Ex-white supremacist spreads message of tolerance after turning from hate
Written by Sarah Laffin, Oct 3, 2011, 0 Comments
T.J. Leyden spent 15 years as an organizer and recruiter for the white supremacist movement before a change in heart made him a spokesperson for tolerance and acceptance.
Leyden shared his experiences on Sept. 29 at an event sponsored by the USFSP Office of Multicultural Affairs.
At the age of 15, the punk rocker with a reputation for a violent temper attracted the attention of a skinhead group in Redlands, Calif.
Leyden’s involvement led him to begin targeting people—mostly children—to recruit as white supremacists, he said. The white power movement focuses on pre-pubescent children and employs psychological tactics such as belittling and destroying their self-esteem.
Potential members are then brought back into the group and accepted—belonging to the group is seen as a way for members to rebuild confidence. This bolstering of confidence is a way for white supremacists to perpetuate their hate to others, but hate permeates everywhere, Leyden said, and is evident in video games, song lyrics and online.
Companies should consider “responsibility before profit,” he said.
Leyden refuses to buy Apple products because he has “been trying to get them to stop promoting hateful music” for over two years,” he said. Some of the music and other media sold contain racist material, and they are “subsidizing hate,” Leyden said.
Leyden once had his body covered in Nazi tattoos, but has since had them removed. He has been called a traitor and has received multiple death threats since he turned away from the group he once had so much power in.
Acceptance made its way into Leyden’s heart once he had children of his own, he said. When his first sons were 1 and 3 years old (he now has five sons), he began to realize that he didn’t want their lives to be like his—full of hate. He did not want them growing up in the same environment that turned him into the violent person he had been, he said.
Leyden said that people should “be a positive mentor” to children, and help them find positive activities to be involved in. “Kids need an outlet or they will end up on the streets,” he said.
Soon after Leyden’s change of perspective, he developed StrHATE Talk Consulting in 2000, and co-authored a book with M. Bridget Cook, “Skinhead Confessions: From Hate to Hope.”
Former President Bill Clinton invited Leydon to be a keynote speaker at the White House Conference on Hate in Washington, D.C. Leyden has also been featured in Time Magazine, an episode of 48 Hours on CBS, and appeared in several episodes of the “Gangland” series on the History Channel.
Today he speaks out against all forms of hate, telling others to become mentors and active anti-racists.
Photo by Daniel Mutter
