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Rising Out of Hatred
Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist | Eli Saslow
32 posts | 27 read | 67 to read
From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, the powerful story of how a prominent white supremacist changed his heart and mind Derek Black grew up at the epicenter of white nationalism. His father founded Stormfront, the largest racist community on the Internet. His godfather, David Duke, was a KKK Grand Wizard. By the time Derek turned nineteen, he had become an elected politician with his own daily radio show - already regarded as the "the leading light" of the burgeoning white nationalist movement. "We can infiltrate," Derek once told a crowd of white nationalists. "We can take the country back." Then he went to college. Derek had been home-schooled by his parents, steeped in the culture of white supremacy, and he had rarely encountered diverse perspectives or direct outrage against his beliefs. At New College of Florida, he continued to broadcast his radio show in secret each morning, living a double life until a classmate uncovered his identity and sent an email to the entire school. "Derek Black...white supremacist, radio host...New College student???" The ensuing uproar overtook one of the most liberal colleges in the country. Some students protested Derek's presence on campus, forcing him to reconcile for the first time with the ugliness his beliefs. Other students found the courage to reach out to him, including an Orthodox Jew who invited Derek to attend weekly Shabbat dinners. It was because of those dinners--and the wide-ranging relationships formed at that table--that Derek started to question the science, history and prejudices behind his worldview. As white nationalism infiltrated the political mainstream, Derek decided to confront the damage he had done. Rising Out of Hatred tells the story of how white-supremacist ideas migrated from the far-right fringe to the White House through the intensely personal saga of one man who eventually disavowed everything he was taught to believe, at tremendous personal cost. With great empathy and narrative verve, Eli Saslow asks what Derek's story can tell us about America's increasingly divided nature. This is a book to help us understand the American moment and to help us better understand one another.
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JenniferEgnor
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Pickpick

I knew this book would be good. It was heavy, and so enraging. It was sad, and scary. But thanks to a few peoplx who showed Derek some love and were patient with him...he left that life of hate behind. If Derek can do it, anyone can. This story shows the power of love. Now that I‘ve finished it, it‘s okay to cry. Highly recommended.

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Awk_Word_Smith
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Pickpick

While this might give you hope that white supremacists/nationalists can be shown the error in their beliefs, I believe this is an extraordinary situation about an individual who used intellectual arguments to support this racial view. Intellectual arguments can be refuted. Derek Black was transformed by evidence. Having been raised in the South, most White Nationalists are driven my emotions, resentment, and hate. Fascinating book though.

HrJust This sounds like a really interesting read. Something we need to consistently confront in our country everyday. Your thoughts about the emotional aspect made me think of Daryl Davis who gave a very interesting Ted Talk: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ORp3q1Oaezw 4y
Awk_Word_Smith @HrJust Thanks for the link. I‘ll be checking this out. 4y
14 likes2 comments
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Awk_Word_Smith
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Amazing how much reading can get accomplished when your kid naps for nearly 2 hours on your flight.

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Awk_Word_Smith
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This is fascinating. It honestly reads like a novel. Just fascinating.

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Awk_Word_Smith
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Finally came in. Buckle up.

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OneCent76
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Check out One Book Many Communities on Facebook to join the discussion next week.

Reggie This was such a great book! 4y
28 likes1 comment
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Sreckess
Pickpick

Read this book. If there was a white nationalist living quietly next door, most of us would ostracize him. This is the true story of how a group of college students befriended Derek Black and slowly worked to change his ideology through conversation, science and meaningful relationships. Author Eli Saslow is a staff reporter at the WA Post who writes a compelling narrative that asks us what we would do when confronted with hate in our community.

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EKonrad
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Such an important read, especially in light of the resurgence of white supremacy in the US. This story proves that only love and acceptance can drive out racism and hatred.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Addison_Reads
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Pickpick

This book is just one man's journey from a prominent family in the KKK to a liberal college in Florida that changed how he saw the world around him. What I was impressed by the most was how the friends he made at college, from all different walks of life, were patient and kind with him despite his background. I wish more people could be open like that because that's how true change happens. 💚

