Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

Eli SaslowNonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-14

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 12-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 12 Summary: “Primed for This Revolution”

At the now renamed Derek Black Memorial Conference, Don and Duke discuss the power the internet has given them to recruit white supremacists and spread their ideology globally. Don says of the internet, “[W]e can get our own message out now” (237). They notice the spread of their movement into the mainstream, adopted by politicians across the country, giving them “covert allies in surprising places” (238). The crowd at the conference is also “younger than ever before” (239), filled with “disaffected young men.” One such disaffected young man is Spencer, “a PhD student who left Duke University to launch a popular blog called Alternative Right” (239).

Derek is in Michigan trying to move on from his prior life. He concluded that white nationalism is wrong, but two decades of conditioning “hardwired it into every part of his subconscious” (240). He is learning to trust the government, exposing himself to popular culture and music for the first time, and “retraining his brain.” He couch surfs to meet new people and engage with multicultural America; he and Allison travel to immerse themselves in foreign cultures; he never, as a personal rule, discusses white nationalism. Out of fear, he shares his address only with Allison and his parents. Don often messages Derek with provocations, which he ignores.

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The Black Lives Matter movement is now prominent. Don believes the protests are evidence of a looming race war. Derek now finds himself on the side of the minority protestors. Allison is his only confidant during his period of personal growth, “the bridge between Derek and Roland” (245). Stormfront radicalizes Dylann Roof, and he murders nine members of the congregation at a historically black church in an attempt to start a race war. Derek wonders if his old speeches or radio shows helped radicalize Dylann. When Donald Trump announces his candidacy in a racially charged speech that to Derek harkens to Ku Klux Klan messaging, Derek sees the product of his white nationalist messaging lectures coming to fruition—but he is now fearful rather than optimistic. To combat the growing popularity of an ideology he formerly espoused, he begins sharing his story publicly. It feels hopeless though. Derek laments, “Nothing I can say will undo the damage” (259).

Chapter 13 Summary: “All-Out Mayhem”

Donald Trump’s presidential election victory makes white nationalists feel like they won the country’s biggest popularity contest. Trump encourages white nationalists by staffing his administration with people they believe are sympathetic to their ideology: General Michael Flynn, Senator Jeff Sessions, Stephen Miller, Julie Kirchner, and Steve Bannon. Spencer is becoming a rising star of the “alt-right,” a rebranding term applied to young white supremacists. Spencer states at a press conference, “The alt-right is obviously real, and it’s obviously growing” (263). Don admires Spencer’s polish. He believes Spencer is becoming what Duke strove to be throughout his political career and what Derek could have been. Saslow explains, “If white nationalism was going to transition into a viable political movement, it needed leaders with mainstream credentials, and Spencer checked every box” (263-64).

Derek publishes an opinion piece in The New York Times in response to the rise of the “alt-right” and mainstream acceptance of white nationalism. It states in part, “More and more people are being forced to recognize now what I learned early: Our country is susceptible to some of our worst instincts when the message is packaged correctly” (267). Stormfront members discuss the story on the site’s message boards, driving a further wedge between Derek and his family. Derek no longer sees his family and rarely speaks with them on the phone. Without Derek involved in Stormfront, Don is lonely and joyless. Derek begins to speak at colleges on the dangers of white nationalism and Don labels him an anti-white activist in opposition to his family’s work. Don begins working more closely with Spencer, who has moved to Arlington, Virginia to build his brand of white nationalism. Don is an informal advisor to Spencer, leading him on the path he previously believed was Derek’s destiny. Derek is trying “to build some kind of a bridge—a way to communicate with his father that didn’t have to involve politics or Richard Spencer” (275).

Chapter 14 Summary: “We Were Wrong”

Derek returns home for the first time in over a year. His goal is to reunite and form some relationship with his family independent of white nationalism. Don won’t stop teasing Derek “with little jabs;” Chloe insists on watching the entire Fox News nightly line-up of shows, then rewatching Tucker Carlson’s show because he is “Don and Chloe’s favorite and a new hero among the alt-right” (278); Derek ignores their instigations and festers, wishing he could find some opening to reform their relationship. Don attempts to convince Derek to return to his radio show. Derek explains to Don, “I was wrong […] We were wrong” (281).

In the ensuing months, white nationalism explodes into mainstream politics: the battle over destruction of Confederate monuments, a flurry of white nationalist marches and rallies, and more murders. Don and Derek become more entrenched in their beliefs and advocate more strongly for their now opposing causes. Their divide is now unbridgeable. Don argues to Derek, “Everything you advocated for is finally beginning to catch on […] Don’t you see that?” (283). Derek responds, “Of course […] We’re coming up to the critical moment. That’s why I’m trying to warn people” (283).

Chapters 12-14 Analysis

Derek’s life is now opposite of his former life. He fully engages with the world and embraces multiculturalism. He is now a stranger to his family, who no longer recognizes the man their child has become. As the Black Lives Matter movement grows alongside a surge in white nationalism, Derek rises in opposition to Don, Duke, and his former white nationalist community. Don and Duke work with “alt-right” firebrands like Spencer and Milo Yiannopoulos to continue Derek’s work in bringing white nationalism into mainstream acceptance. Derek speaks publicly and pens op-eds in major publications exposing the evils of his family’s ideology and publicly denouncing it. Derek hoped he could abandon his family’s ideology and alter their relationship into a positive nonpolitical one, but that did not happen. Derek’s intellect, when exposed to the broader world, has grown beyond the confines in which they tried to cage it through years of homeschooling and indoctrination. Derek’s relationship to his family was always structured around his utility as a white nationalist rather than typical familial bonds. Now that he has abandoned the ideology and begun to actively oppose it, his relationship to his family is that of an enemy which they must defeat.