Race and Reason is an American public-access television talk show created by Tom Metzger, the leader of the white supremacist group White Aryan Resistance (WAR). It was moderated by Metzger and produced by members of WAR. Episodes were a half hour long; several significant white supremacist figures were interviewed on the program, as were several Holocaust deniers. It had stopped airing by the late 1990s.
It was established in September 1984 in San Diego, California. The show was taped in California by Metzger and members of WAR, and then distributed on videotape throughout the nation. By 1988, it aired in 10 different states and 55 cities, put into public-access television locally by Metzger's sympathizers. Judith Michaelson, writing for the Los Angeles Times, said that on Race and Reason, "racial slurs are commonplace, the suggestion that Asians and other minorities should be stopped at the U.S. border is routine, and the allegation that Jews run the country is frequent".
Race and Reason was controversial throughout its existence and resulted in protests and debates over the extent of free speech on television almost everywhere that it was aired. Several cities contemplated removing public access broadcasting rather than allow the show to be telecast. Other responses included encouraging black and Jewish communities to make their own programs or showing "counter-programs". The reveal of its filming at the campus of California State University, Fullerton led to student protests in 1986. The program was influential among white supremacists and helped raise Metzger's media profile.
Background Tom Metzger was a former Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan having left the Ku Klux Klan to form his own neo-Nazi organization, the White American Political Association, later the White Aryan Resistance (WAR). Metzger also established a newspaper for the organization, also called WAR, which described itself as "The Newspaper of the International White Racist". Metzger had previously run in the 1980 San Diego County congressional race as a Democrat. In an upset, he won the Democratic Party primary; the other Democratic party members were so against his racial views they instead supported his Republican opponent, who won by a large margin.
Metzger had served in the United States Army where he worked as an electronics technician. After exiting the army, he was a television repairman by trade, and had previously created and sold video tapes of his public appearances in white supremacy. After reading a report about the rules of public-access television—by law, public-access channels were required to air almost anything their local subscribers submitted to them without speech restrictions, except for ones considered obscene—it occurred to Metzger that this would be a useful outlet for WAR.
Production of Race and Reason began in July 1984. Metzger's followers and his son, John Metzger, began using the filming equipment of California State University, Fullerton to film the program, recording it at the university's Instructional Media Center. Members of WAR were trained to operate TV cameras to help Metzger create the show, and John Metzger and the other WAR members took free courses in television production. At the time, the company Group W had a deal with CSUF, lending it their equipment while having the university be their primary public access recording location. The agreement indicated that anyone be allowed to use the equipment for public access, in accordance with laws on cable access.
History Race and Reason debuted on September 28, 1984, on the public-access channel 24 of Cox Cable in San Diego, California. It started out with six filmed episodes with David Wiley as cohost; the debut episode included interviews with several Odinists; other episodes in the initial set included interviews with a Holocaust denier, a Ku Klux Klan leader, a Muslim fundamentalist, and a white supremacist religious leader. The show was initially going to be named simply Race, before being renamed Race and Reason shortly after. The show was named after the book by segregationist writer Carleton Putnam, Race and Reason: A Yankee's View, which is focused on criticizing racial integration.
It launched to immediate controversy due to its contents; local companies refused to air it when they had the option (e.g., Carlsbad Cablevision refused because, as Metzger was not a resident of Carlsbad, they were allowed discretion on materials). Due to the rules around public-access telecasting, the show proved difficult to cancel; it did not violate any of the rules against obscenity for cable programming.
Morris Casuto of the Anti-Defamation League met with Cox Cable and attempted to find a loophole to use to cancel the show, and simultaneously said the show would be a failure like Metzger's previous political efforts. The next year, he said that while the ADL disliked the fact that Metzger had a television show, they were "cheered" that it appeared that few watched it. Metzger complained to the Times-Advocate that it was hypocritical of cable companies to not air his show "while they cry about freedom of speech and try to keep the Playboy Channel on the air". Cablevision's programming director said: "Although the show is done under the guise of reasonable discussion, it's nothing but racist propaganda."
In 1984 and 1985, the show appeared on the public-access channel 25 in San Francisco, resulting in protests. When the program first aired on Chicago's public-access channel 19, the channel was picketed by fifty protestors. It was also aired on Group W's public-access Channel 38. In September 1986, it aired in Pocatello, Idaho, again resulting in controversy; unable to block the telecast, a call-in channel was held after it played, with several people calling in to protest.
