White supremacist signs were often visible but ignored by parents

Evidence

For white supremacists, it often appeared that early and direct signs of rightwing ideology were visible to others. In one case a focal individual reported that in high school he created a minute-long video on Nazis and notably did not denounce them in any way. Another high schooler mounted Nazi SS and Confederate flags on his bedroom wall. His mother was reportedly ignorant of such symbols at the time. Others reported racist language in schoolyard fights or the wearing of swastika jewelry. Finally, another reported a series of events that were ultimately not noticed by his mother. These included being removed from a school field trip for wearing “radical clothes” and lying to his mother about it, drafting Hitler-themed comics, and making racist taunts during schoolyard fights. — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 381

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with Islamic cases where convert behavior changed drastically against family norms; here ideology is overt yet family ignorance persists. — connects to: White supremacist terror was overlooked as a global threat because of perpetrators’ racial identity — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 922; White Christian nationalism went unnoticed by both its adherents and its critics — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross: White Christian…, 27; Parents’ racist normalization and views often precede a son’s radicalization — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 310

Broader Connections

• White Christian nationalism went unnoticed by both its adherents and its critics #corroborates (0.85) — Philip S. Gorski and Samuel L. Perry, The Flag and the Cross, 27
• White supremacist terror was overlooked as a global threat because of perpetrators’ racial identity #corroborates (0.82) — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 922
• Parents’ racist normalization and views often precede a son’s radicalization #expands (0.78) — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America, 310