The Politics of Hate

Director Perlman provides historical context to help understand contemporary far-right political movements, beginning with Henry Ford's 1920s publication The International Jew. Adolf Hitler credited Ford with playing an important role in formulating policy in Nazi Germany. American business investment in prewar Germany, refusal to accept Jewish refugees, and the rise of domestic Fascist parties offer evidence to the strong anti-Semitic feeling within this country. Perlman then extends his argument through examination of the violent opposition to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s, the development of white power groups in the 1970s and 1980s, then through the contemporary radical right and the election of Donald Trump. The changing demographics of America and Europe and economic crisis of 2008 helped facilitate the rise of such groups. Perlman puts a human face on the story through interviews with Christian Picciolini, former head of the American White Supremacist Skinhead Movement. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Mehnaz M. Afridi of Manhattan College also appear.