Member-only story
After Metzger
The impact of America’s most notorious racist and where we go from here
The Anti-Defamation League hailed last year’s passing of Tom Metzger as the closing of a “dark chapter” in American history.
Since the early 1980s, Metzger made a name for himself as “America’s most dangerous racist.” His resume included leadership in the Ku Klux Klan, the founding of a neo-Nazi organization, and influencing the murderers of an Ethiopian immigrant in 1988.
While Metzger’s death hasn’t been met with much sympathy, his legacy has cast a shadow over the nation. Metzger’s vision entailed an America divided solely along racial lines, and — more dangerously — the use of violent loan wolves to bring this fantasy to life.
As evidenced by Dylan Roof, Frazier Glenn Miller, and Patrick Crusius, the threat of racially-motivated loan wolf attacks remains a clear and present danger.
There’s no doubt that Metzger’s career marked the latest chapter in the nation’s troubled history of race relations. The question remains as to what awaits us after Tom Metzger’s passing.
Might a dark chapter have closed, or is a darker chapter set to open?
Who Was Tom Metzger?
