How Accurate is American History X? A Former Neo-Nazi Answers | American Recovery

I got to ask you this question, because I mean, it's one of my favorite movies, is how accurate is American History X? It's very accurate. I know. Many personal people and there was elements of my story that were just nailed in that movie. Again, the creepy old school neo-Nazi who would have all the skinheads over to his house and give them beer and give them a place for their band to play. There were all kinds of guys like that. That was straight out of real life. I have a really close friend, Pat O'Malley who had his turnaround in prison after Connecting with a black gang leader that he was supposed to kill Pat met a gang the leader of the black gang in a prison He was transferred to and before he even got there There was always rumors like Pat's gonna kill this guy and he's gonna kill Pat They're gonna kill each other and then when Pat got there They would they're like bristling at each other and swinging and these scuffles happen. They had broke up and then all this like Just verbal sparring, and Pat was, like, really good at dozens, like, at insult battles, and so was this guy. And they would be going back and forth, like, yeah, I would have been your dad, but the dog beat me over the fence, and yeah, blah, blah, blah, and they're going back and forth, and after a while, like, they can't help, like, cracking a smile. Like, oh, that was pretty good, actually. And one day, I forget how the circumstances arose, but Pat and this guy actually sat down. And the guy said to Pat, his name was Giovanni, he's like, how do you get involved in all this skinhead bullshit? And Pat's like, well, my parents were heroin junkies. Last time I saw my dad, I was four years old. He was beating my six-year-old brother like a grown man because my brother tried to make a pot of soup on the stove for us because they had been passed out for 48 hours after a heroin bender. And then Pat goes on to tell this guy, after that we were moving around constantly, we were always broke, we were always the new kids, we were always fighting. And then I come across this crew, and I'm like, this is my jam. I can be the fighter that I am, and people respect me for it rather than shun me for it. And I had a sense of belonging, and I was leading the group along with my guys. And Giovanni just starts shaking his head. Pat gets pissed because he thinks he's not believing him or something. Pat's like, what are you shaking your head for, dude? Why are you shaking your head? Giovanni's like, you just told my story, dude. Down to my dad leaving when I was four. That was my story. You just told me. Pat's like, oh my god. He had way more in common with this guy than with a lot of people who look like him. Yeah. I mean... Like, that all happened years before And that... the screenplay for American History X was written. But they did do an excellent job on it. They really nailed not only just the things that happened and the dynamics and the relationships, but they nailed what it's like to be immersed in that. Yeah. I want to talk more about this, you know, later, because I feel like the thing in American history, at least for me, that I identified with the most was the grievance. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. And when I, because when I felt, you know, granted, I didn't go down the path of white White nationalism or as a Jew, we got a funny, uh, but fun story though, actually a, a group on the SPLC website did try to recruit me one time because of the way that I looked. They said, you look like a like-minded individual. You know, and I was like, it's hilarious. He's tried to recruit a Jew, whatever. But, uh, but no, the grievance aspect of it is so powerful that a lot of people don't understand nowadays that when you feel aggrieved, you're so prone to anger and, and to be lured into these groups, promising community, like you had said, community and of this pressure, and we see it nowadays, right, left, and center. We see it just emerging for the taking. But what happened to you that finally, because you talk about how this was your whole identity, what was it that finally was able to break through Arno's facade of hate and start pulling you out? The simple one-word answer is exhaustion. It's, as you know, as anybody remotely familiar with recovery knows, being an addict is exhausting. Like when you go to an AA meeting or an NA meeting, all those people are together because they're there because every one of them is sick and tired of being sick and tired. That's the experience of addiction is constant exhaustion. And for me, the exhaustion came from all sorts of directions. There were times early on, sometimes it's like hitting somebody. That I have this inner voice being like, what the hell's wrong with you? Why are you hitting this guy? You don't even know him. He didn't do anything to you. Why are you doing this? And I didn't have the courage to even acknowledge that voice, much less answer it. And so I had to constantly expend energy to suppress this inner knowledge that what I was doing was wrong. And that was absolutely exhausting. Folks, if you enjoyed this short video, check out the link right there for the full episode.