1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 2: A little after sunset on December eighth, nineteen eighty four, 3 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,000 Speaker 2: firefighters from the Island County, Washington Fire Department were standing 4 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:17,639 Speaker 2: by in their truck on the side of Smuggler's Cove 5 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:20,920 Speaker 2: Road on Whidbey Island, about an hour north of Seattle. 6 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 2: They'd been called in by an FBI swat team, but 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 2: there was no fire, not yet anyway. The agents were 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 2: more than thirty hours into an armed standoff, and they 9 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 2: were getting desperate to end things one way or another. 10 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 2: A volley of tear gas canisters didn't drive their subject out. 11 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:47,560 Speaker 2: A helicopter buzzing just feet above the house didn't seem 12 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 2: to rattle him at all. He just fired his machine 13 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:52,919 Speaker 2: gun through the roof, forcing the agents to call off 14 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 2: the helicopter for the sake of the pilot's safety. They 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 2: wanted to take their fugitive alive if they could, but 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 2: negotiations weren't getting them anywhere. After months spent tracking this 17 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 2: Nazi terror cell, they finally had its ring leader cornered. 18 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 2: Two other safe houses had been successfully raided the day before, 19 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,600 Speaker 2: and several of the man's co conspirators his closest friends 20 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 2: were brought to the scene to reason with him. Communication 21 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,399 Speaker 2: broke down pretty quickly after the other man inside the 22 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:28,320 Speaker 2: house emerged ready to surrender. He was carrying a duffel 23 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 2: bag stuffed with forty thousand dollars in cash from one 24 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 2: of the group's robberies. Tucked into the cash and the 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 2: bag was a suicide note penned by the man firing 26 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 2: at them from the upstairs window. By the evening of 27 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 2: the first day of the standoff, Robert J. Matthews was 28 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 2: alone inside the house and he was ready to die 29 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 2: in it. When FBI agents finally got their hands on Matthews, 30 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 2: he was charred beyond recognition. The house had burned to 31 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 2: the foundation, Any evidence it may have contained was gone, 32 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 2: and Matthew's body had to be identified using dental X rays. 33 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 2: A series of daring armored car robberies had netted the 34 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 2: gang over four million dollars. Some of that money surely 35 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 2: burned alongside Matthews, but in the months before his death, 36 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 2: Robert Matthews took a cross country road trip handing out 37 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 2: bags of cash. Some of that money went to the 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,600 Speaker 2: kinds of things you'd expect, buying land and keeping the 39 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 2: dream of the race war alive. By purchasing guns and 40 00:02:31,280 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 2: crates of grenades, and the majority of that money was 41 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 2: never fully accounted for, let alone recovered. But some of 42 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 2: those bags of cash went on some unexpected journeys. I'm 43 00:02:47,639 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 2: Molly Conger and this is weird, little guys. As the 44 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 2: sun set on the second day of the standoff on 45 00:03:10,760 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 2: Whidbey Island and the last day of Robert Matthews's life, 46 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 2: the decision was made to fire several flares into the house. 47 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,280 Speaker 2: The flares would almost certainly set the house on fire. 48 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 2: The tear gas hadn't bothered Matthews. He had a gas mask, 49 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,600 Speaker 2: but maybe his romantic visions of dyeing with his fingers 50 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 2: still on the trigger would go up in smoke if 51 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 2: the house burned. The fire truck was waiting at the 52 00:03:36,560 --> 00:03:39,240 Speaker 2: end of the driveway, ready to extinguish the flames as 53 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:41,640 Speaker 2: soon as they had their men and handcuffs, so they'd 54 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,720 Speaker 2: be able to recover any of the remaining cash from 55 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:46,080 Speaker 2: the armored car robberies that may still be in the house. 56 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 2: At six thirty pm on December eighth, nineteen eighty four, 57 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 2: three flares were fired through a downstairs window. The glass 58 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 2: was already gone shattered to bits by bursts of gunfire 59 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 2: from boat sides, and as the agents had anticipated, a 60 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 2: fire broke out. But they hadn't accounted for the contents 61 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:12,520 Speaker 2: of the room. The flares hadn't just ignited a sofa 62 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 2: or the curtains or a throw rug. They ignited cases 63 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 2: of ammunition. The controllable house fire they hoped with smoke 64 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 2: out their fugitive, turned into a towering inferno as the 65 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 2: flames reached a stockpile of explosives stored inside the home. 66 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 2: The firefighters waiting out on the street couldn't even approach 67 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 2: the house as crates of bullets fired themselves in the heat. 68 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 2: They could only watch as the house burned laid into 69 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 2: the night. Normally, this is the part of the episode 70 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,719 Speaker 2: where I tell you, but that's the end of Robert 71 00:04:48,720 --> 00:04:51,799 Speaker 2: Matthew's story, and we have to start at the beginning. 72 00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:56,560 Speaker 2: But not today. Today we're starting after the end of 73 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:01,160 Speaker 2: his story, partly because I'm still waiting on some archival 74 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 2: materials from a special collections library on the other side 75 00:05:03,839 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 2: of the country. My interlibrary loan is still pending. The 76 00:05:09,120 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 2: story of Robert Matthews and his Nazi bank robbery gang. 77 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:17,320 Speaker 2: The order is forthcoming. Don't worry, that forty year old 78 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 2: story is still very much alive within the white supremacist movement. 79 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,839 Speaker 2: Those fourteen words they're all so obsessed with were first 80 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 2: penned by David Lane while he was in prison for 81 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 2: the murder of Alan Berg. But as I started plotting 82 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,000 Speaker 2: out the framework of that story, I got a little 83 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 2: lost down one hundred little rabbit holes. I had a 84 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 2: lot of new questions about things I'd never wondered about before. 85 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 2: If you're one of those listeners who wishes the show 86 00:05:46,880 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 2: had a more linear narrative and fewer characters and fewer tangents, 87 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:55,560 Speaker 2: you're not going to like this one. But the story 88 00:05:55,600 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 2: of the Order has had such an impact on the 89 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 2: last forty years of white supremacist buy in America, there's 90 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 2: no honest way to tell it neatly. Because if there's 91 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 2: one thing I want this show to convey more than 92 00:06:08,800 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 2: anything else, is that there are no lone wolves. And 93 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,479 Speaker 2: the myth of the lone wolf is so persistent, not 94 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 2: just because it is maybe somehow less frightening to think 95 00:06:23,080 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 2: of these acts of violence as some kind of completely 96 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 2: random freak accident, but also because we crave these concise 97 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 2: linear narratives. But if you tell any lone gunman's story 98 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 2: that way, it tends to absolve the ecosystem that formed 99 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:45,640 Speaker 2: him and his network of accomplices. Think of this story 100 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:49,120 Speaker 2: as a sort of introduction to a cast of characters 101 00:06:49,160 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 2: you'll be hearing about again. Just let me plant some 102 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:55,880 Speaker 2: narrative seeds that will take a little time to grow. 103 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 2: So before I can tell you a story about how 104 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,040 Speaker 2: a fifty cents lottery ticket purchased with a counterfeit ten 105 00:07:02,080 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 2: dollar bill at a liquor store in Philadelphia ended up 106 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 2: unraveling a network of Nazi terrorists, I want to talk 107 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 2: about where some of that stolen money ended up. Specifically, 108 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 2: I want to talk about public access television, four hundred 109 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 2: acres of undeveloped land and Appalachia, a racist chiropractor from Tampa, 110 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 2: and the nineteen eighty eight AT and T shareholders meeting. 