In April 1986, that Metzger utilized CSUF facilities to produce Race and Reason was publicized by the CSUF campus newspaper, The Daily Titan. This resulted in outrage and protests from hundreds of CSUF students for several weeks. Protestors asked the university to drop its agreement with Group W, therefore dropping Metzger by extension. The filming equipment was also nonfunctional at this time; Metzger pledged to resume operations when he could.
The CSUF faculty voted for a study of questions raised by the affair, and called for putting disclaimers on all tapes produced at the university that said the CSUF had no affiliation with their contents. University president Jewel Plummer Cobb declared her opposition to the program but refused to prevent its distribution, citing freedom of speech. By May, Group W announced it would move its facilities off the university campus and to their main office; they said that this had been under discussion prior to the controversy. Metzger continued to use Group W's equipment at the new location in Los Angeles. He complained about the end of the protests, saying they had gotten him publicity. He told the Los Angeles Times that the controversy had resulted in "a lot of mail and applications for membership. [...] What can I say? I've got good enemies."
Several cities contemplated removing public access broadcasting rather than allow the show to be telecast. In Kansas City, Klan members tried to get the show on air; as it was produced in California, not locally in Kansas, it was not allowed to be telecast (some cities had restrictions on public-access shows and mandated they be produced locally). In response, the KKK started their own public access show, the Klansas City Klable. In 1988, rather than have the show be broadcast, the Kansas City council voted to end their public-access channels. The American Civil Liberties Union and the KKK members then sued, claiming this was a First Amendment violation. Due to the lawsuit the decision was later reversed. Cincinnati attempted a similar strategy in 1987, though did not go through with it following protests. Other responses included encouraging black and Jewish communities to make their own programs to "drown out" Race and Reason, or showing "counter-programs" alongside it.
Even after Tom Metzger lost a high profile lawsuit involving the Southern Poverty Law Center following a murder committed by his followers, the show continued into the 1990s. It was still running by 1995. According to The Oregonian, it had ceased by 1997.
Production and distribution Race and Reason episodes had a runtime of half an hour. At its debut, there were 6 episodes, by 1985, 18, by 1986, 35; by 1988, 63, and by 1996, over 100. New episodes were typically filmed twice a month though there were stretches where it was not filmed at all. Metzger continued to work as a repairman while the show was ongoing. Metzger's son John Metzger assisted in the production, with David Wiley, a WAR leader, as producer. It was financially supported by Alexander Foxe; as the show was largely produced by volunteers, cost overall was reduced. Metzger would record the show's master tapes, which would be distributed nationally to his supporters. The program was locally sponsored by individual supporters with a variety of affiliations, who then took them to their local cable companies and had them telecast on public-access channels. Cable companies that platformed Race and Reason sometimes refused to list it in their television guides, or issued disclaimers. The repeated controversies were embraced by Metzger; Metzger suggested that his followers submit letters complaining about the program and pretending to be anti-racists to get them more publicity.
Metzger managed to get the program on public-access Channel 38 in Southern California. Areas Race and Reason was distributed in included several in its home state of California, as well as Pennsylvania. Individual areas in Texas, Georgia, New York, and Tennessee also had the program. By 1988, it was aired in ten states and 55 cities. Cities it aired in at one time or another included San Francisco, Memphis, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dublin, California, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Richmond, Portland, Escondido, Chatsworth, Austin, Norman, Pocatello, Spokane, and Corvallis. William White Williams and Harold Covington collaborated to sponsor the program in North Carolina. In Norwood, Ohio, it was sponsored by the SS Action Group, in Dublin by Clinton Sipes, and in Pocatello by Stan Sorenson.
Metzger coordinated the distribution of the program through his WAR newspaper, requesting that his readers help him distribute the program. One such call read:Tapes of the show were sold for markets the program did not air in. The WAR newspaper listed cable systems that carried Race and Reason. In Florida and Atlanta, there existed a locally produced iteration of Race and Reason, which operated differently and was hosted by Herbert Poinsett, an ally of Metzger. This version had produced 40 to 50 episodes by 1989, incorporating parts of Metzger's version.
Content Race and Reason was a talk show, primarily hosted and moderated by Metzger. He would typically dress in suit and tie. Elinor Langer noted it as, like much public-access telecasting, frequently amateurish, in this case "at times to the point of parody". While initially amateur, the show became more professional in its style over time. While most episodes were hosted by Metzger, a few had other hosts, such as Roy Frankhouser (who himself appeared on the show as a guest).