Chuck Leek
Exit Specialist, Life After Hate
2022
Chuck was actively involved with white supremacist groups for over 15 years beginning in the mid-1980s and sympathetic to their beliefs for 20-plus years. After learning that a girlfriend was half Jewish, he began to question those beliefs, which was the beginning of a long disengagement and deradicalization process.
In 2011 Chuck was introduced to Life After Hate, and with their support began speaking publicly against his former beliefs. Today he works as an Exit Specialist with Life After Hate, providing Peer Mentoring services to people exiting hate groups, part of an interdisciplinary model of tertiary intervention for Violent Far Right Extremism.
The Summit was more than empty words – it made clear that a solution-driven approach is the only way to fight hate. That’s why the working group activities, which are results driven are going to be critical in defeating violent extremism. The Summit brought together the best minds in government, private sector, academia, and civil society. Being surrounded by these experts sparked new ideas – some of which I’ve already implemented or have written about.