111 00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:35,040 Speaker 2: Bear with me. What would you do if you suddenly 112 00:07:35,080 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 2: had four million dollars in dirty money? I think for 113 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 2: most of us, the first answer is something like I 114 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 2: would help my friends and my family. I'd fund worthwhile 115 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 2: projects and advance causes I believe in. And that's kind 116 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:55,440 Speaker 2: of what our Nazi gang did here, but their friends 117 00:07:55,440 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 2: and family were also Nazis, and the causes they believed 118 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 2: in where things like arming an Aryan paramilitary force to 119 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:10,760 Speaker 2: overthrow the government, etc. Robert Matthews was generous with this 120 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 2: ill gotten cash. He paid members of the group handsomely. 121 00:08:15,480 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 2: But the Order wasn't your average gang of thieves who 122 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 2: were out for themselves. They weren't trying to get rich. 123 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 2: They were trying to fund a movement, and Robert Matthews 124 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 2: wanted to be a sort of racist Robin Hood, stealing 125 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 2: from the Jewish controlled system to give to the downtrodden 126 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 2: Aryan Man. Accounts vary as to who received a share 127 00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,200 Speaker 2: of this stolen money, and most of those accounts are 128 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 2: from embittered rivals who turned state's witness, and those accounts 129 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,960 Speaker 2: don't always match up across sources. For the most part, 130 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:53,920 Speaker 2: the figures I'm using here are found within the nineteen 131 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 2: ninety book The Silent Brotherhood by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt. 132 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:01,719 Speaker 2: The authors were able to secure cooperative interviews with some 133 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 2: former members of the Order, some of the recipients of 134 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 2: the money, and Robert Matthews's mistress, Zilla Craig. When there's 135 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 2: a discrepancy between the sources I'm using, I am defaulting 136 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 2: to those in Kathleen Blues bring the war home, which 137 00:09:16,640 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 2: is exhaustively researched and well footnoted. The whole story of 138 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 2: the string of robberies is one for another day, But 139 00:09:25,600 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 2: most of the money we're talking about here came from 140 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 2: a single score. On July nineteenth, nineteen eighty four, six 141 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:37,839 Speaker 2: members of the Nazi group the Order loaded three point 142 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 2: eight million dollars in cash out of the back of 143 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 2: a Brinx armored car on Highway twenty near Yucaya, California. 144 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 2: Two weeks later, Robert Matthews left his wife and son 145 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,400 Speaker 2: behind in Washington and loaded his pregnant mistress into a 146 00:09:52,480 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 2: used Pontiac Bonneville and drove east. Their first stop was 147 00:09:58,960 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 2: at a farm near Kaha to Michigan to visit Robert Myles. 148 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 2: Myles had once been an influential clan leader, rising to 149 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 2: the rank of Grand Dragon of the Realm of Michigan. 150 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 2: In nineteen seventy one, he bombed ten empty school buses 151 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 2: the week before a court ordered desegregation program was set 152 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:20,800 Speaker 2: to begin in Pontiac, Michigan. Earlier that year, he and 153 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 2: four other clansmen forced a high school principle in Ipsilani 154 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:29,559 Speaker 2: out of his car at gunpoint and literally tarred and 155 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 2: feathered the man. They doused a high school principle with 156 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 2: hot tar and coated him in chicken feathers. He'd been 157 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 2: driving home from a school board meeting where he was 158 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 2: advocating for the district to honor Martin Luther King Junior Day. 159 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 2: The years Myles spent in federal prison for those acts 160 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 2: did little to change his attitudes about race. By the 161 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 2: nineteen eighties, Myles's clan days were more or less behind 162 00:10:57,600 --> 00:11:01,439 Speaker 2: him his true calling as the pastor of a Christian 163 00:11:01,480 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 2: identity church that he called the Mountain Church of Jesus 164 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 2: Christ's Savior. He was also the Midwest coordinator for Richard 165 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:13,200 Speaker 2: Butler's Aryan Nations and hosted Aryan Nations gatherings at his 166 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:17,280 Speaker 2: farm in Michigan, and in August of nineteen eighty four, 167 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:21,679 Speaker 2: Robert Matthews and his mistress spent the night on that farm. 168 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 2: Matthews gave Miles three hundred thousand dollars in stolen cash 169 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 2: for use in his church, which included a prison ministry 170 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 2: aimed at radicalizing incarcerated white men through letter writing campaigns 171 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 2: and mailing them white power newsletters. In return, Myles gave 172 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 2: Matthews a letter of introduction to Fraser Glenn Miller. A 173 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 2: few days later, in Annengeer in North Carolina, Matthews knocked 174 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:46,960 Speaker 2: on the front door of Fraser Glenn Miller, the leader 175 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,840 Speaker 2: of the White Patriot Party. Robert Miles's letter of introduction 176 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:53,600 Speaker 2: was enough to gain his trust, and he invited Matthews 177 00:11:53,640 --> 00:11:57,439 Speaker 2: and his mistress in for dinner. Later that night, Miller 178 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 2: met Matthews again, this time at a hotel. Miller was 179 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 2: suspicious of this generous offer of two hundred thousand dollars 180 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:09,439 Speaker 2: in cash, concerned that Matthews may be an FBI informant 181 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:13,120 Speaker 2: trying to entrap him in some kind of scheme. But 182 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 2: he did take the money, and ironically, it would be 183 00:12:17,360 --> 00:12:21,079 Speaker 2: Fraser Glenn Miller who would later turn state's witness, returning 184 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:24,560 Speaker 2: most of the money to the government. He testified against 185 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 2: many of Matthew's associates and entered the witness protection program 186 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 2: as Fraser Glen Cross. But it's hard to stay in 187 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 2: the program if you can't leave the movement. Miller's story 188 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 2: is one better saved for his very own episode because 189 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:43,199 Speaker 2: it ends with him dying of old age on death row. 190 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 2: This cross country road trip also included a night at 191 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:53,680 Speaker 2: a hotel in Arlington, Virginia. It's no surprise that Robert 192 00:12:53,720 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 2: Matthews would pay a visit to William Luther Pearce. Honestly, 193 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 2: you'll be shocking if he hadn't. Matthews had been a 194 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:05,400 Speaker 2: member of Pierce's National Alliance since nineteen seventy nine. It 195 00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 2: was at the nineteen eighty three National Alliance General Convention 196 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 2: that he gave the fiery speech that kicked off the 197 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,920 Speaker 2: formation of the Order just a year earlier, and the 198 00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:17,920 Speaker 2: Order took its name directly from the plot of Pierce's 199 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:23,360 Speaker 2: novel The Turner Diaries. And on August sixth, nineteen eighty four, 200 00:13:23,800 --> 00:13:28,680 Speaker 2: Matthews handed his mentor a paperbag. The amount of cash 201 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: inside is usually put at fifty thousand dollars, although that 202 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,079 Speaker 2: seems to trace back to a single statement made by 203 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,679 Speaker 2: another member of the Order, man named Bruce Pearce, who 204 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:46,000 Speaker 2: is not related Zillah Craig. Matthews's mistress witnessed this handoff, 205 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:48,920 Speaker 2: but she was only able to say that it was 206 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:54,120 Speaker 2: a quote large amount of money, and considering she had 207 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 2: seen Matthew's hand Robert Miles three hundred thousand dollars and 208 00:13:57,880 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 2: Fraser Glenn Miller two hundred thousand dollar that very same week, 209 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 2: I wonder what she means by a large amount. Tom Martinez, 210 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,800 Speaker 2: a member of the Order who would turn informant, says 211 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 2: Matthews never disclosed how much money had given William Luther Pierce. 