Escape Hate
Hate groups use various tactics to recruit new members. You may not even recognize that you are a target until you’re deeply in. Here’s how hate group recruiters work: Hate groups often target individuals who are experiencing difficulties in their personal or professional lives and may offer a sense of belonging and purpose as a...
Sometimes when you are alone in life a group can become family, and if they are into hate, the hate gets into you. That’s how Jonathan Strayn recalls getting into the skinheads and the Aryan Brotherhood. “I didn’t have a strong family connection. [The skinheads] were there all the time. They’d answer the phone and...
“Yeah, any drug put in front of me I’d use,” Jonathan Strayn, of the skinheads and Aryan Brotherhood, recalls. His story is not uncommon among violent extremists who not only got into hate but drugs as well. Hate turned outwards is a way to channel mixed up emotions, deep feelings of insecurity, shame and emotional...
Do you remember being a kid and looking for where you belonged? Every child knows deep inside that he needs to find a place to belong and that in fact his very survival depends upon it. As a child, hopefully, the people around you made sure you had food, shelter, school—without them, even if they...
Klayton Bindon of New Zealand was in prison when he decided to get Aryan Nations tattooed across his face. He recalls, “I got tired of getting beaten up and having no food, and I ended up joining on with the gang to stop it. I was looking for a family. I sort of just went...
“I actually think hate’s a drug,” says Sean Gillespie, formerly Aryan Nations. Sean was sexually abused by man in his neighborhood when he was a young boy. When it was discovered years later, Sean, still a kid was interviewed by a social worker and told what had happened. For some failure, somewhere in the system,...