Episode 2057: KEEN ON America featuring R. Derek Black
How seriously should we take the white nationalist threat in the United States? Very seriously, at least according to R. Derek Black, a young man who knows a thing or two about the US white nationalist movement. The son of a Grand Wizard of the KKK and a close family friend of David Duke, Black believes that white nationalism is no longer a fringe feature of the Trumpist Republican party. And it’s this fear of the mainstreaming of overt racism that triggered Black’s new book, The Klansman’s Son: My Journey from White Nationalism to Antiracism, an account of his rebellion not just against racism, but against his family, particularly his Grand Wizard father, Don Black.
Derek Black is an American former white supremacist. He is the son of Don Black, founder of the Stormfront online community, and godson of former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke. He publicly renounced white nationalism and chronicled his personal journey away from his family's beliefs.
Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.
Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Sy Montgomery: How Hawks Teach Us a Different Way to Love
Rebecca Schiller: How to Write a Literary Memoir About Neurodivergency
Edward Sullivan: How Authentic Conversation Can Unlock Our Creativity, Our Purpose, and Our Happiness
Lis Wiehl: Why Robert Hanssen Was America's Most Damaging Spy
Toni Bentley on George Balanchine, the Man Who Loved Women
David Kirkpatrick: From Tragedy to Farce: On the Changing Story of Facebook
Joel Simon: How the Infodemic Is Making the World Sicker and Less Free
Richard Overy: Has the Second World War Ended Yet?
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger: Why Free Access Is the Key to Fixing Big Tech Monopolies
John Thornhill: What Do Startup Entrepreneurs and Authors Have in Common?
Mickey Huff: Can We Trust Anything We Read in the Media These Days?
C. Fred Bergsten: Why Trump and Biden Are Dangerously Wrong About China
Introducing Storybound