In Smith Swastika Incident, One Professor Asks: ‘Can We Stay Focused On The Fascists?’

Loretta Ross. (Ben James/NEPR)

Visiting Smith College professor Loretta Ross has been taking on neo-Nazis for decades.

Back in the 1990s, while working at the Center for Democratic Renewal — a national anti-hate group — Ross received a call from a man named Floyd Cochran.

“And immediately, without even thinking, I blurted out: the Floyd Cochran?” Ross said. “’Cause we monitored him. He was the national spokesman for the Aryan Nations.”

To Ross’s surprise, Cochran was seeking help. One of his sons had been born with a cleft palate, and a leader of the Aryan Nations argued that the child should be put to death. In the process of de-programming Cochran’s radical beliefs, Ross and Cochran became friends.

“Floyd taught me a lot about the construction of whiteness and white supremacy,” Ross said, describing Cochran’s history of being bullied and how it played a part in his radicalization.

Read the rest of the story at NEPM’s website.