T.J. Leyden Against Hate :: The Vista Online :: University of San Diego’s Student Newspaper
Published on: 2/14/2003 Last Visited: 2/15/2003
With these words, T.J. Leyden, a former neo – Nazi white supremacist activist, took an entire theater of college students into a world they had never witnessed before – a world of hate, bigotry, death, and ultimately, of miracles and hope.
As the students sat spellbound, Leyden began to spin the horrifying tale of his neo – Nazi history, which began at the young age of 15. Following his parents’ divorce, Leyden joined the punk rock movement, a wave of music that prompts anarchy and violence, a biracial group that essentially ran the punk movement. Within a few years, the movement divided into two factions, the SHARPS (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) and neo – Nazis. Leyden followed the neo – Nazis and joined Hammerskin Nation, the most violent and best organized neo – Nazi skinhead group in the United States, as a recruiter. Leyden spent his days recruiting kids, ages 12 and up, for the movement. Leyden targeted middle school and high school kids. He explained, “If the kid was white, we tried to recruit. The loner, the bullies, and the popular kids too….the popular kids were the best, because if you got them, then you got their friends, too.” Those who followed him all had one thing in common – the need for respect. Knowing this, Leyden would tear them down, belittle them mentally and physically, and then rebuild them by showering them with camaraderie, loyalty and friendship. These tactics were learned from the United States’ military, where Leyden served as a Marine. Acting as a “passive member,” Leyden was able to serve his country. However, he received an “other than honorable” discharge as a result of alcohol and violent incidents, which were unrelated to his racist beliefs.
Leyden’s method of recruitment was dangerous, as many kids were willing to physically fight the recruiters. He and his friends developed a new way of gaining followers. At night they would racially vandalize schools to create division and animosity. Once those seeds of hate were planted, the recruiters could do their job safely and effectively. For years he lived in a whirlwind of hate and bigotry, blinded by ignorance and anger. He says, “I’ve given guns to kids to shoot other people…..,If it looked like a duck, and walked like a duck, I shot at it like a duck,” Leyden said. But all that changed one afternoon while watching cartoons with his one-year-old son. In the middle of the program, his three-year-old son walked into the room, turned off the television, turned to his father and said, “Daddy, you know we don’t watch shows with niggers on it.” Leyden froze. He claims that his immediate reaction was shock, and then pride. His son was growing up with the same ideals as his own. What more could a father want? And then the realization sank in. His three-year-old son was a racist. With this statement his young son had shaken his entire world. He began to question his ideals, his motives, his actions and their consequences. He said, “I couldn’t see the purity in my kid’s eyes because it wasn’t there….,they’re not pure because I’m their father.” This event was followed by eighteen months of turmoil for Leyden, including divorce, conversion to Mormonism, and a custody battle for his children. This turn of events was punctuated by his release of all racist propaganda to the Research Department at the Museum of Tolerance. He was also debriefed for two and a half weeks, and spoke with Federal, State, and Local law enforcement. He has since gravitated to the opposite end of the racist spectrum and has worked with the Task Force, “Against Hate,” at the Simon Weisenthal Center for over six years. He has trained members of the FBI, the military, and law enforcement, and has worked with the Department of Justice, educators, and over half million students.. When asked why he would do all of this, he answered “I did it to become a positive influence….,so the world would stop creating people like me.” It is up to us, the next generation, to stop this violence and hatred. We see it everywhere, in the hallways, on the street, maybe even in our own homes. It is our responsibility to stop it, and to prevent it. One person in the audience asked, “How do you feel about people who simply think it isn’t a big deal?” Leyden answered, “‘It’s not such a big deal.’ I like that one. But it is a big deal because if you say it, you pass it down to the next generation….Words are the worst thing because they scar the soul.” Leyden left the students with advice to implement on campus in response to last semester’s hate crimes. He said, “You see hatred and bigotry everywhere, and it’s there because you laughed at it. Laughter is passive acceptance. Silence is condoning the act.” Look for the purity in the hearts of others, and strive to maintain it.