Tom Metzger, Former Leader Of The Ku Klux Klan, Dies At 82

JAKARTA - Tom Metzger, a former Ku Klux Klan leader who became famous in the 1980s for promoting white separatist movements and inciting racial violence, has died at the age of 82. His death was first reported by the Times of San Diego.

Riverside County Public Health Department spokesman Jose Arballo Jr. as quoted by HuffPost as saying Metzger died on November 4 at a nursing facility in Hemet, California, United States. The reason is Parkinson's disease, said Arballo.

The former grand dragon of the California branch of the Ku Klux Klan became one of the most notorious figures of racism after leaving the organization in the 1980s. He left to form the White Aryan Resistance movement.

He then experienced financial difficulties because of the role of his organization in the case of the death of Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw. The case occurred in 1988 in Portland, Oregon.

The Seraw family won the lawsuit against Metzger and his organization for 12.5 million US dollars. The charges were granted after the trial had video evidence of Metzger praising the killers for carrying out what he called "civilian duties."

As a result, Metzger lost his home in the San Diego area, his television repair business and other assets. However, he did not immediately withdraw from his movement. Metzger continued to create racist newsletters for many years and operated a racist telephone service. He regularly posted his posts on his organization's webpage until several months ago.

"Tom Metzger spent decades working against the core values of America as one of the most visible white supremacists in the country," Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt told The Associated Press. "Throughout his life, he was involved in a variety of hate activities ranging from spreading anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric to launching vigilante border patrols as a member of the California Clan to recruiting skinheads to white supremacy struggles."

The man, whose full name is Thomas Linton Metzger, was born in Warsaw, Indiana on April 9, 1938. He served in the US Army from 1956 to 1959 before settling in California and working as a television servicer.

He joined the white supremacist organization, the Ku Klux Klan, in the mid-1970s. He then rose to the role of being the great dragon of California before finally leaving to form his own organization.

He also briefly ran for Congress from north San Diego in the early 1980s. Initially he won the early elections in the Democratic Party. But he lost in the general election after Democrats and Republicans united against him.

He was the darling of the media throughout the 80s. He appeared on television talk shows, organized white supremacist demonstrations and promised a white civil war that would lead to bloodshed on the streets.

Although Metzger was known as a figure of white supremacy, he actually avoided the term. He once said that he was a white separatist but had no problem with blacks who did not interact with whites.