Rising Out of Hatred Themes

Rising Out of Hatred centers on Derek Black, a former white nationalist who’s considered the “rising star” of the movement before he renounces his ideology. When Derek’s peers at the New College of Florida discover his background after his first semester there, a debate springs up about whether to completely ostracize him to protest his racist opinions and activism, or whether to accept him and remain friends with him in hopes of eventually changing…

Throughout Derek Black’s early life, he is considered the “heir” of the white nationalist movement, the goal of which is to promote a white racial identity and form an all-white nation, or “ethnostate.” He does, however, try to distinguish his ideology from neo-Nazism and other forms of violent extremism. While Derek thinks that white people are better off living separately from non-white people, he doesn’t believe in violence or outright discrimination against other groups…

Derek Black spends much of his early life making significant contributions to the white nationalist movement, like crafting websites and making suggestions for how to frame arguments about race. But with the help of his peers, and Derek’s efforts to educate himself, Derek formally denounces his former white nationalist beliefs and receives many notes of thanks and congratulations from other students. Afterwards, though, he realizes that he’s still ashamed and guilty about his involvement, as…

Rising Out of Hatred shows how powerful of a tool language can be: from the different arguments that Derek uses to convince others to join his white nationalist cause, to the dog whistles that politicians use to implicitly signal that they endorse white supremacy, to the racist stereotypes that white nationalists perpetuate. This is because language often leads to action. For instance, even though Derek and his father Don (who’s also a white nationalist) disavow…