Cinfhen This was such an eye opening read!!! Shabbat dinner rocks 💟🙌🏻😉 5y
Addison_Reads @Cinfhen if only people would settle more differences using Shabbat dinner. ☺💚 5y
Reggie ☝🏽indeed!!! Loved this book. 5y
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MandaMT
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This is the story of Derek Black, the God son of David Duke who had been groomed to take over the White Nationalist movement, and how he came to reject the ideals he helped popularize. I‘m glad I read it. In the past few years I‘ve come to believe that it‘s dangerous for white folks to base their thoughts on minorities just on what they‘ve heard from other white people. This is an extreme example of that. (See comments)

MandaMT I‘m still grappling with some key points of this story though- Mainly that Black hardly came to any new epiphanies on his own. A committed group of students- mostly minorities- at his liberal college decided to befriend him with the hopes of eventually changing his mind. Through YEARS of interactions and tremendous emotion effort on the part of a woman who eventually became his partner, he finally left his old life. 5y
MandaMT As a true story, this book is fascinating. However, I‘m not sure this model is ideal for fighting racism. It seems to put the onus for change on the people being oppressed. Derek‘s friends were extremely patient with him and became the “faces”/ real people that he juxtaposed with the abstract rhetoric about race he had preached. I‘m glad it worked in this case, but it depends so heavily on having others do much of the work. 5y
MandaMT I did appreciate what Black said in this interview. He notes that other white people speaking up can have a tremendous impact when someone is being recruited into white nationalism. https://youtu.be/S7xFtzT88dw. 5y
MandaMT One thing I did really appreciate about the book was how clearly it laid out what recruitment tactics and euphemism/ dog whistles the WN movement uses. It‘s scary to see how much of it has gone mainstream. 5y
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Cinfhen
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Pickpick

A really interesting true story about Derrick Black, a one time White Nationalist “rising star” who experiences a change of heart after attending a liberal arts college. The very people ( immigrants, Jews, liberals) Derrick preaches against are the ones who reach out & befriend him, challenging him to reevaluate all that he believes. Fascinating for today‘s political climate as President Trump seeks re-election. A worthwhile listen 🎧

Cinfhen Thanks for the recommendation @Reggie It was a very compelling story 5y
Reggie Yayyy, glad you liked it and hope more people read it. 5y
Cinfhen Me too @Reggie and I get what you were saying about his parents. It‘s hard to explain because you would think they are monsters but they really aren‘t. It‘s just they are so EFFED UP in their thinking. 5y
GatheringBooks very interesting. stacked! 5y
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Cinfhen
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Im finishing up my Holiday cooking and listening to this gripping and fascinating NF story about a White Supremest “prodigy” as he begins to fall in love with a Jewish girl. Thanks so much for putting this book on my radar @Reggie

LoverofLit Yum! I think I'm going to do some audio baking today. 5y
Reggie This book was soooo good!! I‘m so glad you‘re liking it. 5y
Reggie I was telling my family about it and the weird thing was, Aside from the white nationalist thing his parents were good parents. 5y
Reviewsbylola That looks delicious! 5y
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Samplergal
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Pickpick

One of the best books of 2019. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 I enjoyed the audiobook so much. Well written and well researched, but reads like a novel.

JenReadsAlot I thought this was well done also. 5y
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Samplergal
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Next up. Library hold finally came in. Going in.

Reggie This was sooo good!!! Hope you like it! 5y
Samplergal @Reggie oh I‘m loving it. This should be required reading. So so good. 5y
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Reggie
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Pickpick

Derek Roland Black was groomed from a very early age to take over as the next White Nationalist leader. Which as I read his tactics he himself came up with, were very scary because they were more subtle yet packed more of a punch. He ends up going to a liberal, hippie, college where nobody knows him where he meets the very people his ideology tells him is the enemy. He befriends them and when he is outed at the school for who he is as a white👇🏼