212 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,400 Speaker 2: Like I said, the only figure ever offered is fifty 213 00:14:18,480 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 2: thousand dollars. I just really struggled to understand why he 214 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 2: would give his personal hero so little. Three weeks after 215 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 2: William Luther Pierce received that paper bag full of cash, 216 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,400 Speaker 2: he announced at the nineteen eighty four National Alliance Annual 217 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,000 Speaker 2: Convention that the group now had enough money to proceed 218 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:41,040 Speaker 2: with his plan, which was to purchase three hundred and 219 00:14:41,040 --> 00:14:44,960 Speaker 2: sixty four acres in Hillsboro, West Virginia, and begin building 220 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:50,360 Speaker 2: his compound. Headline. Speakers at that meeting included Kevin alfred Strom, 221 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:53,120 Speaker 2: who you may remember as the pedophile from the first 222 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 2: episode of this show, and a chiropractor from Florida named 223 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 2: Herbert Poinsett. Penn and Herb were coming back to him, 224 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,720 Speaker 2: Pierce paid ninety five thousand dollars, all in cash for 225 00:15:07,800 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 2: the land in West Virginia just a few weeks later. 226 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 2: Other recipients of generous gifts from the Order's coffers were 227 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,040 Speaker 2: men like Michael Stanley Norris, who played a part in 228 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 2: the future Stormfront webmaster Don Black's hair brained scheme to 229 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 2: overthrow the government of a small Caribbean nation. That's a 230 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 2: story I'm really looking forward to telling. Louis Beam, the 231 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 2: man who popularized the concept of leaderless resistance, is said 232 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:38,760 Speaker 2: to have gotten one hundred thousand dollars. Forty thousand went 233 00:15:38,800 --> 00:15:42,680 Speaker 2: to Richard Butler and his Aryan Nations, one hundred thousand 234 00:15:42,800 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 2: went to the Covenant the Sword in the Arm of 235 00:15:44,600 --> 00:15:49,080 Speaker 2: the Lord in Arkansas. An unnamed history professor in Columbus, 236 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 2: Ohio received an unknown amount of cash to fund a 237 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:57,240 Speaker 2: White Power band. Dan Gamon, the pastor of a Christian 238 00:15:57,240 --> 00:16:01,320 Speaker 2: identity church in Missouri, got fifteen thousand. And there were 239 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 2: rumors that Matthews had left one or maybe two million 240 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 2: dollars with a lawyer in Denver for safekeeping. But nobody 241 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,920 Speaker 2: knows who that might have been or how much it was. 242 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 2: But the money I've been working my way around to 243 00:16:18,480 --> 00:16:23,000 Speaker 2: is this three hundred thousand dollars gifted to California clansman 244 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 2: Tom Metzker. Tom Metzker is such a central figure in 245 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,760 Speaker 2: so many stories of white power in America in the 246 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:37,280 Speaker 2: eighties that I'm troubled by the need to condense his 247 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:41,120 Speaker 2: biography for our purposes here. But he was a rising 248 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 2: star in the Klan in the seventies and organized his 249 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 2: own clan border patrols at the Mexican border in California, 250 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:50,280 Speaker 2: a stunt that was later copied by Louis Beem and 251 00:16:50,320 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 2: David Duke in Texas. He ran for Congress in California's 252 00:16:54,880 --> 00:16:58,920 Speaker 2: forty third congressional district in nineteen eighty, winning the Democratic 253 00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:03,800 Speaker 2: primary but losing badly to the incumbent Republican. He was, 254 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:08,199 Speaker 2: of course, disavowed by the entire Democratic establishment in California. 255 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 2: Even Governor Jerry Brown publicly endorsed the Republican in that race. 256 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:18,400 Speaker 2: But guys like Metzger don't run to win. They run 257 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:23,479 Speaker 2: for free access, to unlimited attention. And he got it. 258 00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 2: And he ran again in nineteen eighty two, this time 259 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 2: for Senate, and he earned just two percent of the 260 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 2: vote in the primary. Gore Vidal, who I'd honestly forgotten 261 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:39,760 Speaker 2: ever had political aspirations, came in at fifteen percent in 262 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 2: the same primary. Everybody knew Tom Metzker's name. A story 263 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 2: in the North County Times in Oceanside, California around that 264 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 2: same time period about a woman's passion for knitting includes 265 00:17:53,560 --> 00:17:57,920 Speaker 2: the line Metzger forty seven, who emphasizes she is not 266 00:17:58,119 --> 00:18:01,639 Speaker 2: related to Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger says she 267 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 2: was taught by her mother to knit forty three years ago. 268 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 2: Riding high on this attention, Metzger's movement aspirations evolved. He 269 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 2: left the clan behind and formed his own organization that 270 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:20,959 Speaker 2: he originally called the White American Political Association. He quickly 271 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 2: renamed it White American Resistance and then finally White Aryan Resistance, 272 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:32,479 Speaker 2: often just called war. But the attention was fading. He 273 00:18:32,520 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 2: was in the news all the time when he was 274 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:37,679 Speaker 2: running for office, but in early nineteen eighty four, the 275 00:18:37,720 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 2: local paper was clowning on him for his poorly attended crossburnings, 276 00:18:42,080 --> 00:18:47,879 Speaker 2: running headlines like KKK gave crossburning. Nobody came about the 277 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 2: December nineteen eighty three cross burning ceremony in la where 278 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 2: Metzger had been arrested alongside Arian Nation's leader Richard Butler 279 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:59,439 Speaker 2: and several members of the Order. The article notes that 280 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:02,600 Speaker 2: while the first issues of his new White Arian Resistance 281 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:07,159 Speaker 2: newspaper had been quote a slick tabloid on quality paper, 282 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 2: recent issues were down to just a single mimeographed sheet. 283 00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,400 Speaker 2: But his fortunes seemed to have changed just a few 284 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:20,400 Speaker 2: months later. Just weeks after Tom Metzger would have received 285 00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 2: that three hundred thousand dollars from the Order, the Daily 286 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:27,440 Speaker 2: Times Advocate in Escondido, California ran a front page story 287 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 2: about Metzger's newest venture. He was going to be on TV. 288 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 2: Of course, Metzger had been on TV before. He loved 289 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,040 Speaker 2: being on TV. He had debated IRV Rubin from the 290 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 2: Jewish Defense League on a local program in May. But 291 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 2: on September twenty eighth, nineteen eighty four, Tom Metzger wasn't 292 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:55,000 Speaker 2: just on TV. He was hosting his own show. 293 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:02,000 Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Tom Metzger, host of ra Race and Raisin 294 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,560 Speaker 1: is a show dedicated to free speech, a small island 295 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:08,560 Speaker 1: of free speech and a sea of controlled and managed news. 296 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,920 Speaker 2: The first episode of Race and Reason debuted that day 297 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:18,760 Speaker 2: at four thirty five pm. It aired on Public Access 298 00:20:18,840 --> 00:20:22,720 Speaker 2: Channel twenty four in Poway, California, but Metzger promised that 299 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 2: he would soon be broadcast on public access channels throughout 300 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:28,639 Speaker 2: the San Diego area. He claimed he already had deals 301 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 2: in the works to get the show on public access 302 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 2: channels in Orange County, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia, and Austin. 