John Henry Smith will host
Cutline: Everyday White Supremacy, which will air on Thursday, Feb. 18, at 8 p.m. on Connecticut Public Television. This hourlong special features frank discussions with thought leaders from around Connecticut and the country on the depth to which both violent and nonviolent white supremacy infects modern society, why people espouse these views and what everyone can do to make for a more equitable world.
For the show, we spoke with two former white supremacist group members, Scott Ernest and Shannon Foley Martinez. In the linked audio interview, you can find a portion of our talk that did not make it into
So Ernest called April Gaede, who would eventually form Pioneer Little Europe, a settlement of like-minded racists in Montana. They talked and Ernest thought she wasn’t bad like other people said she was.
“She knows how to play normal,” said Ernest, who attended Jefferson High School in Hillsborough Country before obtaining his GED. “She runs a fine line of outright extremism, that’s obviously extremist, but also knows how to be somewhat normal when necessary.”
The Ledger verified Ernest s story through screenshots of comments Ernest made on hate group websites and recruitment videos posted to YouTube at least seven years ago.
He knew of the violence. He stayed. Can he help undo what he fueled?
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Scott Ernest, 42, poses with a Celtic cross, which he describes as one of the most important and commonly used white supremacist symbols. It was made by hand by a Stormfront member. I was telling everybody I was getting out of the movement, and I wanted nothing to do with it. He drove it all the way from eastern Oregon to Montana overnight to give me as a gift. He wanted me to stay. Ernest left the movement in 2016 and now lives in Lakeland. [ JOHN PENDYGRAFT | Times ]
White supremacist groups recruiting, organizing across US
KABC
Share: The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol was disturbing, yet not surprising to many, like Scott Ernest who once recruited white nationalists and ran a hate group in Montana. I wish it never happened. I wish people took it seriously when I was in it, said Ernest.
He said violence was supported by a majority of his peers. Desperately saying we are going to do, we are going to do violence. We are going to do violence, and nobody s listening, he said.
Across the country, white supremacist groups are recruiting and organizing.