Black and White: A Ring-Side Story of Race.

With shaggy red hair and almost translucent skin, the young man in the white pressed shirt was introduced as David, a “graduate student in early medieval history.” Across from him sat Adam, a young Black man I had met before through criminal justice reform work. Adam is a recovering prosecutor and, as his black t-shirt announced, a “Feminist.” His dreadlocks normally hang down his back, but that day he twisted and tied them up into a large knot at the back of his neck.

The spotlight shined down on David and Adam, creating a dome of brightness on the small stage. The two men faced each other and sat strangely close, their knees only a foot or so from touching. The audience and I surrounded them in darkness, completely unprepared for what they were about to say.

“I grew up as a white supremacist. My godfather is David Duke,” David began.

I would not have been more shocked if he had said he was the Abominable Snowman. My stomach felt a punch, my chin fell to my knees and my eyes refused to blink as David continued about his childhood in the White Nationalist movement. His father started one of the first white supremacy websites. They spent family dinners devising strategies for recruiting people into their movement. Based on a white supremacy platform, David ran for and won a local elected position when he was only 19 years old.

Even when he shared the story of his “awakening” and eventual rejection of white supremacy ideology, David remained strangely emotionless. He spoke in an even tone about going to a small liberal arts college, being invited to celebrate Shabbat at a friend’s home, having the “evidence” that supported his racist beliefs disproven one at a time by persistent (and I would argue outrageously generous) friends. Perhaps this conference scared David shitless. After all, he sat encircled by well-educated Northeasterners and decidedly-anti-Trump one-percenters. The theme of the conference was “understanding understanding,” for goodness sake. (Although a rumor swirled around that a few conservatives may have been in the audience). David just calmly explained some of the inner workings of White Nationalism.

This is what I learned:

1. These are real live people, teaching their kids, voting, and maybe even selling you car insurance. David explained that people in the White Nationalist movement look normal. They are school teachers and insurance salespeople. They are smart people getting graduate degrees in medieval history or medicine.
2. They are strategic. And the strategy is simple: restrict non-white people from coming here and recruit more white people into the movement. The only criterion for being a target of their recruitment? Hang around white people. This is particularly scary when you consider that most of our country lives racially segregated lives. While urban areas continue to diversify, white neighborhoods continue to become whiter. In 2011–15, the typical white resident lived in a neighborhood that was 16 percentage points more white than the overall metro area. (The Brookings Institute.) And last year the GAO reported that school segregation has gotten continually worse over the last 30 years. For instance, over 50 percent of Black students in the South attend schools in which at least nine out of 10 students are racial minorities.
3. They are gaining momentum. Young David used to console his newly-enlightened self with the knowledge that his father and David Duke led a fringe group without any significant influence. And then Trump stated that Charlottesville involved “very fine people, on both sides.” David told The New York Times: “[Trump’s] words marked possibly the most important moment in the history of the modern white nationalist movement.” This was no longer a group in the margins but rather a movement of fine and noble people backed by the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

I wasn’t sure if Adam would punch him in the face, weep, or hug him. Adam tried to lighten the tone, with an “I like white people, you know.” We all laughed. It felt so good to relieve the tension. But looking back I feel so sad that we relied on Adam to make us feel better about the whole surreal experience. I relied on Adam to make me feel better instead of looking at my own role in David’s upbringing.

David told The New York Times, “most of us have not accepted the extent to which white identity guides so much of what we still do. Sometimes it seems that the white nationalists are most honest about the very real foundation of white supremacy upon which our nation was built.”

White nationalists are more honest? They are better at something?! Shut. The Front. Door.

David was very honest; now it’s our turn. It’s time for us in the audience — the white, the privileged, and the powerful — to get out of the darkness and into the conversation. It’s time for us to look the Abominable Race Monster in the eyes and see that he is our relative. We must do something to stop him before it’s too late.