This timely film profiles Life After Hate, an organization founded by former skinheads and neo-Nazis that supports white nationalists seeking to break away from these radical movements.
On my way home one night, I hopped on the subway and a group of Millennials entered right next to me. It was apparent that one of them did not like white people and certainly wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion for at least five stops. When they finally got off, a man stepped on who was clearly a white supremacist. He looked me right in the eye with such hate then bumped into me as hard as he could. As I stood nose-to-nose with him, without fear, I yelled: “Don’t f*cking touch me!” I first thought to myself, what the heck is going on tonight with all this hate? Then I wondered what would’ve happened if that other group had stayed on the train.
People can’t help but notice since Trump took office, there has been an uprise and eruption of hate crimes on churches, synagogues, and schools as white nationalists whine about the threat of their erasure in this country. More and more people are fed up with these violent acts and are creating spaces for honest dialog about race and intolerance. This documentary follows ex Neo-Nazis who formed a group called Life After Hate which was designed to help other extremists leave behind their life of violence and hatred for love and healing.
As you listen to stories about their past, it’s not difficult to comprehend why they were so susceptible to joining an organization whose ideology stems from a place of pain and destruction. With massive hate groups flooding the internet, there is easily-accessible information a young broken individual can get hooked on. Some who join are as young as 13 years old and mention feeling powerless and less than a man. They talk about the abusive childhood that left them not only with shame and guilt but a quiet rage and nowhere to release it. When approached by a member of these hate groups, it’s effortless to lure them in by making them feel supreme over others and giving them a sense of power and an outlet to exercise it.
Sociologist Michael Kimmel who wrote the books ‘Healing From Hate’ and ‘Angry White Men,’ describes this thinking as a sense of entitlement where these men feel they are being stripped from their hierarchy. He points out, even in their language, which embodies words like rebuilding and restoring, their objective is to take back what they feel they once had. The violence and feeling of instilling fear in others become intoxicating one man says. Projecting pain onto others instead of facing yourself is a lot easier and after coming from a broken home of abuse, the sense of belonging makes them feel special.
The question lingers, can members of these hate groups be fully restored once they leave? Speaking of leaving, that’s their biggest challenge and fear. Leaving an extremist group can be very dangerous and deadly as you can risk being killed as you are now considered an enemy, especially in prison where many join. Leaving also means having no support or brotherhood and abandoning everything you’ve ever had. The members of Life After Hate prove that you can fully recover from a life of violence and hatred but it takes fast intervention and work. The act of merely walking away will not heal what has become your identity and belief system for years. They explain the importance of healing yourself from your own past first because where there is no love for self, there can never be love for others. This is a super-powerful and important documentary that is needed so much right now. Hopefully, we all take steps to heal from our deepest wounds and gradually learn to accept others.
“Healing From Hate: Battle for the Soul of a Nation” recently had its World Premiere at 2019 DOC NYC
