News Release

Heard on campus – the fight against racism

April 6, 2009

 

“You have to fight racism with your mind, not your fists.”

That was the message for those gathered in the Gallery Lounge on campus March 31 to hear T.J. Leyden, a reformed neo-Nazi skinhead who uses first-hand experience from his years in the movement to describe the violence and growth of racist organizations throughout the nation.

His “Turning Away from Hate” message, delivered to a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty, staff, and visiting high schoolers, profiled his journey through the world of racism to his profound change of heart. “I can never change the hate with which I once lived and I will always hate the way I once was, but I now hope I can change others’ views of racism,” he said.

James Kuntz, who brought 25 students from the Diakon Wilderness Center in Boiling Springs to the presentation says, “Many times we have youth from various communities that are affiliate or participate or know people who are part of gangs or enter the program with prejudices against different people.  TJ Leyden was able to address the street values that many of these youth hold due to the life experiences they have.  He was able to show them that there is no value in living according to street values.  He was able to make our youth think about their own street values and question themselves.”

A case manager in the Foundations Residential Program at the center, Kuntz adds,” Some comments that our youth made regarding the lecture were: If we do not confront or say something about what is wrong, and are silent, then we are agreeing with the wrong that is happening; No matter what you do you can always change; If you were in a gang and later return to the neighborhood you once “OWNED” you really don’t own anything; and I didn’t realize how big hate groups are.”    

He continues, “Our program stands on 5 pillars – respect, responsibility, trust, effort and courage, and TJ Leyden was able to speak and demonstrate these values in his life and show that living a life that does not uphold these values destroys the world we live in.”

The beginning of Leyden's recruitment into the neo-Nazi movement came in the form of punk rock shows in the early '80s after his parents divorced, he said. Leyden became involved with a group of anarchists at these shows. He said he tried getting into fights wherever he could, and profiled violent, brutal actions he and others directed to people they opposed or simply wanted to hurt.

One story that caught the audience's attention involved Leyden and his friends at a party. A woman approached Leyden crying and blaming another male for her problems.Leyden and his friends proceeded to “crack the guy's ribs, break his jaw and nose and dislocated his shoulder.” He shocked the audience by telling them how he kicked the guy's thumb back in the opposite way with his steel-toed shoes.

After being jailed numerous times, Leyden joined the U.S. Marine Corps at age 21. "I brought my racism and bigotry into Corps," he said. He used the Marines as a recruitment center for his neo-Nazi movement by passing out Nazi propaganda, including copies of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, he said

During his presentation, he made many references to the U.S. military and the many villains it has trained, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols, as well as Osama bin Laden, two of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 bombings and John Allen Muhammad, one of the two D.C. snipers. After being discharged by the Marines, he met his wife, a dedicated neo-Nazi follower and married her 15 days later.

The final straw in Leyden's neo-Nazism came when he was watching TV with his 11-month-old son. He said his 3-year-old came into the room, turned off the TV and told him he was stupid because he was watching black people on TV and used a derogatory term to describe African Americans. After this, he began to think about what his sons would be like when they grew up and realized the racist way of life had to end. He said he divorced his wife and kidnapped his sons and took them back to his mother's house in California.

Leyden found his way to the Task Force Against Hate in the Simon Wiesenthal Center, turned over 15 years of files and records, and embarked on a five-year association opposing the white power movement. “Two rabbis asked me if I would be willing to speak out personally against hate and hate groups,” he adds. “In August of 1996 I spoke to my first junior high class and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Leyden said the commercial side of the neo-Nazi movement is still prevalent. "Did you know that Toys R' Us carries Nazi toys? So does K-Mart and Wal-Mart," he said. "You can actually purchase a figurine of Hitler." And he adds a popular video game called “Ethnic Cleansing” involves killing blacks and Jews.

He added that normally in times of economic prosperity, hate group activity and membership declines and that economic downturns spur growth. But, beginning with the proliferation of the Internet, groups have continued to strengthen due to enhanced communications, he points out. “In 1995, there was one racist Internet web site, today there are more than 5,000,” Leyden cautions.

Saying he “thanks God every day for what happened to me,” Leyden advised students to be intolerant of intolerance. “When you laugh at a racist comment or joke, you endorse racism. By being silent you are not being part of the cure. And if there some kind of Klan rally or such in your town, don’t go; stay away and let them march alone.”

In closing, he admonished everyone in attendance to “be a mentor to young people.”