Looking back, I've learned that everyone is searching for three things: Identity, community, and a sense of individual … - Christian Picciolini

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We have an obligation to live in harmony with creation, with our capital. . . with God's creation. And we need to administer and work that very carefully.

Christian Picciolini

Looking back, I've learned that everyone is searching for three things: Identity, community, and a sense of individual purpose. These are fundamental, and if a person feels marginalized or disenfranchised, they're likely to turn to something negative, maybe drugs, maybe promiscuity, or maybe a white supremacist group.

Community, Drug, Group, Identity, Purpose, Things

Same Author Quotes

We have to look at white supremacists differently, not as monsters but as broken men and women who are capable of doing monstrous things. I am proof that people can change. We have to be careful not to treat these folks as enemies who can't be saved. If we do that, we'll create more of them.

Broken, Men, People

I received compassion from the people I deserved it least from when I least deserved it, and that helped change me. When you take fear and isolation and put grievance on top, it's all too easy for people to hate and blame somebody else for their problems.

Change, Compassion, Hate, People

For years now, I've been talking about the rise of the extreme right in the U. S. Since 9
11, white nationalists have killed more Americans on U. S. soil than any foreign or domestic terrorist group combined. It's something we don't categorize as terrorism or extremism. We often brush it off as mental illness - things like Oak Creek Wisconsin - and these people are certainly tied to white supremacy, have written manifestos. We've got a major problem in not calling that terrorism.

Americans, Domestic, Mental Illness, People, Problem, Right

Actually, I don't think most people join white supremacist groups because of the ideology or dogma. They gravitate to these groups because they've hit potholes in their lives and there are things they can't figure out how to navigate on their own. This might be bullying, parental abuse or neglect, mental or physical illness, or, for adults, unemployment.

Bullying, Ideology, People, Things, Thinking

There are also people that still choose to support racist rhetoric because they feel white dominance in America is slipping through their fingers. To them, "diversity" is a codeword for white genocide. They claim that their "homelands" are being overrun by minorities and are desperate for solutions that ensure their "white survival. " This fear, of course, is irrational and solely based on a loss of white power and control.

Based, Diversity, Homelands, Loss, Minorities, People