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No one is born an extremist. Jan. 6 shows virtually anyone can be swept up by hate groups. (Op-Ed)

79% of those arrested from Capitol riots had no explicit ties to extremism. As my friendship with an ex-white supremacist shows, people need help out of hate.

 

Published: Jan. 6, 2022

 

Jonathan A. Greenblatt

Opinion contributor

In April 2020, the company Banjo was a high-growth tech startup based in Utah with hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

Damien Patton, its founder and CEO, was a self-acknowledged formerly homeless gang member who went on to become a Navy vet, NASCAR mechanic and then a self-taught coder.

His story was an inspiration.

Until it wasn’t.

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Source: USA Today
URL: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2022/01/06/january-6-hate-groups-adl-research/8995472002/