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My name is TJ Leyden
and I'm a former neo-Nazi skinhead
and white supremacist.
I wish I could have those fifteen years back.
I was with a group called Hammerskin Nation.
My job was to recruit kids
into the movement.
I'd drive around and give out CDs
and three or four days later,
I'd drive back by that high school.
Kids would be waving me down.
"Do you have any more of that music?"
"Yeah, but you need to come hang out with us."
Once that camaraderie is built,
then you say:
"Steve just got jumped last night!
What are you gonna do about that?
You just gonna sit there and be a coward?"
And if they say,
No, I'm not gonna do anything
then you show everybody else
what happens to a coward.
You beat them down in front of everybody.
The violent aspect to the movement
didn't worry me.
I didn't care if I got killed.
I didn't care if they buried me.
I did not.
That was just a price
I was willing to pay.
But when I thought about
burying my son...
If I didn't want my boys to grow up and be me,
what was wrong with my premise of life?
What was wrong with who I was?
I was married to a woman
who had two of my children
and I was afraid that if I told her that,
she would tell somebody
and I'd get murdered.
So I left the racist movement,
kidnapped both my sons,
and filed for divorce
and legal custody of the kids.
The only people I had was my family.
My mom had seen
the Museum of Tolerance
and Rabbi Hier on television.
And she said the next morning
I should go to that place.
I said, "Mom.
He's a rabbi.
I'm a former Nazi.
It's not gonna work. Trust me.
They actually asked me to come in.
They asked me if I'd ever considered
speaking out against my former friends.
I told them I'd have to think about it.
Because I know what happens.
I know the ramifications
of speaking out against this group.
My brother the cop actually told me
You spilled the milk.
Basically said,
You made a mess. Go clean it up.
I hit my very first junior high
and I did my very first talk.
Twenty-four hours later,
the white supremacy movement
had six websites about me.
One website actually said
"Terminate on Sight."
There are two cassettes
that are ninety minutes of,
"We know where you live."
"We're gonna come kill you."
"We've got your number, man."
"You better watch your back."
TRAITOROUS ***
When I was in the movement,
I could have been killed
because of rival gangs...
Could have been killed
by guys inside my own group.
It's no different now.
Now, I'm just doing something right.
I'm doing something good.
The people who should hate me the most
and be angry with me the most
because of what I did in my past...
...embrace me the most.
They think it's not still around...
I've gotten almost a hundred kids
out of my former lifestyle of white supremacy
and I've gotten kids out of gangs, too.
You can help people in any way, shape or form.
Everybody can.
You just have to be willing to do it!
I am TJ, and I am moral courage.