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 College next 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"
