What it means to be pro-white, or to belong

A former white nationalist speaks candidly about what it’s like to be in an alt-right group

“It’s naive to think that you are impervious to it. No one is impervious to it.” — Sam

Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

Here’s a little known fact — during my freshman year (and part of my sophomore year) of college, I was in a sorority. I joined because I wanted to make friends, to feel like I belonged somewhere. Hours away from home, I was lonely and didn’t want to be that ‘lonely nerd’ in college.

At first, being thrown into the sorority rituals and camaraderie was the antidote to self-flagellation. I was excited to meet all these young women, to have a “Big Sister,” to celebrate events with dinners and gatherings. But it wasn’t until my second year into it when I moved into the sorority house that I began to see how much of a wrong fit it was for me.

The reasons were simple — I no longer felt like I belonged. I realized that the ideologies and rules set forth by the chapters wasn’t what I believed in, so I left. I put that part of my life in the back of my mind and never thought about it again.

It wasn’t until recently when I listened to this podcast episode from the New Yorker Radio Hour that reminded me of what it felt like to belong to a group…