Activist Son (Derek Black) of Key Racist Leader Renounces White Nationalism
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/07/17/activist-son-of-key-racist-leader-renounces-white-nationalism/For those who remember Derek Black from previous DU OPs on him from years past, this is pretty big. His dad runs Stormfront.
Derek Black, the son of the former Alabama Klan leader who now runs the largest racist Web forum in the world, has renounced white nationalism, saying that he had been through “a gradual awakening process” and apologizing for his past activism.
In an E-mail (pdf) to the editor of this blog this week, Black, 24, wrote that he had come to see the arguments of white nationalism as “principally flawed,” adding that he had realized that American society is marked by an “overwhelming disparity between white power and that of everyone else” and that white nationalism was really about “an entrenched desire to preserve white power at the expense of others.”
“Advocating for white nationalism means that we are opposed to minority attempts to elevate themselves to a position equal to our own,” wrote Black, a junior at the elite New College of Florida. “It is an advocacy that I cannot support, having grown past my bubble, talked to the people I affected, read more widely, and realized the necessary impact my actions had on people I never wanted to harm.”
<snip>
“I now consider this belief system {white nationalism} principally flawed,” he said. “Most arguments that racial equity programs disadvantage whites who would otherwise be hired or accepted to academic programs mask underlying anxieties about the growth of non-white social status. It is impossible to argue rationally that in our society, with its overwhelming disparity between white power and that of everyone else, [that] racial equity programs intended to affect the deep-rooted situation represent oppression of whites.” Indeed, Black added, “The advancement of minorities in the US is not insignificant, but has not ended (let alone reversed) their circumstances.”
<snip>
edit, a couple of DU 'hot hits' on Mr. Black's past, just to give this more context:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7402859
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3874420
= new reply since forum marked as read
My honest suspicion, though, was that intelligent women at an elite college were not interested in dating a backward-thinking, die-hard racist. I bet he saw the writing on that wall and decided to shape up quick.
-Laelth
And I am right there with you, honestly. I really don't care how the guy came to his conversion. I am just glad he did.
-Laelth
From my SPLC days, they (edit - Stormfront.org) had a pinned thread talking about his city council race/defeat that went on for thousands of posts.
Must go now to see their reactions.
Derek - I always knew while monitoring you and Don that you weren't truly "in it" in your heart
(Don - if you are reading - I said fuck you in 2004 to your racist face and say, HAHAHAHAHA and fuck you now 
)
I did a spit-take when I saw the SPLC post on the story at FB. I should have posted this in the OP:
It's kind of heart-breaking to see little kid Derek in the photo that SPLC posted on their blog showing him at a CCC convention in 1998. I honestly think teaching your kid that kind of hate is child abuse.
I haven't been brave enough to touch Stormfront yet, but I'm sure the shit-storm is visible from space!
Working with SPLC was a highlight - tho a voluntary monitoring position. Screen shotting message board and blog posts was critical because of the itchy delete-post trigger fingers. I have seen shit that would curl (or straighten, depending) your hair.
Got to "know" WAY too many in this movement - and April Gaede's daughters (singing duo Prussian Blue) were my favorite come-to-sense story before now. However - they were teens and Derek is what, 24 now?
Can't thank you enough for ferreting this out and posting it. You have made my night and validated a long held suspicion all in one post.
Thank you.