303 00:20:36,119 --> 00:20:38,679 Speaker 2: People weren't happy that The Klansman was going to be 304 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:42,960 Speaker 2: on TV, but Metzger told the paper quote, I tell 305 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 2: you I would be a much better fellow to interview 306 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:47,639 Speaker 2: people on television than I wouldn't be on the streets. 307 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 2: It's much easier on the public if you remember Ocean Side. 308 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:56,879 Speaker 2: Ocean Side in this context is a reference to a 309 00:20:56,960 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 2: March nineteen eighty Clan rally that he led through largely 310 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 2: his Spanic neighborhood of Oceanside, California, just months after the 311 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:07,879 Speaker 2: Greensboro massacre, where members of the American Nazi Party murdered 312 00:21:07,880 --> 00:21:12,600 Speaker 2: five communists in North Carolina. The Klansmen chanted, if the 313 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 2: Nazis don't get you, a Klansman will, and just as 314 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,800 Speaker 2: they had in Greensboro, the police and Ocean side failed 315 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 2: to intervene as white supremacists violently attacked protesters. No one 316 00:21:26,280 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 2: was killed at the Ocean Side rally, thankfully, but at 317 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,760 Speaker 2: least seven people were injured, including a news cameraman who 318 00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 2: was bludgeoned with a large rock and a socialist organizer 319 00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 2: named Bruce Kala who was beaten by a group of 320 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,520 Speaker 2: klansmen with clubs. Kala had to be hospitalized for a 321 00:21:42,520 --> 00:21:46,760 Speaker 2: severe head injury and received two hundred stshes. The line 322 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:50,600 Speaker 2: of riot cops seemed not to move at all until 323 00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:54,600 Speaker 2: a Klansman's Doberman lunged at one of them. The officers 324 00:21:54,600 --> 00:22:11,800 Speaker 2: shot and killed the dog. The article about the show's 325 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:14,800 Speaker 2: debut quotes the public access manager for the cable company 326 00:22:14,920 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 2: saying we don't establish the guidelines. The city does. A 327 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:22,719 Speaker 2: representative from another cable company said they hadn't been approached 328 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:25,880 Speaker 2: yet by Metzger, but if asked, they probably would air 329 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:29,160 Speaker 2: the program, saying if we say no to the clan, 330 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 2: then pretty soon we're saying no to another group. And 331 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 2: maybe they did have to air it. In nineteen eighty four, 332 00:22:39,160 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 2: the Cable Communications Act, written by Barry Goldwater, was passed. 333 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:46,720 Speaker 2: Among other things, the bill barred cable operators from exercising 334 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 2: editorial control over the content aired on public access channels, 335 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 2: and it absolved the cable company of any liability for 336 00:22:55,080 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 2: the content aired on those non commercial, public, educational, and 337 00:22:59,119 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 2: government access chains as long as the show wasn't criminal 338 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 2: and it didn't violate basic standards of what's allowed on television. 339 00:23:07,560 --> 00:23:10,240 Speaker 2: The cable company was prohibited by law from refusing to 340 00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 2: air the show just because it was racist. I feel 341 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 2: like there were episodes that a determined lawyer could have 342 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:23,120 Speaker 2: fought to keep off the air as defamatory or incitement 343 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 2: to violence or something. But what incentive was there for 344 00:23:28,119 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 2: them to try. If they lost a fight like that, 345 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:35,639 Speaker 2: they'd have to pay the racist for his trouble. But 346 00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,679 Speaker 2: if they aired it, no matter how bad it was, 347 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:44,639 Speaker 2: they were completely shielded from liability. In articles about the 348 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 2: resulting public outcry, cable executives said, our hands are tied. 349 00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 2: The director of Community Programming said when people called her 350 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 2: office to complain about Metzger's show, all she could do 351 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,399 Speaker 2: was tell them that they would have to complain to 352 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:03,439 Speaker 2: Metzker personally, and within months he made good on his promise. 353 00:24:04,560 --> 00:24:06,879 Speaker 2: Race and Reason was on public access channels and a 354 00:24:06,880 --> 00:24:11,359 Speaker 2: growing number of cities. In many communities, the public access 355 00:24:11,359 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 2: television program requires that local public access programming actually be local, 356 00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 2: so he couldn't just mail these tapes to studios across 357 00:24:21,400 --> 00:24:25,000 Speaker 2: the country and expect them to air. To get around 358 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 2: this requirement, Metzger sold tapes of Race and Reason on 359 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:30,800 Speaker 2: the back cover of every issue of his White aryan 360 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 2: resistance newsletter. Subscribers around the country could mail Metzger a 361 00:24:35,960 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 2: check for thirty five dollars and receive a VHS copy 362 00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 2: of the show in the mail. By nineteen eighty nine, 363 00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:45,520 Speaker 2: he'd sweetened the deal. Any four episodes of Race and 364 00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:48,480 Speaker 2: Reason could be bundled together for just thirty nine ninety 365 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:53,000 Speaker 2: five And that's in nineteen eighty nine dollars. Like that's 366 00:24:53,600 --> 00:24:55,679 Speaker 2: that's a wild amount of money to pay for a 367 00:24:55,720 --> 00:24:59,840 Speaker 2: thirty minute tape of some guy saying slurs. But once 368 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 2: you you had the tape, you could sponsor the show 369 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:07,959 Speaker 2: on your own local public access channel. With this piecemeal 370 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 2: distribution system, it's hard to nail down how many episodes 371 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 2: ever existed and what order they aired in The episodes 372 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 2: that aired in any given city depended on which PHS 373 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,840 Speaker 2: tapes your local racist bought out of a Nazi catalog 374 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 2: and even in his own home market. A TV guide 375 00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:30,920 Speaker 2: printed in November nineteen eighty five notes Metzker's program under 376 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 2: the public access offerings, but it's listed as quote airs infrequently. 377 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 2: A nineteen eighty six article in the Korvalis Gazette Times 378 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 2: says a local resident had been hand delivering a new 379 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 2: cassette to the station three times per week. The station 380 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:51,520 Speaker 2: declined to publicly name the program sponsor, but it came 381 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 2: out anyway. Richard Masker had recently settled a lawsuit against 382 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 2: the city of Corvalis regarding his termination from the water 383 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 2: treatment plant nineteen eighty three. He felt that he'd been 384 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:07,239 Speaker 2: discriminated against. They felt it was not appropriate for him 385 00:26:07,280 --> 00:26:11,280 Speaker 2: to have mailed Jewish residents of Cravallis cards on Hitler's 386 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,760 Speaker 2: birthday that read, may his memory refresh your soul and 387 00:26:14,800 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 2: give you inspiration. Hyle Hitler. Articles about his firing make 388 00:26:20,680 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 2: a passing mention of the fact that the police closed 389 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 2: down the entire water treatment plant for several days after 390 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,199 Speaker 2: he was let go, but they don't offer any explanation 391 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 2: for that. Masker pops up in some strange places later 392 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:38,120 Speaker 2: on in his life, But this isn't a story about 393 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:40,679 Speaker 2: guys who keep getting fired from water treatment plants. So 394 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:43,720 Speaker 2: suffice it to say he did what many Nazis do 395 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:48,720 Speaker 2: and move to Idaho. The first few episodes of Race 396 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 2: and Reason were filmed in Metzger's home, but as the 397 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,879 Speaker 2: show evolved, the production quality began to improve. In nineteen 398 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 2: eighty six, he was using the public