Customer Reviews

The Racist Mind: Portraits of American Neo-Nazis and Klansmen

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When I first picked up this book, I was hoping for more of an objective look, via interviews, at what kind of person the far-right "white power" movement attracts, and also why they are attracted to the movement. Unfortunately, while Ezekiel does provide some of that insight, it is too often tainted by his own opinions. He goes to great lengths to disparage these people and the movement. While I don't condone the movement at all, I was hoping for more of an objective look at it.

Various techniques used by Ezekiel include responding to the arguments and comments of the interviewee within the context of the book. For instance, they will make some remark about Jews always feeling sorry for themselves. Rather than respond in the interview, Ezekiel will add his rebuttal into the book itself, after the interview, thereby denying the chance for the person to respond. Also, using the same example, Ezekiel will criticize a member for their stereotypical remarks, and then include a line in the book to the effect of, "I don't think Jews feel sorry for themselves. I think we actually are very empathetic." In both his use of the word, "we", and attributing empathy to all Jewish people, he is doing exactly what the interviewee did---namely, attributing one characteristic to an entire group of people. But because it's a compliment and Ezekiel is Jewish, he feels that it's alright that he speak for an entire people.

I felt some of the book was worthwhile, especially his look at the background of the people that he interviewed, allowing for a better look at what may be the draw for these people to the movement. But due to the various flaws I mentioned above, I don't feel that the book wasn't so much a portrait of the racist mind, but a subjective look at people who I couldn't help but feel Ezekiel set up in order to arrive at his preconceived notions.

I read this book when it first came out in 1996 and I've never forgotten it. (Apparently it riled up a few folks, because some of the reviews here on Amazon have obviously been written by Aryan. . . ahem . . . sympathizers, poor dears.)

One of the things I found most interesting about the work was Ezekiel's conclusion that many of the young people (almost exclusively men) involved in these groups felt marginalized in one way or another. They were frightened by the changing world. They had few, if any, positive male role models. Many had been bullied and/or felt powerless and were seduced by images of Nazis wielding extreme and savage power. Better, they felt, to be on the side of the one holding the whip, the one wearing the intimidating uniform, than to be on the victim's side. They were recruited at an age when they were looking for excitement -- as all young men do at a certain age. (Ezekiel felt that if any other slightly dangerous, radical group had come along -- eco-warriors for example -- they would have become part of that group instead.) I couldn't help but recall his work when I asked an African-American inmate in the prison where I was teaching why he had become involved in the Bloods gang. "It's the adrenaline, you know?" he said. "For rich white kids it's stuff like extreme sports. This is our extreme sports." Sigh. But I digress.

Ezekiel also concluded that the vast majority of people in these sorts of groups leave the groups by the time they're in their mid-twenties. Partly they leave because they want to have families and get on with life, and partly because eventually all the vitriolic rhetoric begins to fray. Partly they leave because emotional and psychologically healthy men, once they get a bit older, are less and less interested in violence.

While we can't tolerate hate groups, this does put things into perspective. Although the propaganda they spew would lead us to believe such movements are growing, in fact their membership stays pretty much static. New young people come in one door as the grown ups leave through the other.

So many people are afraid of what they perceive as The Other -- such a shame, and so unnecessary. This is a thought-provoking and important book.

Raphael "Rafe" Ezekiel wrote this book as a result of his numerous field studies on hate groups and their members. What promises to be an interesting look inside the so-called "far right" ends up being a pretty dull look at a group of punks that try and pass themselves as Nazis.

The book is divided into three sections. The first section is Ezekiel's reactions to his attending several high profile meetings of racial organizations. The first meeting is a KKK rally at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The other meeting is one of the congregations held by the now defunct Aryan Nations in Idaho. He also attended the sedition trial at Fort Smith, Arkansas. All we get from these events is a bunch of psycho babble from "Rafe" about how he feels about interviewing a bunch of racists. He makes sure to talk to the wackiest people he can find, and then make blanket statements about everybody involved as a whole. The second part of the book consists of interviews with national leaders in the Movement, such as Tom Metzger of WAR, and Richard Butler of Aryan Nations. The last part of the book, and by far the largest part, deals with a gang of whites that have taken the name "Death's Head Strike Group", who are located in Detroit. Rafe (I'm not being snide when I refer to him as Rafe. Several people in the book refer to him by this nickname) makes much of his Jewish heritage and how it is constantly insulted by these people. They're racists! Of course a Jew would be offended! I would be too if I were a Jew. You'd think someone of Jewish background would be aware of this before they started. But the point of writing a work like this is to try and present an unbiased account of the subject matter. This topic is by its very nature heated, and strong words have been written on both sides of the fence. This reader wasn't looking for another polemic. I was hoping for some real insights. Instead I get hurt feelings and some really wacked out testimony by sixteen year old high school dropouts on what it means to be a Nazi. At least the interviews of the leaders were worth reading. Especially Tom Metzger, who comes off as pretty intelligent, although somewhat cynical.

Ezekiel should be careful about passing off everyone in the National Socialist Movement as some idiot that can't even spell his name. With the advent of the Internet, there are young, wealthy and intelligent people that are quickly becoming adherents. I remember seeing a news program about Matt Hale, the head of the World Church of the Creator (and a law school graduate) working with another young college grad in his office. They were both listening to Mozart while they prepared flyers. This is the new face of the Movement, not what is presented here by Mr. Ezekiel.

Read this book for the three interviews with the national leaders and skip the rest. This book could have been a lot better. Instead, all we get is pap.

This book resonates. By painting intimate portraits of several insiders we are allowed an unprecedented proximity to this closed world. The author is careful never to judge his subjects thus confirming his own credibility. It is one of the most noteable books I have ever read and it has left it's indelible mark on me even 2 years after reading it. Bravo.

This is among the most engaging books I have ever read. What courage Mr. Ezekiel demonstrated in gathering this important information about racists individuals and groups. His respect for those whose words, feeling and attitudes were dispicable and focused directly on his own people was remarkable. The book shed light on what motivates hate and related violence from racists. As an African American who grew up in the south prior to civil rights legislation, I have always been baffled by the intensity of hate these people feel toward African Americans and the violence directed to us. This is an informing book that should be read by anyone seeking to understand and address the issue of intolerance. After reading the Racist Mind, I am more convinced of the need for our country to make sure everyone. black and white, have an opportunity to be educated and empowered to participate in what this country has to offer. It shows the dangerous impact of ignorance.

I have known in the past several of the people Mr. Ezekiel spent time on for his book, and despite his tireless (and increasingly annoying) left-wing babble, he paints a fairly accurate picture of the modern "racialism" movement as the unemployable, the troubled, the hopeless... the lost.

I constantly run across books like these written by Jewish egghead academics who interview and/or hang out with "extremists" here and there for a year or so and then write a book about it. There are very few that aren't written with a huge bias and I believe that a certain percentage are written as propaganda to build these people into strawmen in order to raise funds for groups like the SPLC and ADL.

In The Racist Minds intro he says he is going to portray the subjects of this book in a fair, realistic, human way but right off the bat in the profiles of various leadership figures he goes out of his way to mock things the interview subjects say in a smart alecky juvenile way after the fact, not engaging them face to face. In the profiles of the rank and file member types he portrays them as being overly pathetic losers, psychoanalyzing them in a typically weird Jewish way. In all fairness to the author though just letting 85% of the people he profiles in this book speak for themselves would be enough to make them come off as idiots and losers. But overall as pathetic as some of the people in this book are the guy who put it together is worse.