Tom Metzger, longtime white supremacy activist and leader of White Aryan Resistance (WAR), is speaking somewhere in the Portland area on December 8. The event is meant to commemorate the death of Eric Banks, a member of WAR who was shot in an alleged dispute with a group of anti-racist skinheads, 12 years ago. The exact location for the rally has not been disclosed (due to fears of interference from police and protesters), but rumors have it taking place either in Salem or Southeast Portland. In contrast, the Coalition Against Hate Crimes will be showing a documentary about Tom Metzger, and hosting a discussion panel at Portland State University, from 7-9 on Dec 8 (Cramer Hall, Room 71).

Metzger hasn't been through Portland for nearly a decade, when he was fined and, subsequently, had to pay $12 million for his responsibility in the death of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man who was murdered in a racist act. The Portland jury found him guilty of training the killers.

Are you a racist?

Yes, but I believe black people should be racist too. I think there's honor in protecting our neighborhood, your family, and, similarly, your race.

How do you gain supporters for your movement? Do you find them or do they find you?

First of all, we're not a membership organization. Membership organizations are easy targets for federal and state scrutiny. Instead, we work with voluntary associates, and because of that, I really have no idea how many people are involved. But they definitely come to us.

Like WAR, environmentalists in Portland are concerned about FBI scrutiny. They actually seem to share your general distrust of government. Any thoughts on this?

We have a lot of supporters from the environmental movement, because the two aren't that far apart. Open borders means more consumption of living space. With hundreds of thousands of Mexicans coming across the border, the biggest environmental problem is immigration. I have predicted for years that the environmental struggle and the racist struggle will come together. They have been running parallel for quite awhile, but are starting to bend together now.

Is there a common type of person who joins your movement?

It's very difficult to profile them [the people involved], because they come from all walks of life. A lot of them are professionals like us because they can operate covertly without worrying about losing their job--you never know who's working next to you. In fact, we recommend that people should play the "devil's advocate"; the office liberal. We've heard from people in the military, students, professors; in fact, I don't even know who's involved.

Is Portland a particularly good area to recruit in?

I don't think we have a lot of influence in Portland or Seattle. These areas are the poorest areas to recruit in because they haven't been subjected to integrated areas. Miami, San Francisco, LA those areas are more integrated and more separatist.

You haven't been in Portland for nearly a decade, since the death of Mulugeta Seraw.

That was a total legal lynching. At this point, if I had actually done what they said I'd did, I'd say 'Yeah I did it.' But I didn't do it. I was dealing with a hysteria that was put together by elements in Portland, including the mayor. I will never forget the way I was treated in Portland. I'm not a Christian, but there's one saying in the bible that says, "if there's one good man in the city, than you can spare the city.' And there was one man in Portland who didn't believe the lies. I spared Portland for that man, euphemistically speaking. I think Portland is full of self-hating whites; people who will promote any person of color before promoting themselves.

If we were to abolish the present form of government, what would be a good replacement?

I support any kind of government that works well for the white person. In many ways, I'm quite libertarian. I believe that if you have a white homeland, within that homeland, freedom should be nationalized. If people want to smoke pot, fine. I would eliminate the drug war immediately, and that would release about two-thirds of all prisoners. Most of the people in jail are in on drugs, which aren't violent crimes. When the government says that by having a bag of marijuana, you have to go to jail, you have a police state. And his country is becoming a police state. I think a lot of people would agree with me there.

What's your ultimate goal?

Well, we'd just like to have North America. Other races, they can have all the other countries. We just want them out of ours.