Hate Crime in the Media by Victoria Munro

Author:Victoria Munro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Published: 2014-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Mulugeta Seraw

Ethiopian immigrant Mulugeta Seraw was killed by a skinhead wielding a baseball bat in a confrontation between three Ethiopians and a group of skinheads on November 13, 1988. Three of the skinheads were convicted in his death: Kenneth Mieske for first-degree murder (included in his plea was his statement that he killed Seraw because of his race), Kyle Brewster for first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault, and Steve Strasser for first-degree manslaughter and second-degree assault. Mieske, Brewster, and Strasser were all members of the skinhead gang East Side White Pride in Portland, Oregon. The case was important for a number of reasons, not the least of which were the guilty pleas to a hate crime in an area known to members of the Black community as the most prejudiced city in the west. Other reasons included the publicity the case and the skinhead movement in general received nationally and the civil suit brought by Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center against Mieske, Brewster, Tom Metzger, his son John, and the White Aryan Resistance (WAR) for liability in the death of Seraw. Tom Metzger, one of the best-known White supremacists, produced a cable television show entitled Race and Reason.

Even before the publicity surrounding both the criminal and civil cases, the rise of the skinhead movement, their ties to the Internet, and their connection to hate rock groups had been featured in the press, including an episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show, Geraldo Rivera’s show, Larry King Live, and Donohue. The publicity resulted in a twofold response—condemnation from the general public and increased interest in WAR and other hate groups.79 This raises the question of publicity in conjunction with hate that ultimately might be seen as a boon to the hate groups because it provides them with a national audience and great public access even when the publicity itself condemns them.

The Oprah Winfrey episode on skinheads was set up following other national publicity that included an article in Time magazine. “Immediately after the appearance of the Time article, the WAR skinhead contingent received the magic call that marks the division between obscurity and fame in America: a summons from Oprah Winfrey’s producers. The importance of the February 4, 1988, Oprah Winfrey Show to the skinheads around Tom Metzger can probably not be overstated.”80 The panel on the show included John Metzger, Brad Robarge (who eventually married one of Tom’s daughters), Dave Mazzella, and Mike Barrett, while Tom Metzger was in the audience along with his follower Marty Cox (who called Winfrey a monkey). Other skinheads were flown in to be members of the audience. It was clear the group was not there to have a dialogue but to spew hate on national television and after doing so, they walked off the program. This group also appeared on the Morton Downey Jr. Show. “What is important to grasp about Oprah, Downey, and all the skinhead shows that preceded and followed is that they did not happen only once. Rebroadcast, videoed, sold,

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