This week, Laura and Todd return with a powerfully moving and at times unbelievable story of triumph with their first guest of Season 2, Frank Meeink. Frank is a former white supremacist, who by the age of 17 had become one of the most notorious skinhead gang leaders on the East Coast. We hear about how Frank’s violent and neglectful childhood in South Philadelphia primed him to hate, while addition made him easy prey for a small group of neo-Nazi recruiters. At the height of his membership, he had his own public access talk show, called the Reich, he appeared on Nightline and other media outlets as a spokesperson for neo-Nazi topics and regularly recruited members of his South Philadelphia neighborhood to join the movement. Frank lays out in plain terms how his traumatic upbringing ultimately led to his participation in neo-Nazi “missions,” where he and his fellow skinheads terrorized, beat and kidnapped Jewish, black, gay and other minority group members. One of those missions landed him in prison by the age of 18. While in prison, Frank’s belief system was challenged by his friendship and comradery with African-American teammates from his prison football league and after being released, his employment by a kind Jewish antique’s dealer. Soon afterwards, Frank defected from the white supremacy movement and began speaking on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League as well as appearing on NPR, CNN, and other news outlets as a spokesperson against the neo-Nazi movement. He is also the author of the book “An Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead,” in which he details his experiences being recruited by and ultimately escaping the clutches of White Supremacy. Laura and Todd also speak with Frank about discovering he was in fact Jewish, his religious journey and how he recently “came out” to his Synagogue about his troubled and violent past as a white supremacist. Today Frank helps others to escape the neo-Nazi movement and speaks to groups all over the world about police reform. We were absolutely BLOWN away by this raw and at times very emotional discussion with Frank, who epitomizes trauma recovery and is living proof that no matter how lost someone may be, there is always hope of finding your way back to the light.
Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
Wikipedia Page on Frank
Transcript of His Speech in front of Congress
Trafficking Hate Podcast
Who Do You Hate – Frank’s Intervention of a Racist
Speaking Out About White Supremacists on CNN
Huffpost – Can a Skinhead Recover
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