Reply #14: Berhanu v. Metzger [View All]

[Mabus]

Ask your little hatemonger if they like their house, car and their freedom.

If you encourage people to commit violence, instruct them how to do it and then they actually do it, you might be liable to anyone that your minions harm. Berhanu v. Metzger, http://www.splcenter.org/legal/docket/files.jsp?cdrID=11


This might make them wake up a little bit:

On November 12, 1988, skinheads from the Portland Oregon group, East Side White Pride, attacked three Ethiopian immigrants with a baseball bat and steel-toed boots. One of the immigrants - Mulugeta Seraw - was killed. Investigation into the murder resulted in three convictions and revealed close connections between the skinhead gang and White Aryan Resistance.

Among the most critical of these links was a letter to the skinheads signed by Metzger, stating in part: "Soon you will meet Dave Mazzella, our national vice-president, who will be in Portland to teach you how we operate and to help you understand more about WAR…." In fact, Mazzella did instruct the gang - including how to attack people of color. He would later explain that "Tom Metzger said the only way to get respect from skinheads is to teach them how to commit violence against blacks, against Jews, Hispanics, any minority. The word will spread, and they'll know our group is one you can respect."

In the end, Mazzella was not charged in connection with the murder, and he later became a key witness in the lawsuit against Metzger brought by the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with the Anti-Defamation League, on behalf of the Seraw family. (Mazzella also contacted the Anti-Defamation League in an effort to formally renounce his racist beliefs along with his ties to the Metzgers). Mazzella revealed that while he had been a WAR member, he had cased ADL's Los Angeles regional office several times, planning to blow it up.

The jury ultimately awarded $12.5 million in damages to the Seraw family ($5 million from WAR; $3 million from Tom Metzger; $4 million from John Metzger; $500,000 from two of the murderers). Upheld on appeal in April 1993, the judgment was one of the largest civil verdicts of its kind in United States history. Metzger's assets - including his home - were seized to help compensate the Seraw family. (The damages may never be paid in full, but WAR's subsequent revenues have been accounted through the court, and a high percentage of its profits have gone toward paying the penalty.)

To your "friend" to insert their name wherever it says "Metzger" and insert "people with a different opinion" wherever race is mentioned.

The WAR organization was effectively bankrupted as the result of a civil lawsuit resulting from WAR's involvement in the death of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man who came to the United States to attend college. In 1988, Seraw was murdered by racist skinheads, who were convicted of the crime and sent to prison. Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center filed a civil suit against Metzger, arguing that WAR influenced Seraw's murderers by encouraging the group East Side White Pride to commit violence. The jury returned the largest civil verdict in Oregon history at the time — $12.5 million against Metzger and WAR. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Aryan_Resistance

Tell them that their actions are the same type used by racists and other hatemongers.