Access TV studio 399 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 2: at California State University. A student who worked in the 400 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,199 Speaker 2: studio said he was so offended by the content that 401 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 2: he walked off the job. Students protest at Metzger's presence 402 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 2: on campus, but university president Jewel Plummer Cobb said, quote, 403 00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,400 Speaker 2: we should not stop it, regardless of how I may 404 00:27:16,440 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 2: feel about the content. The strength of America as the 405 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:23,919 Speaker 2: first Amendment. The protests eventually forced Metzger off campus and 406 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,199 Speaker 2: into a private studio. On the heels of the student 407 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 2: protests in California, officials in Spokane, Washington initially declined to 408 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 2: run an episode of Race and Reason featuring Ben Clausen, 409 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:39,400 Speaker 2: the founder of the Nazi religion the Church of the Creator, 410 00:27:39,800 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 2: and the man who invented the term rahoa, a popular 411 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 2: shortened form of the phrase racial holy War. In July 412 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,240 Speaker 2: of nineteen eighty seven, there were protests outside the Viacom 413 00:27:51,240 --> 00:27:54,800 Speaker 2: offices in Dublin, California, after a station agreed to run 414 00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:57,120 Speaker 2: tapes of Race and Reason that had been hand delivered 415 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 2: by a clansman named Clinton SIPs. A week later, Sipes 416 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:04,879 Speaker 2: was arrested for handing out clan literature while wearing his 417 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:08,479 Speaker 2: clan robes because the conditions of his parole for a 418 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,639 Speaker 2: clan related armed robbery and assault with a deadly weapon 419 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 2: prevented him from associating with the clan. Sipes later renounced 420 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,160 Speaker 2: his views, founded a nonprofit to help young people leave 421 00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 2: hate groups, and converted to Islam. By the end of 422 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty seven, Metzger had been producing Race and Reason 423 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:32,360 Speaker 2: for three years. It was airing intermittently around the country 424 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 2: in as many as fifty different cities. One particularly controversial 425 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:42,400 Speaker 2: episode that year featured J. B. Stoner. Stoner was no 426 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:46,480 Speaker 2: stranger to controversy. The FCC had to intervene to force 427 00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 2: television stations to air his campaign ads when he ran 428 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:53,239 Speaker 2: for Senate in nineteen seventy two. He's one of the 429 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 2: most unapologetically vicious racists you'll find in twentieth century politics, 430 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,600 Speaker 2: and he ran for office repeatedly making public pronouncements like 431 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,600 Speaker 2: being Jewish should be punishable by death, and black people 432 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,480 Speaker 2: are more closely related to apes than humans. He was 433 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:16,320 Speaker 2: so publicly vitriolic that even his fellow Nazis thought he 434 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,320 Speaker 2: might be a government plant to make them all look bad. 435 00:29:20,320 --> 00:29:23,320 Speaker 2: But he was just like that, and he's stayed like 436 00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 2: that until he died. In one of his last public 437 00:29:26,720 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 2: statements before the stroke that killed him, he said, a 438 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 2: person isn't supposed to apologize for being right. He was 439 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,680 Speaker 2: convicted in nineteen eighty for a nineteen fifty eight bombing 440 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 2: of the Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He was 441 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,560 Speaker 2: never prosecuted for at least a dozen other bombings of 442 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,200 Speaker 2: synagogues and black churches he'd carried out in the fifties, 443 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 2: and he ended up serving just three years in prison. 444 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 2: His appearance on Metzger's show was filmed not long after 445 00:29:55,520 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 2: his release and was apparently just thirty minutes of the 446 00:30:00,120 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 2: most unhinged ranting about AIDS that you can imagine, because 447 00:30:08,040 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 2: by nineteen eighty seven, Stoner was leading a group that 448 00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 2: he called the crusade against corruption. He said that white 449 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,280 Speaker 2: people should celebrate AIDS because it had been sent to 450 00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 2: rescue the white race from black people, Jews, and homosexuals, 451 00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:29,280 Speaker 2: although he typically used words, I won't say that nineteen 452 00:30:29,320 --> 00:30:34,200 Speaker 2: eighty seven episode with JB. Stoner on Metzger's show is gone. 453 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 2: As far as I can tell, I did find maybe 454 00:30:38,040 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 2: twenty or thirty episodes floating around in the ether, but 455 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 2: this isn't one of them, and that's probably for the best, 456 00:30:46,440 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 2: based on reporting about the battle over airing it in Idaho, 457 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 2: though I can match portions of what was said in 458 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,640 Speaker 2: the episode to his speech that Stoner gave at the 459 00:30:55,680 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 2: Arian Nation's compound around the same time. Now, I love 460 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,280 Speaker 2: a primary source. I go to great lengths to locate 461 00:31:05,400 --> 00:31:08,960 Speaker 2: archival footage, and I think it really adds some texture 462 00:31:09,040 --> 00:31:10,800 Speaker 2: to the show for you to hear some of these 463 00:31:10,800 --> 00:31:16,760 Speaker 2: men in their own words sometimes. But this, this is 464 00:31:16,800 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 2: not something I can play. I couldn't find a single 465 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,840 Speaker 2: ten second stretch without a word that I'm not going 466 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 2: to be responsible for broadcasting. That old man was using 467 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 2: slurs at a truly unprecedented rate. One of the only 468 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 2: full phrases without a slur in It sums up what 469 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 2: you need to know. 470 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:46,040 Speaker 3: I think that Age is the greatest miracle that we've. 471 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: Had him about. 472 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 3: Nineteen hundred years. 473 00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,400 Speaker 2: And this episode proved a bridge too far for the 474 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 2: cable provider in pocatelle Hoe. They'd been airing Race and 475 00:32:02,680 --> 00:32:06,040 Speaker 2: Reason on local public access for a year, already sponsored 476 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 2: by Aryan Nations member Stan Sorenson. It was a sensitive 477 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 2: time in a place that has long been a hotbed 478 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:17,720 Speaker 2: of white supremacist activity. Richard Butler's Arian Nations compound was 479 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,480 Speaker 2: in nearby Hayden Lake. In nineteen eighty six, the home 480 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 2: of Bill Wasmuth, a Catholic priest and the chairman of 481 00:32:24,080 --> 00:32:26,400 Speaker 2: the Kote and Eye County Task Force on Human Rights, 482 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:30,480 Speaker 2: had been firebombed in response to his outspoken opposition to 483 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:35,600 Speaker 2: racism and antisemitism. The TV station didn't want to rock 484 00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:41,160 Speaker 2: the boat. Honestly, they probably didn't want to die. But 485 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 2: this thirty minute frenzied rant from an elderly lunatic who 486 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 2: believed that Aids had been sent by God to kill 487 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,160 Speaker 2: black people and to remind Aryan men that race mixing 488 00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 2: is punishable by death. It was just too much. It 489 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 2: was too much. They didn't want to put this on TV, 490 00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:03,560 Speaker 2: so the television's conferred with their lawyers, and after a 491 00:33:03,600 --> 00:33:07,720 Speaker 2: lot of consideration, the lawyers said it's a close call, 492 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 2: but nothing in the episode breaks the law. At the 493 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,720 Speaker 2: next meeting of the Pocatello City Council, some residents felt 494 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,920 Speaker 2: the city should just cut all funding to Public Access 495 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 2: TV if that was the only way they could keep 496 00:33:21,080 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 2: Race and Reason off the air. They couldn't say no 497 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,080 Speaker 2: to just one show, but they could end the Public 498 00:33:28,120 --> 00:33:34,320 Speaker 2: Access TV program entirely for everyone. Members of Pocatello's Human 499 00:33:34,400 --> 00:33:37,880 Speaker 2: Rights Advisory Council said they should call the racist bluff, 500 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 2: don't err it, let them sue, and the debate raged 501 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:48,800 Speaker 2: in Pocatello. The show's producer, an enigmatic figure named Alexander Fox, 502 00:33:49,440 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 2: spent days meeting with the Pocatello City Attorney, and ultimately 503 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 2: he agreed to back down. He wasn't willing to fight 504 00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:01,040 Speaker 2: for it. He withdrew the tape. Paper articles around this 505 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 2: time refer to Alexander Fox as an attorney and the 506 00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 2: show's producer, but I'm not one hundred percent sure he exists. 