Reggie nationalist,all hell breaks loose on campus. It is his first friend he made there, Juan, an immigrant from Peru, two other friends, Matthew and Moshe, both Jewish, and Allison, who extend their friendship through Shabbat dinners that begin to transform his identity. But the issue now is that when he ran his nationalist podcast, a lot of what he said then has grown into what we are seeing now. How does one come back from that? This book👇🏼 (edited) 5y
Reggie is a great start. (edited) 5y
Cinfhen #stacked because who doesn‘t love a Shabbat dinner?!??! 5y
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Reggie @Cinfhen I‘ve never been to a Shabbat. Lol, but the ones I‘ve seen in movies and read about, look and sound beautiful. It‘s a great book full of history I had no idea about. 5y
Cinfhen Reggie, you have an open invitation for Shabbat dinner 😘 5y
Reggie @Cinfhen ❤️ 5y
Redwritinghood Wow! Sounds intense and eye-opening. I‘m still amazed, and terrified, by how much white nationalism there is out there these days. 5y
Reggie @Redwritinghood this book IS eye opening because most of the nationalist rhetoric out there now comes from the tactics Derek started using when he ran his radio show and helped his dad run his hate website Stormfront. 5y
Smrloomis @Reggie @Redwritinghood could not agree more. The white nationalism stuff is terrifying. Also you should really take any Shabbat dinner invitations that come your way 😆 @Cinfhen you may have to cook more! 5y
Cinfhen A big pot of chicken soup with fluffy matzah balls can feed a crowd @Smrloomis so consider yourself invited as well 😁 5y
Smrloomis @Cinfhen 😁👍🏽 5y
BooknerdsLife Great review and sounds interesting yet intense...& sad to know it‘s still happening 😔 5y
Reggie @Smrloomis I said it in a post long ago, I‘m always on the lookout for that Jewish family in New Mexico that I can bully into inviting me to a Shabbat. Lol. 5y
Reggie @BooknerdsLife Thanks!!! It‘s a good read. 5y
Smrloomis @Reggie 😂 Good luck with inviting yourself over to other people‘s houses! 5y
ReadingEnvy He's speaking where I work on Thursday but I'm running a storytelling event around the same time so have to miss it. http://www2.furman.edu/academics/CLP/Pages/Events.aspx#/?i=1 5y
Reggie @ReadingEnvy that‘s too bad. He really sounds like a bright, intelligent, young man in the book, and it sounds crazy but that was even before his transformation. He is described as someone who just had a natural curiosity for life. 5y
ReadingEnvy @Reggie yes it sounds good for sure. I need Hermione's timeturner! 5y
Suet624 My daughter talks about this book all the time. For some reason every time I go to the library I forget the name of the book. Grrr.... I want to read it. 5y
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Reggie
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How funny that the news out on the left comes out as I‘m reading this book. It doesn‘t seem that they‘re about the same thing...... but they are.

Cathythoughts Life is mad ... 5y
Reggie @Cathythoughts it‘s kinda crazy. I‘m only 30% in but it‘s soooooo good so far. 5y
Aimeesue I keep having this same conversation with people about Neo Nazis. My position is that you are never going to change a person's mind by demonising them. Denounce the evil racist beliefs, for sure, but you can't change someone's outlook by yelling at them. That takes compassion and a step away from anger. I'll be waiting for your review of this book! (edited) 5y
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Centique Oh wow this sounds interesting but also horrifying. You‘ll have to tell me whether I could read this or not. I might literally explode at how awful people are... 🌋🌋🌋 5y
Reggie @Aimeesue I agree with everything you said. Michelle Obama says it‘s hard to hate up close. I think you would like this book very much but I will be honest, parts of it scared the hell out of me. 5y
Reggie @Centique It‘s totally worth reading. Yes it is scary how horrible people can be but here is a story of hope. If this guy can change so can others. Plus there‘s a lot of history in here worth knowing. 5y
Smrloomis I kind of always assumed that some people doing “conversion therapy” were trying to deny themselves. But now that it‘s come out for this person - honestly I just feel pity for them. That sounds pretty awful for all involved. 😢 5y
ReadingEnvy AND the guy who made his million on courtship (very popular in the fundamentalist set) recently apologized. 5y
70 likes8 comments
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JSW
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Pickpick

This book is not for everyone, though I recommend it. It may be triggering or painful to anyone who has suffered for generations at the hands of white supremacy and nationalism. Please take care of yourself. But white people - I‘m talking to you. You should read this, because we are all complicit. Work on your internalized racism. Find the ways you can speak out or act out against WN and white supremacy. (Cont in comments)

JSW You might not be able to befriend someone like Derek, or engage in civil conversation with someone, or write on forums, or publically address WN. But I guarantee you can do something to counter the surge of WN that‘s happening. Travel. Read. Engage with people. Enlighten yourself. In reading this book I‘ve recommitted to how I can impact the world and be anti-racist. It‘s going to take all of us doing what we can. Very important read. (edited) 5y
JSW Please note that I am not at all suggesting that any one way (travel! Engage with others!) is *the* answer. I‘m not that naive. But if we benefit from white supremacy, we each must do *something* to combat white supremacy. I‘m also not giving gold stars out to white folks for doing the right thing in small ways. We must seek justice. We must chip away at injustice. I‘m saying that we start with small actions and we must continue to evolve. 5y
JSW Basically this: You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it. 5y
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JSW
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Wow.

