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A Gorgeous Time-Lapse Excursion: "Seasons of Norway"

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Dr Lizardo2/04/2017 9:19:35 am PST

re: #447 Anymouse

Tom Metzger, founder of White Aryan Resistance, was basically bankrupted in a civil judgement from an Oregon court over the murder of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian immigrant, by some of his skinhead followers.

On the night of 12 November 1988, Ken “Death” Mieske, Kyle Brewster, and Steve Strasser, members of groups known as East Side White Pride and White Aryan Resistance (WAR), were driving around Portland with their girlfriends, headed home. The three confronted two black men, including Seraw, who had been dropped off in front of his apartment.[1] Subsequently, Seraw was beaten to death with a baseball bat on Southeast 31st Avenue.[2] The three perpetrators and their girlfriends left Seraw in a puddle of his blood.

Seraw died in the early-morning hours of the following day. Mieske said he and the two others killed Mr. Seraw “because of his race.”[3] In response, hundreds of people turned out for rallies against racism. Meanwhile, Tom Metzger, head of WAR, said the supremacists did a “civic duty” by killing Seraw.[4]

After one week of investigation, Mieske, Brewster, and Strasser were arrested. Brewster and Strasser were convicted of manslaughter and assault. Brewster was released in November 2002, but in 2006 violated parole and was sent back to prison.[5]

In 1990, Mieske was convicted of first-degree murder and was serving a life sentence when he died July 26, 2011 at the age of 45. At the time of his death, he was still being referred to as a “Prisoner of War” by white power groups.[6]

In October 1990, Seraw’s father and son, represented at no cost by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League,[7] won a civil case against White Aryan Resistance’s operator Tom Metzger and his son John Metzger for a total of $12.5 million.[8][9] The cost of trial, in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,[10] was absorbed by the SPLC and the ADL.[11] Metzger being unable to cover the damages, the Seraws’ lawyer decided to file legal documents in order to have his Fallbrook, California home and his assets seized.[12] As a result, the house was transferred to Seraw’s estate for a value of $121,500; Metzger was allowed to keep $45,000 under California’s Homestead Act.[13] Metzger was warned that any damage caused to the house would result in a lawsuit; he still left it “a mess” with cracked windows, but without serious damage.[13] The Metzgers declared bankruptcy but WAR continued to operate. Metzger himself was forced to move into an apartment and collect welfare. He still makes payments to Seraw’s family.[14]