In 1988, white power skinheads affiliated with WAR were convicted of killing Seraw and sent to prison. Kenneth Mieske said he and the two others killed Seraw "because of his race." Metzger declared that they did a " civic duty" by killing Seraw. Morris Dees and the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white ...

filed a civil suit against him, arguing that WAR influenced Seraw's killers by encouraging their group East Side White Pride to commit violence. Metzger's trial was held in October 1990. His decision to represent himself became the source of considerable civic derision through the legal incompetence which he displayed—never more so than when he accepted an option for a new trial judge during the initial stages of the trial in place of the interim appointed judge who he thought was Jewish; only after he had made his decision did he discover that the new judge, Ancer L. Haggerty, was

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

. At the trial, WAR national vice president Dave Mazzella testified about how the Metzgers instructed WAR members to commit violence against minorities. Tom and his son John Metzger were found civilly liable under the doctrine of

vicarious liability Vicarious liability is a form of a strict, secondary liability that arises under the common law doctrine of agency, '' respondeat superior'', the responsibility of the superior for the acts of their subordinate or, in a broader sense, the r ...

, in which one can be liable for a

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

committed by a subordinate or another person who is taking instructions. The jury returned the largest civil verdict in Oregon history at the time—$12.5 million—against Metzger and WAR. The Metzgers' house was seized, and most of WAR's profits go to paying off the judgment.

Post-Oregon trial

After the trial, Metzger's home was transferred to Seraw's estate for $121,500, while Metzger was allowed to keep $45,000 under California's

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of Federal lands, government land or the American frontier, public domain, typically called a Homestead (buildings), homestead. In all, mo ...

. The Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League came up with the $45,000 needed to pay Metzger for the home. Metzger was warned that any damages left in the house would result in a lawsuit, and while he left it in "a mess" with cracked windows, there was no serious damage. As a result of the sale of his home, he was forced to move into an apartment. In May 1991, Metzger agreed to stop selling T-shirts of Bart Simpson in a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

uniform with the words "Pure Nazi Dude" and "Total Nazi Dude". In 1991, he was convicted of burning a cross in 1983, and sentenced to six months in prison and 300 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

by working with minorities. Also convicted were Stanley Witek, the leader of a small local Neo-Nazi party, and Brad Kelly. Metzger was released from prison after 45 days so he could be with his critically ill wife. In 1992, Metzger and his son John violated a court order not to leave the country and entered

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to speak to the Heritage Front. Soon afterwards, he was arrested for violating Canadian immigration laws by entering the country to "promote racial hatred". With his son John, Metzger was jailed for five days for breaking Canadian immigration laws as he had done so "to promote race hatred". From the early 1990s, Metzger advocated the "lone wolf" method of action. Metzger and white supremacist activist Alex Curtis, an acolyte of Metzger, are commonly credited with coining the term of "lone wolf terrorism", which they both advocated. At the time, extremist right-wing groups were being heavily infiltrated by outsiders, hampering their activities. Any groups that suggested violent action were regularly the target of

lawsuits A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. T ...

for

in the event that any occurred for inciting the violent acts. Metzger later appeared in support of Curtis in court. In 2003, Metzger appeared in '' Louis and the Nazis'', a documentary made by Louis Theroux. Metzger moved to Warsaw, Indiana at some point in the mid-2000s. In 2004, he was the subject in an online article from a San Diego–based periodical that outlined his love of karaoke, sparse white activist action, and bemused feelings over the state of his hoped-for white revolution. On June 2, 2009, agents of the

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention ...

raided Metzger's home. No arrests were made and no information was released on what was found inside his house. Metzger was allowed to leave the premises during the search and stated that address books, compact discs, tapes and computers were seized in the raid. This was connected with two arrested brothers accused of a mail bomb attack injuring a diversity director in Arizona. Metzger was mandated to make payments to Seraw's family for the remainder of his life. Metzger hosted an Internet radio talk show and by 2018 no longer resided in Indiana, having moved back to California.

Mainstream party politics

Metzger changed political parties several times and sometimes created his own. In 1980, he won the Democratic Party nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives with over 40,000 votes in a

–area district. This led to the Democratic Party to disavow his candidacy, and take the unusual step of endorsing his opponent, Republican Clair Burgener. Metzger lost by over 200,000 votes in November 1980 to Burgener in a heavily Republican district. In 1982 he sought the Democratic Party's senatorial nomination, running against then-Governor

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...

and author

Gore Vidal Eugene Luther Gore Vidal ( ; born Eugene Louis Vidal, October 3, 1925 – July 31, 2012) was an American writer and public intellectual known for his acerbic epigrammatic wit. His novels and essays interrogated the Social norm, social and sexual ...

, winning only 76,000 votes (2.8% of the vote) in the primary. In 2010, Metzger took out an advertisement in the ''Warsaw Times-Union'', in order to announce his intention to challenge, as an independent, U.S. Representative Mark Souder, a Republican from Indiana's 3rd congressional district. "I'd go to Washington and get into Congress, and have a fistfight every day," Metzger told a local news station. Metzger did not make it onto the ballot for the election, which was ultimately won by Republican Marlin Stutzman.

Death

He died on November 4, 2020, of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

Electoral history

References

Works cited

* * * * *

External links

White Aryan Resistance
– WAR official site *Video clip of 201
interview with Metzger
by biracial director and filmmaker Mo Asumang for her documentary The Aryan
Tom Metzger
list on

's "40 to watch" *

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

interviews John Metzger in studio (and Tom Metzger by phone) in 1991: Vide
Part One
an
Part Two
an
Part Three
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metzger, Tom 1938 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American far-right politicians American founders American Holocaust deniers American Ku Klux Klan members convicted of crimes American people imprisoned in Canada American neo-Nazis American people of German descent American white separatists California Democrats California independents Crime in Oregon Crime in Toronto California politicians convicted of crimes Criminals from Indiana Criminals from Nevada Anti-immigration activists Christian Identity people Indiana independents Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragons Ku Klux Klan in California People deported from Canada People from Warsaw, Indiana People from Fallbrook, California Military personnel from Indiana United States Army soldiers John Birch Society members Deaths from Parkinson's disease in California Neo-Nazi politicians in the United States Perpetrators of religiously motivated violence in the United States Prisoners and detainees of California