Kevin Alfred Strom

Kevin Alfred Strom (born 1956 in Anchorage, Alaska) is the former Managing Director of National Vanguard, a Charlottesville-based organization that has been described as racist, white separatist, homophobic, and a Neo-Nazi hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League. [ [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp?T=28&m=4 Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report: Active Hate Groups in 2005] ] [ [http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Extremism_72/4710_72.htm Leadership Shakeup at Neo-Nazi National Alliance Leads to Formation Of New Group] "Anti-Defamation League". Press release, May 3, 2005 ] Strom resigned from National Vanguard in July, 2006. [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20070210063536/http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=11227 National Vanguard Statement on Kevin Alfred Strom] ] National Vanguard reportedly disbanded on March 14, 2007, and its website has been dormant since that time. In 2008 Strom pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to 23 months in prison.cite news | url = http://www.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/crime/article/white_nationalist_sentenced_in_child_porn_case/20639/s | title = White nationalist sentenced in child porn case | publisher = Charlottesville Daily Progress | date = 2008-04-21 | accessdate = 2008-04-23 ]

Biography

Kevin Alfred Strom was born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1956. It has been stated that Strom scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT college-entrance exam, though the date in which he attained that feat is dubious; he has never attended a university and also has no college degree.

Strom's marriage to his first wife, Kirsten Helene Kaiser, produced three children.cite news | url = http://www.rickross.com/reference/alliance/alliance26.html | title = I feel these people raped my soul | publisher = The Charleston Gazette | date = 2003-05-07 | first = Scott | last = Finn | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] Since their marriage ended, Kaiser has spoken out about her life with Strom in several interviews.cite web | url = http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=359 | title = Inside the Alliance | publisher = Southern Poverty Law Center | work = Intelligence Report | date = Winter 1999 | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] She has also written a book on her experiences with Strom and the National Alliance entitled "The Bondage of Self" (ISBN 0-9720705-5-9). Kaiser claimed that Strom was an extremely controlling husband who forced her to abstain from meat, forbade her to wear blue jeans, and predetermined her favorite music, Mozart. She has since disavowed the racist beliefs she held while married to Strom and has summarized their years together: "Hundreds of women like me have gotten hooked up with some man from a racist group who controls their lives. I want them to know that if I can escape and regain my soul; they can, too."

Activist history

In 1982, Kevin Alfred Strom became a member of the National Alliance, a group that has been described as anti-Semitic, [cite web | title = Anti-Semitic Material Pops Up in City, Suburbs | url = http://www.jewishexponent.com/ViewArticle.asp?ArtID=2208 | first = Jared | last = Shelly | date = 2006-01-26 | accessdate = 2007-06-23 | publisher = The Jewish Exponent ] cite web | title = Leadership Shakeup at Neo-Nazi National Alliance Leads to Formation Of New Group | url = http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Extremism_72/4710_72.htm
date = 2005-05-03 | publisher = Anti-Defamation League | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] racist, [cite news | url = http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/20164/edition_id/411/format/html/displaystory.html
title = Free speech clashes with anti-Semitism in Santa Rosa | publisher = Jewish News Weekly | date = 2003-04-18 | first = Joe | last = Eskenazi | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] [http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.05.16/news15.html] and neo-Nazi. [cite news | title = Into the lists | publisher = Daily Telegraph | date = 2006-03-19 | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2006/03/12/bocovers.xml&sSheet=/arts/2006/03/12/bomain.html | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] [cite web | title = Factsheet on The National Alliance | url = http://www.prejudiceinstitute.org/NationalAllianceFS.html | date = 2005-07-13 | publisher = The Prejudice Institute | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] cite news | url = http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=578 | title = Marketing Extremism | work = Intelligence Report | publisher = Southern Poverty Law Center | accessdate = 2007-06-23 | date = Winter 2005 ] [cite web | title = 2000 annual report: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | url = http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2000-1/usa.htm | publisher = Stephen Roth Institute | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] In 1991, he founded and frequently delivered the "American Dissident Voices" shortwave and Internet radio broadcasts. In 1995, he founded and edited "Free Speech" magazine, published by the Alliance as an adjunct to the radio program. In early 2002, a few months before his death from cancer on July 23, the Alliance's founder, William Luther Pierce, named Strom editor of "National Vanguard" magazine and Media Director for the Alliance. Pierce also named Strom editor of the Alliance's monthly "Bulletin".

During the weekend of April 16-17, 2005, Strom and several others were expelled from the National Alliance because of a dispute with the Alliance leadership. The expelled former Alliance members, led by Strom, promptly formed their own organization which they called National Vanguard. As he previously had done for the National Alliance, Strom again delivered weekly Internet radio broadcasts which he also called "American Dissident Voices" for National Vanguard, but they were often 1-3 weeks late. These broadcasts effectively ceased with his departure.

