From Nazi to peace advocate with ex-skinhead Christian Picciolini

As a kid of immigrants, Christian Piccholini felt marginalized, abandoned by his working parents, and bullied. In fact, one day when he was cornered by a bully, he fought back and beat the guy down. He became respected by the other boys. Soon after, he was approached by an older charismatic father-figure kid who pulled him into the skinheads where he rose through the ranks over 7 years, ultimately using hate music to recruit other young boys to fight back against the imaginary invasion of “others.”

You can learn more about Christian and his book at his website, at his non-profit Life After Hate  and visit  Exit USA

I grew up being warned about people like former neo-nazi, Christian Picciolini. I remember sitting in Hebrew school and having the teachers tell us we must “never forget” or the Holocaust could happen, again which honestly never made sense to me. Why would the Holocaust happen again if we forgot? But in the 40 years since I sat in that classroom, I’ve watched a world go from tearing walls down, to putting them up again. And today, the world’s hate temperature is rising. 

As a kid of immigrants, Christian Piccholini felt marginalized, abandoned by his working parents, and bullied. In fact, one day when he was cornered by a bully, he fought back and beat the guy down. He became respected by the other boys. Soon after, he was approached by an older charismatic father-figure kid who pulled him into the skinheads where he rose through the ranks over 7 years, ultimately using hate music to recruit other young boys to fight back against the imaginary invasion of “others.” 

Christian is lucky. He pulled himself out of that world, educated himself, and turned his whole life around. He’s swung to the opposite pole and founded a non-profit organization called Life After Hate and is dedicated to helping fight the very hate he once spread. This podcast a scary and dramatic story and one that couldn’t be more timely as politicians manipulate our unrest by aiming blame at everyone else.  

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

Skinhead Gets 11 Years In BeatingRemembering Our Failure to Act after KristallnachtNeo-Nazi skinhead style is gone, danger still present, expert saysFBI Uncovers Skinhead Plot To Bomb Black Churches And SynagoguesFormer skinhead explains how he was radicalizedThe sound of violence | Sikh shooter a product of shadowy 'hatecore' music sceneThere are 893 Active Hate Groups in the United States in 2015 and growing fastStaffed by former racists, an ‘exit’ program aimed at disillusioned white supremacist radicals in the U.S. is picking up steamRecovering from HateLone Wolf Attacks and Leaderless ResistanceHate Groups Just Got A Lot More RecruitsVoltaire’s GardenHow Cory Booker handles haters on Twitter