#8 with Christian Picciolini on White Power, Men And Self-hatred.

MINDSETSHIFT with Mickey Feher

Christian is an award-winning television producer, a public speaker, author, peace advocate, and a former violent extremist. You will learn how men are attracted to extremist movements and why is it so hard to leave once you are in. He shares how he was able to overcome his fears and self-hatred and begun to transform his life. We also talk about the current deadlock of hatred and the lack of conversation in our society about a constructive way forward through the deep racial and ideological challenges we are facing. Christian has an amazing life story. After leaving the hate movement he helped create during the 1980s and 90s, he began the painstaking process of making amends and rebuilding his life. Christian went on to earn a degree in international relations from DePaul University and launched Goldmill Group, a counter-extremism consulting and digital media firm. In 2016, he won an Emmy Award for producing an anti-hate advertising campaign aimed at helping people disengage from extremism. Since leaving the white-power movement, Christian has dedicated his life to helping others overcome their own hate. He now leads the Free Radicals Project, a global extremism prevention and disengagement network. He has spoken all over the world, including the TED stage, and shares his unique and extensive knowledge, teaching all who are willing to learn about building greater peace through empathy and compassion. Christian chronicles his involvement and exit from the early American white-supremacist skinhead movement in his memoir, WHITE AMERICAN YOUTH. He showcases his disengagement work in a second book, BREAKING HATE: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism, published inFebruary 2020 by Hachette Books, as well as the MSNBC documentary series of the same name.