White supremacist, antisemitic leader Tom Metzger dies
"Tom Metzger spent decades working against core American values as one of the most visible hard-core white supremacists in the country,” said Jonathan Greenblatt.
By EVE YOUNGTom Metzger (R), founder of the White Aryan Resistance, talks to the media outside the Kootenai County Justice Building in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho, September 5, 2000.(photo credit: REUTERS)
Tom Metzger, a white supremacist and antisemitic leader, died November 4 in California at the age of 82, according to The New York Times. Metzger died of Parkinson's disease in a nursing home, according to a spokesperson for the Riverside County Department of Public Health."Tom Metzger spent decades working against core American values as one of the most visible hard-core white supremacists in the country,” said Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, according to the Times. “Unfortunately, his brand of hate likely will still linger long after his death.”Metzger organized neo-Nazis in the 80s and 90s, according to the Times. Metzger was seen as responsible for pioneering the use of radio and television to spread racist and antiemetic views. He had his own public-access cable television show and created a telephone hotline, published a newspaper and operated an electronic bulletin board where skinheads communicated with one another.Metzger was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 70s, attaining the level of state leader for CA, the Times reported, before leaving the organization to found the White Aryan Resistance group, according to NBC Los Angeles. On its website, the group is described as "an educational repository on the benefits of racial separation, highlighting the dangers of multiculturalism and promoting racial identity and a territorial imperative."In 1990, Metzger was found financially liable, along with his son and the White Aryan Resistance Group, for the death of an Ethiopian student who was killed by three followers of the group in a racially motivated beating, according to the Times. The verdict ruined him financially and bankrupted his organization, which moved online.A post on Metzger's website announced his death. Metzger is survived by his partner Mary Arnold, six children, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild, the NYT reported, citing the post.