507 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:14,799 Speaker 2: Most of the episodes of the show I was able 508 00:34:14,840 --> 00:34:18,239 Speaker 2: to find show a message at the end that Alexander 509 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,520 Speaker 2: Fox with an E on the end holds the copyright 510 00:34:21,520 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 2: for the show. That doesn't always mean much. People love 511 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 2: to just put that symbol on things, but I figured 512 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,720 Speaker 2: I'll check. And the only entry in the US Copyright 513 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 2: Office records for an Alexander Fox with an E on 514 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,280 Speaker 2: the end is a nineteen eighty one application to copyright 515 00:34:38,280 --> 00:34:45,440 Speaker 2: a cassette tape called sex Files, and that's phyl Ees 516 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 2: sex Files. Alexander Fox is listed as a pseudonym for 517 00:34:52,239 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 2: David C. Wiley, which coincidentally happens to be the name 518 00:34:57,560 --> 00:35:00,280 Speaker 2: of the California man who often co hosted the show 519 00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,120 Speaker 2: with Metzger. Wiley was the applicant on the paperwork when 520 00:35:04,160 --> 00:35:06,279 Speaker 2: War applied for a permit to hold meetings in the 521 00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,359 Speaker 2: public park in Placentia, California, in nineteen eighty six, and 522 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 2: his name turns up in the documents that were recovered 523 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,279 Speaker 2: by San Francisco police in nineteen ninety three when they 524 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:21,240 Speaker 2: investigated the ADL for spying on thousands of people. Mixed 525 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 2: in with dossier's on Arab Americans and anti apartheid activists, 526 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,000 Speaker 2: the ADL had also been keeping tabs on the Klan. 527 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,600 Speaker 2: The police inventory of documents were covered in the search 528 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 2: lists Wiley's name on a page that includes items related 529 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:41,360 Speaker 2: to the ADL's monitoring of California skinhead groups. So I 530 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:47,480 Speaker 2: wonder if Alexander Fox, attorney for Tom Metzger, didn't have 531 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 2: the stomach for a legal fight over a segregationist's love 532 00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 2: letter to AIDS because he wasn't a lawyer at all. 533 00:35:57,239 --> 00:36:00,200 Speaker 2: But I guess we'll never know. David Wiley dyed in 534 00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:05,919 Speaker 2: two thousand and seven. Pocatello called Metzger's bluff and they won. 535 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:09,759 Speaker 2: But one of the options they considered was one that 536 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 2: some cities chose. You can't say no to a Nazi, 537 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,919 Speaker 2: so you cancel it for everybody, And in nineteen eighty eight, 538 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 2: Kansas City, Missouri, did just that. They ended their entire 539 00:36:23,520 --> 00:36:28,759 Speaker 2: public access television program rather than air Metzger's show. A 540 00:36:28,800 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 2: group of klansmen had showed up at this studio with 541 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:33,399 Speaker 2: a tape of Race and Reason in hand, and they 542 00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,759 Speaker 2: were told that, oh, sorry, the rules are that you 543 00:36:36,840 --> 00:36:39,359 Speaker 2: have to actually produce your own show here. You can't 544 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:42,879 Speaker 2: show the tape. But apparently there was no such rule 545 00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 2: on the books, and the city wasn't allowed to invent 546 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:51,799 Speaker 2: new rules to enact a content based restriction on the show. So, 547 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:55,000 Speaker 2: faced with the possibility of becoming known as Klansas City, 548 00:36:55,560 --> 00:36:58,279 Speaker 2: something that appeared in almost all of the articles about this, 549 00:37:00,040 --> 00:37:05,080 Speaker 2: UNSEL voted to eliminate public Access TV altogether. But this 550 00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:11,200 Speaker 2: time the bluff cock called it wasn't the possibly fictional 551 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,399 Speaker 2: Alexander Fox who stepped in to represent the Missouri Knights 552 00:37:14,400 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 2: of the Ku Klux Klan. Although local clansman Dennis Mayhon 553 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,440 Speaker 2: did tell the newspaper that he was getting legal advice 554 00:37:20,480 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 2: from Fox. No, Mayhon's legal representation in this case came 555 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 2: from the ACLU, and after a federal judge denied the 556 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,520 Speaker 2: city's motion to dismiss the suit, they ended up settling 557 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,800 Speaker 2: out of court and voted to restore the public access channel. 558 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:41,480 Speaker 2: So in the end, after a year of push and pull, 559 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 2: the Klan was on TV and the city had to 560 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,840 Speaker 2: pay one hundred thousand dollars. I'm not sure if Dennis 561 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 2: Mayhon ever did try his hand at making his own 562 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,440 Speaker 2: public access show, but he is currently serving a forty 563 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,080 Speaker 2: year sentence in federal prison for mailing a bomb to 564 00:37:59,160 --> 00:38:02,240 Speaker 2: the Scottsville office of Diversity and Dialogue in two thousand 565 00:38:02,239 --> 00:38:06,560 Speaker 2: and four. It's not at all relevant here to tell 566 00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,680 Speaker 2: you that he ended up in prison because the FBI 567 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 2: sent an informant to seduce him into confessing, or that 568 00:38:12,880 --> 00:38:15,799 Speaker 2: among the feminine wiles she employed to woo him into 569 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:20,160 Speaker 2: her confidence was a risque photo of herself in a 570 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 2: white bikini top with a hand grenade nestled between her breasts. 571 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:29,319 Speaker 2: You didn't need to know that, but I know it, 572 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 2: and now you do too. People protested in Cincinnati, Chicago, 573 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:55,520 Speaker 2: Corpus Christi, Pocatello, Fullerton, and in cities across the country, 574 00:38:55,600 --> 00:38:59,240 Speaker 2: But for an entire decade, Tom Metzger's Race and Reason 575 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 2: aired on public access television. Not even the lawsuit that 576 00:39:03,000 --> 00:39:06,240 Speaker 2: all but destroyed White Area and Resistance could stop production 577 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,839 Speaker 2: of Race and Reason. In nineteen ninety, a Portland jury 578 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,000 Speaker 2: agreed that Metzger was liable for inciting war members to 579 00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:16,439 Speaker 2: commit acts of violence against minorities, specifically in the death 580 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:20,279 Speaker 2: of Mulagettas Arrah, an Ethiopian college student murdered by war 581 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 2: members in nineteen eighty eight. Metzger lost his house, but 582 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 2: he kept making the show, if only intermittently. In nineteen 583 00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:32,640 Speaker 2: ninety three, Metzger interviewed James Mason about the recent release 584 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:36,440 Speaker 2: of his book Siege, the book that remains to this 585 00:39:36,560 --> 00:39:38,240 Speaker 2: day the white terrorist's handbook. 586 00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,400 Speaker 1: And at this point you've moved away from the mass strategy, 587 00:39:44,120 --> 00:39:47,320 Speaker 1: totally concentrating on the revolutionary struggle. 588 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:53,759 Speaker 3: What few potential revolutionaries we had left out of the 589 00:39:53,800 --> 00:39:58,440 Speaker 3: old movement were my targets for this propaganda that I 590 00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 3: included in the original Sea Monthly publication. 591 00:40:05,440 --> 00:40:08,080 Speaker 2: But Tom Metzger wasn't the only racist who understood the 592 00:40:08,120 --> 00:40:10,560 Speaker 2: power of this tool he'd figured out how to use. 593 00:40:11,560 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 2: Dozens of his followers dutifully ordered copies of VHS tapes 594 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 2: to broadcast Metzger's Race and Reason on their own local channels, 595 00:40:18,840 --> 00:40:22,520 Speaker 2: But some supporters took it a step further. They didn't 596 00:40:22,560 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 2: just copy the tapes, they copied the model and made 597 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:30,960 Speaker 2: their own shows. Looking back for a moment to Pocatello. 598 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 2: The first episode of Race and Reason that aired in Pocatella, Idaho, 599 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,600 Speaker 2: a year before the controversy with JB. Stoner and his 600 00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:44,040 Speaker 2: enthusiasm for racial cleansing through HIV took me by surprise. 