Christian Picciolini: How Do You Unlearn Hatred?

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Why We Hate.

About Christian Picciolini's TED Talk

As a teenager, Christian Picciolini joined a violent neo-Nazi group. But he began to question his hateful beliefs when strangers offered him something unexpected: compassion.

About Christian Picciolini

Christian Picciolini is a reformed extremist. At age 14, he joined a violent Neo-Nazi group, and over the next few years, he helped build and lead a white supremacist hate movement.

After leaving the movement entirely, he dedicated his life to countering extremism. He began a digital media and consulting firm. In 2016, he won an Emmy Award for his role in directing and producing an anti-hate advertising campaign called "There is life after hate," aimed at helping young people disengage from white-supremacist groups.

He helped create several organizations committed to helping communities and individuals counter racism and disengage from violent extremism, including Life After Hate, Exit USA, and most recently, the Free Radicals Project.

He is also the author of the memoir, White American Youth: My Descent Into America's Most Violent Hate Movement — And How I Got Out.