The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CGHS) invited two former white nationalists, Scott Kelley Ernest and Tyler Parker-DiPeppe, to have an open discussion about their experiences with white nationalist organizations on April 3. This two part talk was a part of a new discussion called Personal Stories and Lessons for the Future.
The first part of the talk let the speakers discuss everything about their experiences and let the attendees into the world that they once lived in. They discussed what got them to join the organizations, what it was like for them personally, their reasons for leaving and entering, and the lessons that they learned from it. Attendees were encouraged and able to ask questions about their experiences to get more of an understanding of what life was like while in those organizations.
In an interview, Isabella Apgar, intern at CHGS, said, “What shocked me was Tyler and Scott’s daily activities.”
Tyler was in a very violent nationalist group that had a primary goal of trying to find more guns, weapons and bombs to destroy the city of Tampa. For Scott he was in a more passive white nationalist group, more family oriented and would go on activities and excursions. The two experiences show different ideas behind white nationalist groups.
Tyler and Scott talked about how the organizations were a “rabbit hole” because it sucks you in, feeds on your insecurities and fears, and the further you go, the harder it is to leave.
“Tyler and Scott talked about how miserable and full of self hatred people were in order to pull into the organization,” Apgar said.
As they finished telling the stories about their experiences, they shared that both of their organizations after they left have fallen and are gone, but there are many other organizations still out there. These groups did not last long and because they are not viable and people had differing opinions which caused them to disassemble.
Now that they left the organizations, they feel that they need to talk about their experiences to share with others and explain how much it takes to leave these organizations. Both shared that it took time for them to leave and to get back into life outside of the organizations that took up their life.
Apgar said that “they claim that in order to get people out of these movements, you must treat them with love and support, which is, understandably, very hard to do.”
With patience and love and support, both were able to get out of their organizations and now talk about their experiences to give people an exclusive look into what they went through so they can learn from it.
Following the talk, two classes joined a closed discussion with Tyler and Scott after the event where students got to ask intimate questions for their classes and projects dealing with the talk. The talk was informative and gave students an opportunity to experience a controversial talk that you would not normally have a look into to be able to experience.
To find out more about Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies other events, check out their website at https://www.ramapo.edu/holocaust/center-events/.
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Ramapo College of New Jersey