601 00:40:45,160 --> 00:40:47,759 Speaker 2: It's the only episode of Metzger's original run of the 602 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:51,600 Speaker 2: show that didn't feature Metzger at all. The guest host 603 00:40:51,600 --> 00:40:54,080 Speaker 2: in the episode that aired in Pocatello, Idaho in nineteen 604 00:40:54,120 --> 00:41:02,040 Speaker 2: eighty six was Roy Frankhauser. Roy Frankause, the Klansman from Pennsylvania, 605 00:41:02,160 --> 00:41:05,479 Speaker 2: the same Roy Frankhauser that formed a clan splinter group 606 00:41:05,520 --> 00:41:08,600 Speaker 2: in western Pennsylvania in the early nineties and found himself 607 00:41:08,640 --> 00:41:12,160 Speaker 2: at odds with Keystone Knights Grand Dragon Barry Black. That 608 00:41:12,280 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 2: Roy Frankauser. If you missed the episodes I did in 609 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,520 Speaker 2: October about Barry Black, this means nothing to you, but 610 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 2: I was surprised to see Roy again. What a small world. 611 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:29,120 Speaker 2: On Race and Reason. Frankhauser was interviewing Richard Barrett, a 612 00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,920 Speaker 2: Mississippi attorney who led a white supremacist group called the 613 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 2: Nationalist Movement. Frankauser would go on to host his own 614 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:39,720 Speaker 2: shows on Public Access TV in Pennsylvania, one called White 615 00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 2: Forum and one called Roy Frankhauser Presents Race and Reason, 616 00:41:45,719 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 2: though it's unclear from the newspaper articles if that was 617 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,640 Speaker 2: actually an original show hosted by frank Hauser or if 618 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,240 Speaker 2: he just sort of popped his name onto the Metzger 619 00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:59,120 Speaker 2: reruns that he was sponsoring. I couldn't find any episodes. 620 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:05,000 Speaker 2: I guess if you have episodes of racist public access 621 00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:09,239 Speaker 2: TV from reading Pennsylvania in the early nineties, I do 622 00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 2: want to see them, Please email them to me. And 623 00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:16,400 Speaker 2: that Mississippi attorney that he was interviewing on that episode 624 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,600 Speaker 2: also went on to host his own show called Airlink, 625 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,400 Speaker 2: which was broadcast in as many as sixty cities at 626 00:42:23,400 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 2: its height in the nineties. Richard Barrett unsuccessfully sued the 627 00:42:27,680 --> 00:42:30,160 Speaker 2: city of Houston in nineteen ninety nine over their policy 628 00:42:30,160 --> 00:42:33,000 Speaker 2: of charging one hundred dollars per hour for public access 629 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:37,880 Speaker 2: broadcasts that were produced outside the Houston area. Barrett was 630 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,759 Speaker 2: murdered in twenty ten by his neighbor, a young black man, 631 00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:44,719 Speaker 2: who claimed Barrett dropped his pants and demanded a sex 632 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,239 Speaker 2: act from him. I'm not a huge fan of what 633 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:52,040 Speaker 2: sounds a little bit like a gay panic defense. I'll 634 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,960 Speaker 2: love that. Not weighing in on the killer's motivations here, 635 00:42:56,080 --> 00:42:59,360 Speaker 2: but it may have happened. Barrett had long been rumored 636 00:42:59,360 --> 00:43:03,080 Speaker 2: to be gay, and after his death, fellow Nazi Don 637 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:08,080 Speaker 2: Black said Barrett was quote an obvious old queen. Ask 638 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:12,760 Speaker 2: anyone who ever met him and former National Alliance member 639 00:43:12,800 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 2: and longtime David Duke Lackey Ron Doggett had a similar 640 00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 2: public access program in Richmond, Virginia, all through the nineties. 641 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:25,080 Speaker 2: His was called Race and Reality, but it was indistinguishable 642 00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:32,080 Speaker 2: from Metzger's Race and Reason. In the mid eighties, doctor 643 00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 2: Herbert Poinsett was one of many of Metzger's fans around 644 00:43:36,120 --> 00:43:39,280 Speaker 2: the country who was dutifully taking VHS tapes of Metzger's 645 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,759 Speaker 2: show to his local TV station each week. But by 646 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,160 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty eight he'd made several guest appearances on the show, 647 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 2: and within a year he'd produced more than forty episodes 648 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:53,400 Speaker 2: of his own weekly show, also called Race and Reason, 649 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:58,640 Speaker 2: broadcast on public Access TV in Tampa. When his name 650 00:43:58,680 --> 00:44:01,799 Speaker 2: first appeared in the paper as the local crank broadcasting 651 00:44:01,800 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 2: Metzker's show in Atlanta, he told the Atlanta Constitution that 652 00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:11,359 Speaker 2: he had quote no clan ties whatsoever, And I guess 653 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:17,080 Speaker 2: that's probably true. It's probably technically true. I can't find 654 00:44:17,120 --> 00:44:19,799 Speaker 2: any evidence that Herbert Pointsett was ever in the Ku 655 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:24,520 Speaker 2: Klux Klan, but he was absolutely a Nazi. There's really 656 00:44:24,560 --> 00:44:28,440 Speaker 2: no doubt about that. His name appears in passing In 657 00:44:28,480 --> 00:44:31,440 Speaker 2: some of the personal writings of Ben Klassen, the founder 658 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 2: of the Church of the Creator, he seems to have 659 00:44:34,120 --> 00:44:36,440 Speaker 2: been a personal friend of Classen's in the early eighties 660 00:44:36,560 --> 00:44:39,040 Speaker 2: before he moved his Nazi church from Florida up to 661 00:44:39,080 --> 00:44:44,640 Speaker 2: North Carolina. And remember, maybe half an hour ago or so, 662 00:44:45,160 --> 00:44:46,960 Speaker 2: when I told you to put a pin in herb. 663 00:44:48,080 --> 00:44:50,399 Speaker 2: He was the headline speaker at the nineteen eighty four 664 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:54,920 Speaker 2: annual convention for William Luther Pierce's National Alliance. There's a 665 00:44:55,160 --> 00:44:58,240 Speaker 2: lovely photo in an issue of the National Alliance bulletin 666 00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:03,800 Speaker 2: that shows Pointset next to an ecstatic looking Kevin Alfred Strom. 667 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,400 Speaker 2: I mean, Strome is just beaming. He's holding up a 668 00:45:07,400 --> 00:45:11,040 Speaker 2: copy of The Best of Attack. It was a compilation 669 00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 2: of the National Alliance newspaper from the seventies that Strome 670 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,319 Speaker 2: had just finished editing. But even if I didn't have 671 00:45:18,360 --> 00:45:22,040 Speaker 2: this photo of Herbert Poinsett looking a little uncomfortable sitting 672 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:25,400 Speaker 2: next to Kevin Strome, I'd still know beyond a shadow 673 00:45:25,400 --> 00:45:28,360 Speaker 2: of doubt that he was a National Alliance member of 674 00:45:28,400 --> 00:45:32,200 Speaker 2: some importance, someone that William Luther Pierce placed a great 675 00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 2: deal of trust in that photo of Poinset. In Strome 676 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,240 Speaker 2: was taken some time over Labor Day weekend in nineteen 677 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:43,399 Speaker 2: eighty four. William Luther Pierce had received that paper bag 678 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:46,760 Speaker 2: full of cash from Robert Matthews just a few weeks earlier, 679 00:45:48,040 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 2: and it was at this meeting in Arlington that Pierce 680 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:53,400 Speaker 2: announced to his followers that he finally had enough money 681 00:45:53,680 --> 00:45:55,959 Speaker 2: to purchase that three hundred and sixty four acre plot 682 00:45:56,000 --> 00:46:00,000 Speaker 2: in Hillsboro, West Virginia. In October. He paid ninety five 683 00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:04,840 Speaker 2: one thousand dollars, all in cash for the property. Pierce 684 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,319 Speaker 2: maintained until his death that he had not received any 685 00:46:07,320 --> 00:46:10,480 Speaker 2: of the proceeds from the Order's robberies, but his own 686 00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,399 Speaker 2: son notes in his memoir that there isn't really any 687 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:17,880 Speaker 2: other explanation for his sudden ability to afford the land. 688 00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:21,319 Speaker 2: But William Luther Pierce made another big purchase in the 689 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:25,040 Speaker 2: mid eighties. For a man who kept his guns buried 690 00:46:25,120 --> 00:46:28,279 Speaker 2: underground so the government wouldn't know he had them, a 691 00:46:28,320 --> 00:46:33,080 Speaker 2: stock portfolio wasn't really his style, even if he had 692 00:46:33,200 --> 00:46:35,719 Speaker 2: money to invest, which by all accounts, he did not. 693 00:46:36,920 --> 00:46:40,080 Speaker 2: Investing in the system that he spent his life railing 694 00:46:40,120 --> 00:46:45,200 Speaker 2: against really doesn't seem like him. But in nineteen eighty six, 695 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,400 Speaker 2: he purchased one hundred shares of stock in AT and T, 696 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:51,880 Speaker 2: and that would have cost him over ten thousand dollars. 