Recovering from Racism: Why and How White Supremacists Quit Hate

Although the topic of hate group radicalization processes has received significant attention in recent years, less research has been dedicated to hate group exit processes. This gap is concerning because the number of hate groups and violent hate crimes in the United States has increased dramatically over the last decade (Southern Poverty Law Center, 2020). Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine former white supremacists, this study explores how and why former ex-white supremacists leave their hate groups, and why some choose to then speak out against their former racist ideologies. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) as a methodological framework, I identified eleven themes related to the process of leaving one’s hate group and becoming an anti-hate activist. These themes are organized into three categories consistent with the research questions: (a) participants’ exit experiences (e.g., exit-precipitating interactions with members of marginalized communities), (b) participants’ post-exit experiences (e.g., navigating personal danger and threats to safety), and (c) participants’ experiences of becoming anti-hate activists (e.g., developing an activist identity). These findings may be used to guide the development of clinical interventions for supporting hate group members confronting pre- and post-exit consequences.