Black people are often told how they need to be open, accepting, how they need to counter the stereotypes laid against them in the fight against white supremacy. These naive and offensive notions lay the blame on non-whites, they assume that racism is in part their fault but in reality white supremacy is a white problem and we all know that people have to solve their own issues.

Those who understand white supremacy best are those that found themselves in it. A racist can change his spots, I have seen it, they can find that the power they felt through their hate was a misstep and although forgiveness may never be 100% available for them they can do right by helping stamp out the problem for those who also want to reject white supremacy.

Christian Picciolini was bullied and felt forgotten by his Italian parents. He was recruited young into a neo-nazi group and rose through the ranks. He was full of hate, enacted racist violence and felt powerful. He went to prison for his hate and continued to hate until he had children and had to face himself and his notion of idenity.

These days he runs Life After Hate. A small group tireless working to allow people to leave neo-nazi groups and find people who understand where they have been. An uphill struggle against the growith of hate but maybe one we should all root for.

Picciolini says that “White people need to solve the problem of white supremacy.”

“It’s white people’s problem, we created it, and it’s a problem we need to fix.”

What do you think?

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