Join MindSite News This Week for a Live Online Discussion on Helping Americans Break Away from Hate Groups

Hate crimes in the U.S. have been rising for years and white supremacist organizations represent by far the biggest domestic terror threat, according to the FBI and organizations who track the activities of organizations espousing hate and violence.

So what leads people to get involved in violent hate groups, and – perhaps more importantly – how can they be helped to get out? That was the question posed by MindSite News writer Laurie Udesky in a story, Breaking Away from Hate, recently published by MindSite News and republished by USA Today and Wisconsin Watch. Udesky’s in-depth report profiled the former white supremacists who have renounced hate and formed a movement that works to extricate other Americans from violent hate groups.

During the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, teenagers and youth spent more time online, and many fell under the spell of extremist recruiters. By 2021, the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based racial justice organization, could identify 733 hate organizations, including neo-Nazi, pro-Confederacy and racist skinhead organizations, along with white nationalist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan, Patriot Front, Proud Boys, Stormfront and the National Justice Party.

What role does trauma and poor mental health play in a person getting involved in hate? Experts cited in Udesky’s story explain that although it’s not possible to predict who will get involved in violent extremism, mental health issues may be an important vulnerability that leads people with other risk factors to embrace hate and violence.

On Thursday June 15 at 10:00am PDT/1:00pm EDT, join Udesky and MindSite News Founding Editor Rob Waters for a live discussion with former white supremacists, mentors and specialists from Parents4Peace and a professor of psychiatry focused on research on public health approaches to violent extremism.