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JSW
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This is why more people don‘t change their mindsets (or leave abusive situations, or make different choices, or any of the other judgments we who are “morally superior” ascribe to those who don‘t think as we do or do what we do). This is intense and traumatic.

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JSW
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There‘s a lot of thoughts that this book is inspiring in me, but this is one of the ones that‘s rising to the top. People‘s ideologies aren‘t just “intellectual” or “emotional” without a relational context. The most meaningful elements holding us in places are often loyalty, belonging, sense of family, and identity. Any efforts to change hearts MUST incorporate ways people can establish new connections with others.

Emilymdxn Stacked so fast! What a great thoughtful way of writing about this 5y
JSW @Emilymdxn this book is stunning. I am going to be recommending it to everyone. 5y
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JenReadsAlot
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Pickpick

This was really interesting and unsettling. Also, very disturbing when discussing Trump.....

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My_novel_obsession
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Same book, same place as yesterday. Had to call in sick to work which basically meant I had to work from home :( as I am still very under the weather. Still working on this book - have had a great run if nonfiction reads this year and this one is no exception. It is going to be hard to find a fiction book that will keep me engaged.

Weaponxgirl I‘ve heard that a lot this year, myself included with people being unable to focus on fiction. What‘s happened to us all? 6y
MyNamesParadise I listened to the audio on cd and found myself having to take long breaks because the material was so heavy at times. 6y
34 likes2 comments
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Well-ReadNeck
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Mehso-so

There are some interesting things that happened here, but I found some of it cringeworthy. While, in the end, Black changed his mind, his girlfriend put herself into what could have been really bad positions and no woman thinking that she can change a man should presume a similar outcome. Finally, I think that the good/evil dichotomy isn‘t doing much good on either side.

gradcat I really agree with you about that binary...Good/evil doesn‘t work for me, and I have to admit a bias against anyone who uses that word against another person or entity. Evil is a mythological word for me. (edited) 6y
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Well-ReadNeck
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My reading material for MLK Day

JenReadsAlot My book club pick for next month.... 6y
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My_novel_obsession
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Felt like I was coming down with something yesterday and sure enough woke this morning feeling terrible 🥵🥶🤧😷🤒Plan for today is bed and books. I need to recover fast as I absolutely have to go to work tomorrow 😢 Almost finished this book - what an incredible story - highly recommend!

JacqMac Oh, no! Rest well and feel better soon. 6y
Bklover Stay cozy and feel better soon! 6y
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Readaholics
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Pickpick

I don‘t normally read these types of books, but found this one really interesting. Derek Black was the son of the founder of Stormfront - an infamous white nationalist website. He grew up in the movement, but after going to college and meeting new people, he struggles to changes his views and renounce his entire life‘s beliefs. It shows the struggle is real when your whole family and friendship circle is engrossed in hatred.

Weaponxgirl It makes me so sad for children being bought up in an environment of hatred. I‘m so glad some can get out of these mindsets as it must be so hard. 6y
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MyNamesParadise
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Pickpick

Racism is LEARNED behavior. That‘s what this book shows. An important read for our current times and it‘s truly scary the depths of what white nationalists believe. It makes for an ok audio listen. I had to take frequent breaks because it‘s heavy material.

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booklover76
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Wow. This was in 2008. Years before Trump

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booklover76

"People are just waiting for white candidates to come along who are brave enough to talk about these things, and when that happens whites will go streaming to the polls" - Derek Black

Foreshadowing of Donald Trump?

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ReadingSusan
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Pickpick

Wow this book was hard to put down. Derek Black is the godson of David Duke and the son of the founder of the white supremacist website Stormfront. This is the story of how he found his way to realizing how wrong all these ideologies are. It is a frightening glimpse behind the curtain. We are in a critical time in our country and everyone needs to decide right now what side of history do you want to be on?

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ReadingSusan
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“The future of our movement is to become fully mainstream.” David Duke 2008 four days after President Obama‘s election.

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