Derek Black had been primed to follow in his white nationalist father's footsteps, but he has turned his back on racism with the help of a Jewish friend at college.
Black is the son of Don Black, the former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard who founded the white nationalist website Stormfront, and the godson of David Duke, a former "Imperial Wizard" for the Klan and perhaps the best-known white supremacist in the U.S.
This weekend, the Washington Post published an in-depth article - titled "The white flight of Derek Black" - about how the younger Black's experiences with students of other ethnicities and religions at New College of Florida, a liberal arts school in in Sarasota, led to him renouncing white nationalism. He now embraces multiculturalism, admires President Barack Obama and supports increased immigration.
Black had been ready to assume the mantel of his elders: He spoke at white nationalist meetings, launched a white national children's website, hosted a radio show and won a local election in Florida.
Heidi Beirich, the leader the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) Intelligence Project, an anti-terrorism organization, said a lot of people join white supremacist movements because they're escaping difficult family situations or get caught up as teens. But she said Black's case was difference because he had been "born and bred" to be a white supremacist leader.
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