James Hart Stern is the new leader of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), one of the most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the U.S. NSM is also the same neo-Nazi group that is currently being sued for its violence during the white nationalist “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017.
Stern, a black activist, is seeking to use his position as the group’s president to undermine their defense in the lawsuit. He also reportedly asks that the federal court overseeing the Charlottesville case rules against the NSM.
Stern replaced former leader Jeff Schoep in January, who ran the group since 1994. According to The Associated Press, it is unclear why or how Stern, who lives in California, became president of the Detroit-based group.
Former NSM member and prominent white nationalist, Matthew Heimbach, told The AP that the leadership shift came from internal disagreements over the future of the group and that the recent changes signal the end of the group as they’ve known it for decades. He also noted there were only about 40 active, dues-paying members last year. “I think it’s kind of a sad obit for one of the longest-running white nationalist organizations,” said Heimbach.
Stern previously posted a message on his website saying he would be meeting with Schoep in February 2017 “to sign a proclamation acknowledging the NSM denouncing being a white supremacist group.”
“I have personally targeted eradicating the [Ku Klux Klan] and the National Socialist Movement, which are two organizations here in this country which have all too long been given privileges they don’t deserve,” Stern said in the video posted on his site.
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