Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist

White nationalism is an umbrella term for an ideology espousing white supremacist or white separatist ideologies, often alleging inferiority of nonwhites. Derek’s ideological transformation provides Saslow an opportunity to explore white nationalism in all its iterations, from the violent felonious activity of Don attempting to overthrow a peaceful island nation to form a whites-only mecca to the more innocuous forms of white separatism that do not allege superiority, but rather advocate for a more harmonious existence through racial separation. Saslow is also able to illustrate through Derek, Don, Duke, and others the connection between seemingly benign forms of white nationalism and violent ones, showing that they are part of the same harmful ideology and often work in concert.

Derek’s major contribution to the white nationalist movement is to adjust its semantics to make it approachable in the mainstream and acceptable for politicians to espouse. Derek does this through manipulation of the language and presentation. Derek successfully distances white nationalism from the Ku Klux Klan and historical violence and reframes it as something acceptable for mainstream white America. This process begins before Derek, with the efforts of Don and Duke, but Derek’s construction of a children’s white nationalism game, lectures on language, and personal actions in politics and on his radio show lead the movement to a new level of acceptance in United States politics and society.