697 00:46:53,480 --> 00:46:56,839 Speaker 2: In April of nineteen eighty eight, William Luther Pierce sent 698 00:46:57,000 --> 00:47:02,040 Speaker 2: Herbert Poinset to represent his Neo Nazi organization at the 699 00:47:02,080 --> 00:47:08,000 Speaker 2: annual AT and T shareholders meeting. As a shareholder, National 700 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:11,359 Speaker 2: Alliance could submit a proposal to be considered by all 701 00:47:11,360 --> 00:47:14,640 Speaker 2: the other shareholders at the meeting. It used to be 702 00:47:14,680 --> 00:47:17,320 Speaker 2: that anyone owning even a single share of a company 703 00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:20,720 Speaker 2: stock could submit a proposal like this, but the rules 704 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:23,760 Speaker 2: changed in the eighties, and that probably explains the size 705 00:47:23,760 --> 00:47:25,920 Speaker 2: of Pearce's purchase and the fact that he sat on 706 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:28,800 Speaker 2: it for two years. You have to own a certain 707 00:47:28,840 --> 00:47:31,160 Speaker 2: amount of stock and for a certain amount of time 708 00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:35,520 Speaker 2: before you're allowed to submit proposals. So they made the 709 00:47:35,520 --> 00:47:38,919 Speaker 2: buy and they sat on their investment until the time came. 710 00:47:40,280 --> 00:47:43,880 Speaker 2: The nineteen eighty eight shareholders meeting was on April twentieth, 711 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:48,840 Speaker 2: Hitler's birthday. That had to be a good omen because 712 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 2: they were going to make AT and T end its 713 00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:56,680 Speaker 2: affirmative Action program. When National Alliance submitted their proposal, ahead 714 00:47:56,680 --> 00:48:00,319 Speaker 2: of the April twentieth, nineteen eighty eight shareholders meeting, AT 715 00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:03,640 Speaker 2: and T sought to have it excluded, but two weeks 716 00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:06,640 Speaker 2: ahead of the meeting, the Securities and Exchange Commission denied 717 00:48:06,680 --> 00:48:10,960 Speaker 2: the request. The Nazi proposal was going in the proxy statement. 718 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:14,960 Speaker 2: I can only find AT and T annual proxy statements 719 00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:18,360 Speaker 2: going back thirty years in the SEC's online database, so 720 00:48:19,040 --> 00:48:21,800 Speaker 2: unfortunately I don't have the original document that was presented 721 00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:25,160 Speaker 2: to the shareholders what. According to reporting at the time, 722 00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:28,680 Speaker 2: every AT and T shareholder was presented with a statement 723 00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:33,239 Speaker 2: that argued that black workers were intellectually inferior and that 724 00:48:33,360 --> 00:48:38,560 Speaker 2: hiring minorities had a negative impact on white workers. Chairman 725 00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:41,720 Speaker 2: of the board Robert Allen denounced the proposal during the meeting, saying, 726 00:48:42,600 --> 00:48:45,279 Speaker 2: as a shareholder of a sufficient number of AT and 727 00:48:45,280 --> 00:48:48,600 Speaker 2: T shares, this organization has a right to offer a 728 00:48:48,640 --> 00:48:52,080 Speaker 2: share owner proposal, but we find the intent and wording 729 00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:56,600 Speaker 2: of this proposal highly objectionable. Especially objectionable is the argument 730 00:48:56,640 --> 00:48:58,920 Speaker 2: that some of our employees, because of their race, are 731 00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:03,160 Speaker 2: less qualified than other. This proposal is completely contrary to 732 00:49:03,200 --> 00:49:06,120 Speaker 2: the policies, the culture, and the character of AT and T. 733 00:49:06,840 --> 00:49:09,080 Speaker 2: It is in the proxy only because we could not 734 00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:11,759 Speaker 2: convince the Securities and Exchange Commission to allow us to 735 00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:18,040 Speaker 2: drop it. Okay, nice words, Robert Allen, but he followed 736 00:49:18,040 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 2: that up by also encouraging shareholders to vote against a 737 00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:24,560 Speaker 2: competing proposal brought by a black AT and T executive 738 00:49:24,600 --> 00:49:27,440 Speaker 2: named Alex Tillman, who was asking AT and T to 739 00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:31,400 Speaker 2: expand the company's commitment to promoting more women in minorities. 740 00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:36,960 Speaker 2: Both proposals failed. AT and T shareholders were ninety one 741 00:49:37,040 --> 00:49:41,600 Speaker 2: percent against ending affirmative action and ninety four percent against 742 00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:47,200 Speaker 2: expanding it. After the meeting, Pointsett told reporters, we lost 743 00:49:47,239 --> 00:49:50,239 Speaker 2: one battle, but the war has just started. We want 744 00:49:50,239 --> 00:49:51,960 Speaker 2: to get the vast majority of white people in this 745 00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:53,839 Speaker 2: country to wake up to see that they are being 746 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,520 Speaker 2: displaced by people who shouldn't be taken over their jobs. 747 00:49:58,320 --> 00:50:01,640 Speaker 2: Both Tillman and National Alliance submitted their proposals again at 748 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:05,600 Speaker 2: the nineteen eighty nine shareholders meeting. This time, the Nazis 749 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:08,359 Speaker 2: got just eight point one percent support, down from eight 750 00:50:08,360 --> 00:50:12,799 Speaker 2: point six the year before, and Tilman's proposal for more 751 00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:17,520 Speaker 2: diversity garnered support from just four percent of shareholders, down 752 00:50:17,560 --> 00:50:22,200 Speaker 2: from six the year before. With so little support. Tilman 753 00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,120 Speaker 2: was not allowed to submit the proposal again in nineteen ninety, 754 00:50:26,000 --> 00:50:29,840 Speaker 2: but National Alliance did. National Alliance submitted the proposal for 755 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:34,239 Speaker 2: a third time in nineteen ninety, this time getting eight 756 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:37,560 Speaker 2: point eight percent of shareholders to agree that the company 757 00:50:37,600 --> 00:50:41,640 Speaker 2: should end its affirmative action program. So the third time 758 00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:44,440 Speaker 2: they tried it, they got the most votes in favor. 759 00:50:44,480 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 2: I mean, it's still not a high number, but the 760 00:50:47,160 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 2: number was going up if they tried it a fourth time. 761 00:50:51,320 --> 00:50:56,799 Speaker 2: Though I couldn't find it. Herbert Pointsett kept broadcasting Race 762 00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,239 Speaker 2: and Reason from Tampa through the mid nineties. I can 763 00:51:00,239 --> 00:51:03,960 Speaker 2: only find a handful of episodes. I think he ended 764 00:51:04,040 --> 00:51:07,160 Speaker 2: up producing more episodes of the show than Metzger ever did, 765 00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:11,239 Speaker 2: but he wasn't as famous, so very few of them 766 00:51:11,239 --> 00:51:14,759 Speaker 2: have survived. Most of the ones that can still be 767 00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:18,200 Speaker 2: found show point Set wearing a suit, talking straight into 768 00:51:18,239 --> 00:51:21,760 Speaker 2: the camera, and sitting in front of a wall covered 769 00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:26,880 Speaker 2: by two flags side by side, Confederate flag and a 770 00:51:26,960 --> 00:51:32,120 Speaker 2: Nazi flag. Daniel Ruth, a journalist who appears to still 771 00:51:32,120 --> 00:51:35,520 Speaker 2: be writing for the Tampa Bay Times, routinely tore into 772 00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 2: point Set and his column in the nineties. One column 773 00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:42,440 Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety three bears the headline third Rate Third 774 00:51:42,560 --> 00:51:47,160 Speaker 2: Reich Cable Show. Another column waxes poetic about the quote 775 00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:52,239 Speaker 2: delusional ramblings of local Nazi chiropractor and cable access carbuncle 776 00:51:52,360 --> 00:51:57,799 Speaker 2: Herb point Set. Herbert Pointset disappears from the record by 777 00:51:57,800 --> 00:52:00,960 Speaker 2: the late nineties, and he died in two thousand and three. 778 00:52:01,719 --> 00:52:03,879 Speaker 2: He spent the last two decades of his life trying 779 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,239 Speaker 2: to get famous for being racist. But I'd never heard 780 00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:09,600 Speaker 2: of him at all until I started poking around William 781 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:14,719 Speaker 2: Muther Pierce's finances, which is where I started. All of 782 00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:18,680 Speaker 2: this was just an accident because I got distracted wondering 783 00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:22,000 Speaker 2: about where all that money went. I really did start 784 00:52:22,040 --> 00:52:24,640 Speaker 2: off trying to write about the bank robberies and the murders. 785 00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,759 Speaker 2: But looking back now, I think the money spent on 786 00:52:28,920 --> 00:52:32,799 Speaker 2: years of loud public propaganda had a far greater and 787 00:52:32,840 --> 00:52:36,280 Speaker 2: longer lasting impact than ten times the amount of money 788 00:52:36,320 --> 00:52:40,160 Speaker 2: spent on guns, because the government would end up taking 789 00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:44,120 Speaker 2: most of the guns purchased with the stolen money. But 790 00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:49,920 Speaker 2: propagandists like Tom Metzger kept Robert Matthews's dream alive, telling 791 00:52:49,960 --> 00:52:53,879 Speaker 2: a generation of racists that it was time for War. 792 00:53:00,960 --> 00:53:03,400 Speaker 2: Weird Little Guys is a production of Cool Zone Media 793 00:53:03,440 --> 00:53:08,000 Speaker 2: and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written and recorded by me, Molly Conger. 794 00:53:08,719 --> 00:53:12,640 Speaker 2: Our executive producers are Sophie Lichterman and Robert Evans. The 795 00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:16,239 Speaker 2: show is edited by the wildly talented Rory Gagan. The 796 00:53:16,239 --> 00:53:19,600 Speaker 2: theme music was composed by Brad Dickard. You can email 797 00:53:19,640 --> 00:53:22,799 Speaker 2: me at Weird Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. 798 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:26,120 Speaker 2: I will definitely read it, but I almost certainly will 799 00:53:26,120 --> 00:53:29,319 Speaker 2: not answer it. It's nothing personal. I don't answer any 800 00:53:29,320 --> 00:53:32,800 Speaker 2: of my emails. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the 801 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:35,560 Speaker 2: show with other listeners on the Weird Little Guy's subreddit. 802 00:53:36,800 --> 00:53:38,600 Speaker 2: Just don't post anything that's going to make you one 803 00:53:38,640 --> 00:53:39,720 Speaker 2: of my Weird Little Guys.