Defeating White Supremacists

At a TEDxMileHigh Talk, Christian Picciolini delivered an introspective speech on white supremacy, his past and how he ultimately recognized the error of his ways and left the movement. Picciolini is the author of a memoir entitled Romantic Violence: Memoirs Of An American Skinhead and is the co-founder of a nonprofit peace advocacy organization called Life After Hate.

In this talk, Picciolini begins by detailing his early childhood and the hardships that came along with it. His lack of connection to his parents, his loneliness and eventually his anger. All of these issues came to a boiling point when Picciolini was introduced to the neo-nazi skinhead movement. Once joining, Picciolini quickly rose through the ranks as a musician, organizer, leader and business owner. This would continue on for some years until Picciolini's was able to see connections he had with people of different race and sexuality and eventually left the movement.

There is no real great way to summarize Picciolini's talk on white supremacy and his past, but the important takeaway from this talk is in Picciolini's proposition of a 'pothole.' For Picciolini, a pothole is any adversity in a person's life that may eventually lead them down the wrong path. These potholes are key to Picciolini's white supremacist past and are important in how Picciolini attempts to rehabilitate those drawn towards hate. The focus of this TED talk is on a man's past, but the greater theme seems to be on how understanding, forgiveness and compassion are the ultimate tools to end hate. Citing a specific example, Picciolini is able to show how these factors can be used to turn a person away from hate and ultimately save lives.