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  1. WHY WOMEN LEAVE THE WHITE POWER MOVEMENT

WHY WOMEN LEAVE THE WHITE POWER MOVEMENT

In order to determine the ways to deradicalize white supremacist women, it is necessary to analyze the stories of women who have left the hate movement. It is important to acknowledge that it is exceptionally difficult for women to leave white power movements. They often form personal relationships and are encouraged to cut off outside contact, so they become isolated from people who may challenge their beliefs or try to pull them out of the movement. Women who have husbands that are deeply involved and raise their children in the movement have little hope of escape. This section follows the stories of Angela, Samantha, and Katie who successfully left white supremacist groups.

Angela King, now a leader in deradicalizing white supremacists, used to be a prominent member within the Skinhead group. King was bullied as she grew up and felt isolated as a queer woman in a traditional southern community. The Skinhead Movement gave her a purpose and a network to rely on. Angela has said, “In the very beginning, there were points where I started to think to myself, ‘This is stuff that I already know. I learned it from my parents…I see very much that this is where I’m supposed to be…” (Badalich 2019). White supremacist tenets had been ingrained in King since she was young, so radicalization was only a small step away.

After being arrested and sentenced to five years in federal prison for robbery, she interacted with people outside of the white nationalist network. She fell in love with a black woman who became her support system alongside other women of color. When she left prison, she also left the Skinhead movement (Badalich 2019). For King, her sole source of support lay within the Skinhead movement. When she was removed from that support network, she had to make friends with women who were often the target of her own hate. King had to consciously unlearn the homophobia and racism she had internalized in a social group where that was encouraged. Her physical removal from the group and the strength she gained from her new support network allowed her to leave the movement for good.

Samantha, whose last name is protected for privacy purposes, is the former national women’s coordinator for the Identity Evropa (IE) Movement. She originally saw the group as pro-white, not necessarily anti-minority. She had recently broken off a serious relationship with a guy who described himself as a fascist. His desire to date someone with a similar ideology compelled her to look into IE. Samantha explained, “I went in because I was insecure, and it made me feel good about myself” (Marantz 2019). Once she joined, they rekindled their relationship, but Samantha gradually lost all her friends outside IE. Eventually she obtained a leadership role and became the national women’s coordinator, responsible for recruiting more women into the movement. She was never comfortable with the Neo-Nazi rhetoric the group would utilize at times, nevertheless she continued to work to build the movement. The Charlottesville Unite the Right Rally in 2017 marked a shift in her perspective. While she helped organize many rallies in the past, this was the first one that included other groups outside of IE. Samantha believed that the presence of multiple white power groups with differing views would lead to chaos, so she stepped back. Instead of attending, she watched the rally and subsequently the horrific death of Heather Heyer from her job at a bar. The Charlottesville incident convinced her to start reevaluating the movement to which she was dedicated (Marantz 2019).

Although Samantha was reconsidering her loyalty to IE, she was still bound to the movement by her relationship. At this point, she had broken up with her previous boyfriend and was now dating and living with the leader of IE. Even though they suffered from relationship issues, Samantha was hesitant to break off the relationship for fear of losing her leadership position in the movement as well as her home. Her resolve to leave strengthened in an interview after the Charlottesville Rally. She was interviewed by a photojournalist researching women on the far right. She freely explained her beliefs to the journalist, who challenged her logic at every turn. Samantha repeatedly denied that her beliefs (such as white separatism) were consistent with Nazi ideology, but the journalist showed her the connections between them. She was also shown how her beliefs were instrumental in horrific acts, such as Heyer’s death. Samantha could only watch as her convictions crumbled in front of her. Once she realized she had lost her beliefs, she could no longer deny that she had to leave IE. After she resigned from the movement, threats of doxing and physical harm caused Samantha to go into hiding for a few weeks. During this time, her mind felt fragile and fragmented as she tried to discern what kind of person she truly was (Marantz 2019).

Katie McHugh is a former far-right media figure and journalist for Breitbart News. McHugh found a special place in Breitbart where Steve Bannon himself asked for her help on projects. She was an important figure and had a considerable media following, and the validation she received for her racist beliefs pulled her deeper into white nationalism (Gray 2019). She also had a serious romantic relationship with Kevin DeAnna, and soon he and his alt-right friends were her only close contacts outside of work. When her tweets became too extreme for even Breitbart to tolerate, the company fired her. Losing her job only catapulted her farther into the extreme right, as she had nowhere else to go. She moved between small media outlets on the far right, but never completely fit into the culture. McHugh was outspoken about her beliefs and very active, which often strained her personal relationships with white nationalist men as she didn’t strictly adhere to the traditional gender roles expected for women. The pressure to conform and her second relationship with an abusive white supremacist man soon became too much for McHugh. Additionally, she couldn’t find work as a journalist and began working in restaurants. This put distance between her and the white power movement, and by her own admission “pushed her to remove herself from the alt-right” (Gray 2019). Eventually, McHugh made a friend who committed to deradicalizing her completely and started her on the path to a more normal life (Gray 2019).

King, Samantha, and McHugh felt pressured to internalize white supremacist beliefs from people close to them - King by her parents, and Samantha and McHugh from their partners. Once they internalized racist rhetoric, it seems as though the radicalization process was inevitable. They also relied on white power groups as their only source of support and validation. King felt ostracized from her conservative community as a queer woman, but the Skinheads made her feel like she belonged to a significant community, and therefore was important by association. When Samantha left her boyfriend, the IE Movement filled the gap in emotional fulfillment where her relationship had previously been. Her leadership role endeared her to IE members and gave her a sense of purpose. McHugh received praise and recognition for her racist views from Steve Bannon at Breitbart, social media, and her romantic partner. Because the people closest to King, Samantha, and McHugh validated their beliefs and made them feel significant, these women became political activists, transforming their private beliefs into a dedicated cause.

Their successful deradicalization occurred because of committed individuals who made a concentrated effort to change their minds. For King, she fell in love with a black woman in prison who shifted her mindset. McHugh developed a strong friendship with another person in her service job who worked to set McHugh back on the right path. Samantha began the process of leaving when she watched the death of Heather Heyer, and her conversion was solidified when she was interviewed by a female photojournalist who carefully disassembled every single belief that linked her to white supremacy. One interesting feature of their narratives is the possible role that gender played in their radicalization and extraction. In Samantha’s and McHugh’s cases, their romantic relationships with extremist men had the most profound impact on their own journey into extremism. McHugh also had several professional relationships with alt-right men across Breitbart and other news organizations who encouraged her views. For King and Samantha, they were deradicalized in part by the efforts of other women. King was influenced by her partner, and Samantha was affected by Heyer’s death and her interview experience. The gender of McHugh’s friend was unspecified. Their stories illustrate, however, the potential significance that women play in the deradicalization processes of other women.

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