From Charleston to Charlottesville, white supremacy still has roots in some communities. What draws some Americans to embrace extreme, hateful racist ideologies?
We talk with Tim Parrish, a Connecticut resident with firsthand perspective. Now a college professor, Tim joined an extremely violent and racist crowd as a high school student in Louisiana.
He wrote a memoir that charts his path from model student to violent racist. We find out what finally led him to make a change.
First--it’s election season and in the gubernatorial race, five debates have been scheduled in the weeks leading up to Election day.
But that doesn’t mean all the candidates will be participating.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.
GUESTS:
- Tim Parrish - Professor of Creative Writing at Southern Connecticut State University. Parrish is author of three books:Fear and What Follows: The Violent Education of a Christian Racist, a memoir; The Jumper, a novel; and Red Stick Men, a short-story collection set in his hometown of Baton Rouge
- John Dankosky - Executive Editor of the New England News Collaborative, and host of The Wheelhouse and NEXT on Connecticut Public Radio (@johndankosky)
READING LIST:
New York Daily News: How hate took hold of me: My friend and I could have been Dylann Roof. How do we get the poison of racism out of more American bloodstreams? (Tim Parrish, June 2015) – “I grew up a Southern racist. I learned how to hate at home and at church. I drank from the same poisonous well as Dylann Roof.”
Wall Street Journal: Early Polls Mixed on Connecticut’s Governor Race (August 2018) – “Two early polls released Thursday clouded the forecast into Connecticut’s gubernatorial race, with one showing a tight matchup and the other giving the Democratic candidate a comfortable double-digit lead.”
Hartford Courant: Gamesmanship Between Bob Stefanowski And Ned Lamont Over Gubernatorial Debates (August 2018) – “The Republican nominee has committed to five debates in September and October, but declined an invitation to a Sept. 5 televised forum with Democrat Ned Lamont and independent candidate Oz Griebel.”
Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
