A decade ago, an attorney from the Southern Poverty Law Center--an organization that prides itself on running the KKK and other white supremacist groups into the ground--promised to "build a wall so high along the Oregon and California border that Tom Metzger would never get into Oregon, let alone Portland, again." At that time, Metzger had been charged with partial responsibility for the racially-motivated murder in SE Portland of Mulugeta Seraw, an Ethiopian man.

But last Saturday, Metzger successfully made it back. In a grange hall along the outskirts of Clackamas, racist leader Metzger returned to Oregon for his first time in a decade and spoke to a crowd of approximately 100 people. The leader of White Aryan Resistance (WAR), a California-based racist group, Metzger has avoided Portland for more than a decade. But he returned last weekend to commemorate the death of Eric Banks, a skinhead killed in a neo-Nazi/anti-neo Nazi conflict. Sponsored by Volksfront, a local, racially-motivated group who define themselves as "a group for the European American," the event featured bands, food, and speakers.

According to Rick Cooper--a member of Volksfront who was present at the event--Metzger addressed his history with Portland when he spoke to the crowd, noting that, even though Portland had tried to build a wall, he was back.

According to Cooper and other sources present at the event, it was a peaceful event, with no violent conflicts.

Randy Blazak, a Portland State University sociology professor specializing in hate crimes, successfully hosted a counter-event, with a panel discussion on Metzger and a video presentation. Though Blazak said the event went smoothly, he expressed concern that Metzger's visit would be the beginning of renewed activity on the part of the racist movement.

"We expect to see more interaction between the network of groups, both in Portland and other places on the West Coast," Blazak explained. "The good news is that these groups are relatively small and don't attract very many people. The bad news is that it doesn't take very many people to create a lot of terror."