Black activist heads supremacist group

MORENO VALLEY, Calif. — A black activist said he has taken the helm of what has been billed as one of the nation’s largest neo-Nazi groups to put it out of business.

Corporate records show James Stern of Moreno Valley, Calif., is now president of the National Socialist Movement. He replaces previous longtime leader Jeff Schoep.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Stern said he established a yearslong dialogue with Schoep and persuaded the former leader to transfer the organization to him when Schoep said he planned to disband it.

Stern said he prefers to control the group and neuter it rather than see it disband and reconstitute in the shadows.

In a phone interview Saturday, Schoep said Stern essentially tricked him into transferring leadership.

Schoep’s resignation comes as he and the National Socialist Movement are among a slew of defendants in a civil lawsuit filed by survivors of a violent 2017 white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va. Plaintiffs in that case recently filed a motion accusing Schoep of doing everything he could to cause procedural delays and duck accountability for his conduct.

Stern, speaking as the new leader of the National Socialist Movement, filed his own motion in that case Thursday, saying the group now admits its liability in the lawsuit.