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How to Deradicalize a Neo-Nazi

Racial violence is on the rise. Here’s something we can do about it.

Kristine Hadeed
2 min readJan 22, 2022
Photo by Till Kraus on Unsplash

Racially-motivated violence is the biggest domestic threat facing the U.S., according to the Department of Homeland Security.

But what can we do about it?

Proposed policies for ending white supremacist violence are mostly high-level and reactionary. They suggest ways to better analyze, anticipate, and prosecute violence, but offer little guidance on how to solve the root issue of why it exists.

At an individual level, we tend to respond to extremism by silencing, condemning, and ostracizing those who express ignorant or hateful views. While this is a natural reaction, unfortunately it seems to do little to stop these views from spreading. Instead, it just forces them into more extreme underground echo chambers.

Thankfully, someone found an approach that works.

A Black man named Daryl Davis convinced 200 hundred white supremacists to leave the KKK.

Here’s how he did it:

Step 1: Get curious

As Davis says in a TEDTalk, ignorance breeds fear, which breeds hatred, which breeds violence.

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Kristine Hadeed
Kristine Hadeed

Written by Kristine Hadeed

Critical thinker and non-partisan community organizer advocating for the liberation and dignity of all people.

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