Christian Picciolini

Picciolini is a former white power extremist himself—his music was on Dylann Roof’s playlist—and he writes about trying to repair the damage he’s done by reaching out to other extremists who may sense there’s something wrong but be afraid of whether they can leave. He contends that extremist ideology is often a cover for pain and fear, making it much easier to radicalize a person than deradicalize them. He tells a truly terrifying story of a Russian-backed operation to radicalize young white women, which of course the FBI ignored. In fact, as he says, Russian involvement actually resembles the complicated, conspiratorial narratives he used to believe, making it harder for ordinary people to understand and fight. Trump’s government revoked his nonprofit’s grant for helping white extremists disengage.

What is to be done? Picciolini says that no one is required to engage with or forgive anyone who’s done this kind of harm, but he tries to create links to them. He doesn’t “shame or engage them in debate. Arguing never works.” He listens to their personal stories, trying to find the sources of pain and insecurity that led them to extremism. He asks members of hated groups who are willing to do so to meet with the person—Heather Heyer’s mom and an imam are his examples in the book—and connect with them as people, not as objects of hatred. While “violent or hateful people should not fully enjoy the benefits of a peaceful society until they are accountable for their damage,” he wants to “allow space for rehabilitation and growth to occur,” or else violent extremists won’t see any way out and are more likely to retreat into the perceived acceptance of extremism. I definitely couldn’t do that work, but I’m glad he has committed to doing it.… (mere)

I discovered this author after stumbling across his Ted Talk one day. This is his fascinating memoir about his descent into white power extremism as a teenager and how he rose out of it as he got older. Picciolini is the same age as me and whilst I was aware, during my last years of high school, about Rock Against Racism, SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice), and even the secret code of Doc Marten laces (avoid red, white and blue ones), I was thankfully never exposed to this subculture. It is frightening how easy it was for a teenager from a good home and family, but looking for acceptance and belonging, as all teenagers do, to be taken into an extremist group. Picciolini's story does have hope however as he was able to change and slowly put his life back together, eventually co-founding Life After Hate, a group dedicated to countering racism.… (mere)