Black activist who said he took over Detroit neo-Nazi group dies at 55

Niraj Warikoo
Detroit Free Press
In this Thursday, June 14, 2012, file photo, James Stern is shown at a news conference in Jackson, Miss. One of the largest and oldest neo-Nazi groups in the U.S. appears to have an unlikely new leader: Stern, a black activist who has vowed to dismantle it.

A black civil rights activist who said earlier this year he had taken control of a neo-Nazi group based in Detroit, the National Socialist Movement (NSM), has died at the age of 55. 

According to his attorney, James Stern died Oct. 11 at his home in Moreno Valley, California, after suffering from bladder cancer. The Associated Press reported his death on Monday. 

Stern's death comes amid legal disputes as to who controls NSM, a white supremacist group described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the U.S. State incorporation records list Eastpointe as his city of residence with the group's address being in Detroit. 

James Stern filed incorporation records in January with the State of Michigan that showed he is the leader of NSM after the previous leader, Jeff Schoep, handed over the group to him amid concerns over a lawsuit filed against the group tied to violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. 

Stern told the Free Press in March that he took legal ownership of the group "for the purposes of obliterating it, getting rid of it. ... They are going to be destroyed."

Schoep said he was tricked into handing over the leadership of this group to Stern as a way to help reduce their liability in lawsuits filed against them stemming from violence by white supremacists in Charlottesville in which a young woman, Heather Heyer, was killed. 

It was the second time that Stern has assumed leadership of a white supremacist group to dismantle it, said the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

While serving time in prison, Stern once befriended Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Edgar Ray Killen, who was involved in racial killings in Mississippi that were depicted in the movie "Mississippi Burning."

Stern then dissolved the group Killen was in.

Stern was diagnosed with bladder cancer in December and spoke with Schoep in a series of conversations about transferring the group to him, reported the Washington Post last week.

In March, neo-Nazi leader Schoep moved to retain control of the group, signing records that named a different president. Stern filed a lawsuit against Schoep, which is pending in California court.

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Stern had also filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General's Office alleging that members of the neo-Nazi group had removed Stern's name from the incorporation records with the state. 

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, Kelly Rossman-McKinney, said their office did not pursue charges against the neo-Nazi leaders alleged to have removed Stern's name.

"Our Hate Crimes Unit reviewed the complaint and ultimately determined there was not sufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges," Rossman-McKinney said.

William Daniels, one of Stern's lawyers, said the activist's death doesn't necessarily end the "full-blown dispute" over the group's leadership, reported the Associated Press. 

In March, a leader with the neo-Nazi group who lives in Florida said that Stern is not the legitimate leader of their group. 

"He has not taken over the group," said Burt Colucci, who said in March he's the new commander of the group and was its former chief of staff. "He's a paper tiger. ... He definitely needs to be removed from the organization."

Colucci said the National Socialist Movement is a civil rights group for whites and plans to continue its message. He said he intends to bring back the Nazi swastika as part of its logo, which had been replaced a few years ago.

The National Socialist Movement emerged in 1974 and it became one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the U.S., according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. 

Stern told the Free Press he wanted to turn the group into an educational center that would teach tolerance.

"We're coming up on a 75th anniversary of the Holocaust, of 6 million Jews that were killed during World War II, by a horrible man, Hitler," Stern told the Free Press in March. "The teachers of this group, for 45 years have been teaching that the Holocaust didn't really happen, it didn't exist, that it was Jewish propaganda.

"This is a group that's been teaching separatism, saying that blacks and whites can't live together, can't mate together ...  the racist belief itself is just why the group has got to go, the hate, the violence," Stern said. "My message is that there's only one race, and that's the human race."

Stern said that Schoep had contacted him in 2014 after hearing about Stern connecting with Killen while in prison.

Killen was serving 60 years for killing James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner near Philadelphia, Mississippi. They shared a cell in 2010 and 2011, said the Southern Poverty Law Center.

During that time, Killen spoke about his killings and later gave Stern power of attorney over the KKK group he led. Stern dissolved the KKK group in 2016.

During their conversations since 2014, Stern said he and Schoep disagreed on racial issues. 

"We agreed ... to disagree," Stern said. "We knew we would never see eye to eye on any of our views."

A memorial service is set for Thursday in Moreno Valley, said Arnie List, Stern's friend.

"He fought with such courage in everything he did," List said. "James was very clear that this fight isn't going to die with him."

Contact Niraj Warikoo:nwarikoo@freepress.com or 313-223-4792. Twitter @nwarikoo. The Associated Press contributed to this report.