With raw, uncomfortable frankness, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Eli Saslow dissects the ideological transformation of a man once considered the "Great White Hope," the heir to the White Nationalist movement. Derek Roland Black grew up engulfed in white nationalism. His father, Don Black, was a prominent Klansman and the founder of Stormfront, the racist community on the Internet. His godfather is David Duke, the notorious Grand Wizard of the KKK. And his half-sisters are Duke's daughters--Derek's mother, Chloe, was married to Duke before Derek's father.Drawing on years of interviews and research, Saslow paints a detailed picture of Derek's upbringing. At a young age, Don introduces Derek to conferences connected to the white nationalists. A smart, perceptive child, Derek absorbs the theory, mythology and history embraced by his family and their friends. On his father's website, he starts a page for "white children of the globe," and a 24-hour online radio network for the movement. When the Florida public schools teach diversity and multiculturalism, Don and Chloe pull Derek out, opting to homeschool instead. The first two decades of his life, a bubble of white nationalism encases Derek.
When Derek chooses to attend Florida's prestigious--and liberal--New College, that bubble bursts. At first, no one at the school knows Derek's connection to a racist organization. He's quiet and polite, inquisitive and intelligent. His professors and fellow students like him. He makes friends with minority students and briefly dates a Jewish girl. However, when the campus learns of Derek's affiliation, pandemonium breaks out.
There's debate over whether Derek should be shunned or removed from the campus. Some students taunt him, threaten him and otherwise treat him as an outcast. He's asked not to attend special events and campus functions. But a small group of students take a different approach. They accept him and talk to him and expose him to a way of thinking Derek has never experienced before. With patience and kindness, they change his life forever.
Saslow handles this delicate story with journalistic integrity, allowing readers to marvel at the extraordinary course of events: compassion juxtaposed to hate, acceptance contrasted against bigotry. Saslow is respectful of every individual who plays a role in Derek's life, and lets their own words and actions speak to his audience. The hundreds of hours spent with his subject are evident in the intense internal conflict Derek and his girlfriend undergo.
This is neither an overnight nor an easy transition for Derek. Saslow manages to balance his narration brilliantly to keep the reader completely engaged throughout Derek's struggles. Rising Out of Hatred is a powerful story of the damage hate is capable of as well as the potential of faith and hope. Derek Black is a courageous young man who's chosen to expose his emotional scars and again denounce his family and friends all for the greater good. As he tells his father in the midst of the alt-right popularity in the United States, "We're coming up to the critical moment. That's why I'm trying to warn people." --Jen Forbus, freelancer
Shelf Talker: An up-and-coming White Nationalist sees the world in a different light when a diverse group of college students decide to treat him with kindness and compassion.