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Connections

Former white supremacist Christian Picciolini on disengaging from extremist movements

Dennis Sevilla
/
Provided

We talk with a former neo-Nazi about his work helping people disengage from hate groups. Christian Picciolini was 14 years old when he joined a white supremacist group. He left it eight years later after he began to question its ideology. As NPR reports, "He remembers a specific incident in which he was beating a young black man. His eyes locked with his victim, and he felt a surprising empathy. It was a turning point."

Picciolini now helps members of hate groups disengage from extremist movements. He will be in Rochester as a guest of Monroe Community Collegenext week, but first, he joins us on Connections. Our guest:

  • Christian Picciolini, leader of the Free Radicals Project, and author of several books, including "Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism"
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.