In Other Words

Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist by Eli Saslow

Enter the profoundly patient Allison (many last names were not included in the book), another student who was first a friend and then a love interest. She spent years believing that Black could change. And she never backed down, never let Black off the hook for what he professed to still believe in his heart, even after it was clear that his current life didn’t resemble his old life at all. And when he did finally come all the way around, she made sure he took responsibility for the person he was. Throughout, Allison was acutely aware that she had more power as a white woman to shift Derek’s thinking than the people his ideology targeted, and she struggled with the injustice of that. A devil’s advocate might say that

is one-sided — the story of a white nationalist becoming a social justice warrior. If we are to heal the political divisions in our country, shouldn’t a fair and balanced book also show a liberal college student learning to embrace the tenets of white nationalism? But the answer to this already exists in Saslow’s reporting. He takes care to elucidate the nuances between racist movements and the degrees of and types of discrimination the groups espouse. Racists are not portrayed as a monolith. Black’s friends, especially Allison, learned all about white nationalism; Allison even attended a conference and spent time around Black’s family. She was not sheltered from their worldview, nor was she persuaded by it.

— Jennifer Levin