Derek Black is a former American white supremacist, the son of Don Black, founder of the Stormfront online community, and godson of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. He publicly renounced white nationalism and chronicled his personal journey away from his family's beliefs.[1]
Early life
Derek Black was born in 1989 and grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended public school until third grade, when his parents took him out of school because his black teacher said the word "ain't".[2] He was homeschooled and his education was centered on his family's beliefs.
Homeschooling gave Derek and his father the chance to become closer. Don Black was able to take Derek with him to conferences, getting him more involved with their family beliefs.
At 10 years old, Derek Black began learning web coding, which later helped him create a page on the Stormfront site for children with similar ideas to him.[3] He would receive critical emails and death threats,[4] but his father would tell him not to look at the messages, and Derek has said that he was not bothered by what critics were sending him.[citation needed] From 2010 to 2013, he and his father hosted a radio show, the Don and Derek Black show, on Florida-based radio station WPBR/1340 AM, a white nationalist radio show covering national and local news.
After finishing high school, he enrolled in a community college and decided to run for a seat on the Republican executive committee. At 19 years old, he won the seat – one of 111 seats – with about 60 percent of the vote.[4] The committee refused to seat him because he failed to take his oath.[citation needed]
He later decided that he had an interest in studying medieval European history, so in 2010, he went to New College of Florida in Sarasota. The college was about a four-hour drive across the state and it was Derek's first time away from his home. He says of his first semesters: "I'd get up in the morning, and call into my dad’s radio show … and talk about the news … and then go to class and hang out with people who were often strong social justice advocates, and trying to live both of those lives was terrifying because I knew that one day somebody was going to type my name into Google."[4]
Former beliefs
Until leaving home, Derek Black's worldview had developed within the insular world of white nationalism where there was never doubt about what whiteness meant in the U.S.[2] Derek grew up strongly believing – and promoting – the idea that America was a place reserved for white Europeans and sooner or later everybody else would have to leave. As a white nationalist, Derek did not believe that the white race was above all others but instead thought that the white race should not be surrounded by others. He was known for his suspicion of other races, the U.S. government, tap water, and pop culture. At age 10, he stated "it is a shame how many White minds are wasted in that system".[2] He told peers at New College that he was pro-choice on abortion, against the death penalty, and did not support the KKK or Nazism or white supremacy.[2] Instead, Derek emphasized that there was a difference between white nationalism and white supremacy, saying his only concern was with "massive immigration and forced integration" and how it would lead to white genocide.[2] He said he respected rights of all races but felt that they would be better off in their own homelands, not living together.
Renunciation of white nationalism
Once his beliefs – and ongoing participation in promoting them – became public knowledge at college, he was ostracized by most of the community.[4] In May 2013, Derek Black started to befriend several Jewish people on campus, and gradually realized that his beliefs were wrong after attending multiple Friday night dinners with Jewish friends.[5]
He recalled of these dinners:
I would say, "This is what I believe about I.Q. differences, I have 12 different studies that have been published over the years, here’s the journal that's put this stuff together, I believe that this is true, that race predicts I.Q. and that there were I.Q. differences in races." And they would come back with 150 more recent, more well researched studies and explain to me how statistics works and we would go back and forth until I would come to the end of that argument and I'd say, Yes that makes sense, that does not hold together and I'll remove that from my ideological toolbox but everything else is still there. And we did that over a year or two on one thing after another until I got to a point where I didn’t believe it anymore.[4]
In 2013, Derek wrote a public statement to the Southern Poverty Law Center, publicly renouncing his views. In a 2017 interview, he said, "I wanted them to know that I understood what we believed, and I was systematically disbelieving each point."[4] Derek was very hesitant to "drive a wedge" in the relationship between him and his family, especially his father.
When Donald Black saw this, he began to distance himself from Derek – not being sure whether to defend him or to shun him completely. Derek tried convincing his father to re-examine his beliefs, but failed.[citation needed]
Family
Derek Black's mother, Chloe Black, is an executive assistant for the founder of the Florida Crystals company and owns a real estate business in Latin American countries.[6] She has also served as spokeswoman for a charter school, Glades Academy in Pahokee, Florida, financed by Florida Crystals with the aim of lifting minority children out of poverty.[7] Before her marriage to Don Black, she was married to David Duke.[8]
His father, Don Black, who founded the website Stormfront, remains a white supremacist.[3] He was also a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan, and a member of the American Nazi Party in the 1970s (for a time, the ANP was known as the National Socialist White Peoples' Party). In 1981, he was convicted of attempting an overthrow of the government of the island of Dominica using firearms and served three years in jail, from 1981 to 1984.
Further reading
- Saslow, Eli (2018). Rising out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist. New York City: Doubleday. ISBN 9780385542869.
- "Derek Black former white nationalist on the rise of extremism in the US" (Interview). Interviewed by Anderson Cooper. CNN. January 2021.
See also
References
- ^ "'Rising Out Of Hatred': Former White Nationalist On Unlearning His Beliefs". NPR.org. September 29, 2018. Retrieved 2021-01-06.
- ^ a b c d e Saslow, Eli (October 15, 2016). "The White Flight of Derek Black". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
- ^ a b "Derek Black". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on May 1, 2010. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f Barbaro, Michael (22 August 2017). "'The Daily': A Conversation With a Former White Nationalist". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- ^ Getlen, Larry (6 October 2018). "How I freed myself from the KKK". New York Post. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ Gross, Terry. "How A Rising Star Of White Nationalism Broke Free From The Movement". NPR.org. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
- ^ "Stormfront Founder's Wife Fronts for Minority School". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
- ^ Flannery, Mary E. (19 September 2018). "How Higher Education Helped Derek Black Renounce White Supremacy". NEA Today. Retrieved 27 November 2018.