Strom had previously taken a leave of absence from National Vanguard stating that he has "made mistakes, sometimes serious ones." [cite web | url = http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2774119&page=1 | title = White Supremacist Busted on Child-Porn Charge | author = Marcus Baram | publisher = ABC News | date = 2007-01-04 | accessdate = 2007-01-06 ] Strom was also briefly the managing editor of "The Truth at Last" newspaper during 2005. Several sources have described this tabloid as being heavily antisemitic and racist, oftentimes referring to blacks and African-Americans as an inferior race. [cite web | title = Racist newspaper condemns Kahn for Judaism, compares Barr to Jesus | first = Michael | last = Will | url = http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/2000-11-18/news_brief.html | date = 2000-11-18 | publisher = Creative Loafing | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] Strom's boss at "The Truth at Last", Edward Fields, is a former Grand Dragon of the New Order Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. [cite web | title = Edward Fields | work = Extremism in America | url = http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Fields.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=Fields | publisher = Anti-Defamation League | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ]

"The Jewish Strategy"

Strom was a close associate of University of Illinois Classics professor and racial-nationalist writer Revilo P. Oliver, who has been described as "one of America's most notorious fascists" and, according to B'nai Brith Canada, was "a long time proponent of antisemitism". [ [http://www.bnaibrith.ca/press0/pr-961211-35.htm ADL: PEEL TEACHER FLAUNTS BOARD RULING] ] Strom was chosen by the Oliver estate to be the archivist and publisher of Oliver's papers after Oliver committed suicide in 1994. In 2002, Strom published the book "The Jewish Strategy" by Oliver.

"Voice of Tomorrow"

Strom is a former broadcast engineer and is of Norwegian descent.citation He holds Amateur radio license WB4AIO. Between 1983 and 1991, a pirate radio station named "Voice of Tomorrow" operated on both shortwave and mediumwave frequencies, [ [http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0071375635?keywords=Voice%20of%20Tomorrow&p=S00I&checkSum=9EpgYXvxrkXLL2f9TongelnITxHdFIDdnHn7AgKzCvk%3D#reader-page Amazon Online Reader : Pirate Radio Stations: Tuning in to Underground Broadcasts in the Air and Online ] ] broadcasting openly racist and Neo-Nazi material, [cite news | title = The covert spectrum - pirate and secret broadcasting | work = Whole Earth Review | date = Fall 1990 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1510/is_n68/ai_8897924/pg_3 | author = Hougan, Jim | accessdate = 2007-06-24 ] presumably from the Lynchburg, Virginia area. [http://www.angelfire.com/mb/exband/pirate1.html] According to Strom's ex-wife, Kirsten Kaiser, "Voice of Tomorrow" was operated by Strom himself.

Arrest, conviction, prison and release

On 4 January 2007, Strom was arrested in Greene County, Virginia on charges of possession of child pornography and witness tampering. [cite news | url = http://www.nbc29.com/global/story.asp?s=5894604 | title = Man Facing Pornography Charges | publisher = NBC 29 | first = Henry | last = Graff | date = 2007-01-05 | accessdate = 2007-06-23 ] The Grand Jury later added the charges of receiving child pornography and of seeking to coerce a 10-year-old sexually. At the October 2007 federal trial on charges of sexually coercing a 10-year old girl, and of witness intimidation, the judge threw out both charges due to lack of evidence of actual coercion. ["Charges dropped against white supremacist; Lack of evidence cited at enticement trial" Rob Seal. "The Daily Progress". Charlottesville, Va.: Oct 4, 2007.]

At the plea hearing on 14 January 2008, Strom pled guilty to possessing computer images of child pornography and was held at Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail while awaiting sentencing.cite news | url = http://www.dailyprogress.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=CDP%2FMGArticle%2FCDP_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354215293&path=!news | title = Greene man guilty of child porn | publisher = Charlottesville Daily Progress | date = 2008-01-15 | accessdate = 2008-01-15 ] On 21 April 2008 he was sentenced to 23 months of incarceration, with credit for times served, and 15 years of supervised release. He was released from prison on September 3, 2008. [cite news | url =http://www.readthehook.com/blog/index.php/2008/09/02/neighborhood-watch-kiddie-porn-possessor-to-be-released/ | title = Neighborhood watch: Kiddie porn possessor to be released | publisher = The Hook (newspaper) | first = | last = | date = September 02nd 2008 | accessdate = 2008-09-23 ]

References

External links

Official
* [http://www.amfirstbooks.com/IntroPages/ToolBarTopics/Articles/Featured_Authors/strom,_kevin/Kevin_Alfred_Strom_index.html Kevin Strom Articles Archive]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070509171547/http://www.kevin-strom.com/ Kevin Strom's Homepage]
* [http://www.revilo-oliver.com/Kevin-Strom-personal/Art/gallery01.html Kevin Strom's Art of the West Gallery]

Critical
* [http://www.rickross.com/reference/alliance/alliance26.html Charleston Gazette interview with Strom's ex-wife, Kirsten Helene Kaiser, about life with Strom]
* [http://www.readthehook.com/stories/2008/01/17/NEWS-strom-elisha-C.rtf.aspx Hook Weekly interview with Strom's current but estranged wife, Elisa Strom]
* [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=567 Southern Poverty Law Center profile of Kevin Strom]
* [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=359 SPLC article about life with Strom]