Mulugeta Seraw

Background

On the night of 12 November 1988, Ken "Death" Mieske, Kyle Brewster, and Steve Strasser, members of groups known as East Side White Pride and White Aryan Resistance (WAR), were driving around Portland with their girlfriends, intending to return home. The three confronted two black men, including Seraw, who had been dropped off in front of his apartment. Subsequently, Seraw was beaten to death with a baseball bat on Southeast 31st Avenue. The three perpetrators and their girlfriends left Seraw in a puddle of his own blood.

Seraw died in the early-morning hours the following day. Mieske said he, Brewster, and Strasser killed Mr. Seraw "because of his race." In response, hundreds of people turned out for rallies against racism. Meanwhile, Tom Metzger, head of WAR, said the supremacists did a "civic duty" by killing Seraw.

After one week of investigation, Mieske, Brewster, and Strasser were arrested. Brewster and Strasser were convicted of manslaughter and assault. Brewster was released in November 2002, but in 2006 violated parole and was sent back to prison.

In 1990, Mieske was convicted of first-degree murder and given a life sentence; he died on July 26 2011 at the age of 45. At the time of his death, he was still being referred to as a "Prisoner of War" by white power groups.

In October 1990, Seraw's father and son, represented at no cost by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, won a civil case against White Aryan Resistance's operator Tom Metzger and his son John Metzger for a total of $12.5 million. The cost of the trial, which measured in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, was absorbed by the SPLC and the ADL. As Metzger was unable to cover the damages, the Seraws' lawyer decided to file legal documents in order to have his Fallbrook, California home and his assets seized. As a result, the house was transferred to Seraw's estate for a value of $121,500; Metzger was allowed to keep $45,000 under California's Homestead Act. Metzger was warned that any damage caused to the house would result in a lawsuit; nonetheless, he chose to leave the property "a mess" with cracked windows, but apparently did not cause any serious damage. The Metzgers declared bankruptcy, but WAR continued to operate. Metzger himself was forced to move into an apartment and collect welfare. He still makes payments to Seraw's family.

Reaction to Seraw's death

In the same year, approximately 18 months after Seraw's death, 1,500 people attended a rally along the South Park Blocks. Among the participants were assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Brown, prosecuting deputy district attorney Norm Frink, Margaret Carter, Bud Clark, and several city commissioners, as well as at least five members of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice. 150 police officers were on hand, as up to 300 skinheads were expected to oppose the rally; previously, the largest numbers of police officers needed for Portland events were for an Elvis Presley concert in 1957, in which 90 officers took part, and a Run-DMC concert in 1987. Bomb disposal squads, bomb-sniffing dogs, riot police, and a police helicopter were used, but the rally occurred without any major incident.

Also in 1990, members of the Oregon chapter of the American Leadership Forum formed an "experiential" anti-discrimination youth camp in response to Seraw's death. Operating from 1990 to 2002, Camp Odyssey facilitated a week-long journey for teenagers in the Pacific Northwest, examining systems of oppression and fostering communication amongst a widely diverse group of participants. In early 2010, a small group of alumni formed a not-for-profit organization called The Piece, overseeing the revival of Camp Odyssey, which was projected to occur in the summer of 2011.