Leading white supremacist, Tom Metzger, dies

Tom Metzger, a leading white supremacist, died from Parkinson’s disease on 4th November in Hemet, California, according to a spokesperson for the Riverside County Department for Public Health.

In the 1970s, Mr Metzger attained the level of State Leader for the Ku Klux Klan in California, and subsequently left to form the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) group.

Mr Metzger pioneered the use of radio and television to spread racist and antisemitic propaganda, with his own public-access cable television show, appearances on popular talk shows and a telephone hotline. He also published a newspaper and managed an electronic bulletin board through which skinheads could communicate and share hateful content.

In 1990, an Oregon jury ordered Mr Metzger to pay $5 million in punitive damages after skinheads he reportedly incited to violence pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the racially motivated murder of the 27-year-old Ethiopian, Mulugeta Seraw.

Though in recent years his influence diminished, he reportedly stated that he remained active with the WAR hotline and the publishing of several white supremacist leaflets.

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