ANOTHER LEAVES THE NEO NAZI SCENE

Burr

We have posted several stories from Rose City Antifa out of Portland about bodybuilder Corinna Burt, who was a member of the National Socialist Movement and later Harold Covington’s Northwest Front. Well, we received two boxes in the mail last week containing her uniform and other materials. Corinna also sent us this explaining why she is no longer with the Nazi scene anymore. You can learn more about her and her life today at www.axissallyraw.com.

Corinna Burt

Hello friends…my name is Corinna Burt, and many of you remember me as a member of the National Socialist Movement who later went to the Northwest Front. I decided to share my story of leaving hate behind because I want everyone to know what I walked away from.

I cannot say for sure what made me think the way I did and seek out these kinds of people back then. I had no reason to hate someone simply for being of a different race, and had actually not come into contact with very many people who were not white. But when I joined these groups, I felt like I had found a family, a purpose and a cause.

This feeling would eventually lead me to doing and believing anything my “brothers” said, and doing things I said I would never do when I first joined. I believed I was joining a group who was concerned only with maintaining pride in one’s culture and would never hurt a person of another race. I very quickly saw how wrong I was, and am ashamed to say I stayed in the movement long after I stopped having racist beliefs, because I knew what the guys did to traitors and did not want to be seen as one.

I came to see how members of hate groups will viciously turn on other members for defecting, speaking out, or otherwise disobeying. In addition to being responsible for several criminal acts and a few instances that cost the lives of other members, the men who considered themselves a superior breed of people came after my young children when I tried to leave one of the groups. I resorted to fleeing the state and leaving several false paper trails to suggest my children and I were elsewhere. They ransacked my home, vandalized my car, stole weapons from me and used them in crimes, and made threatening phone calls to my work and my family.

I want everyone to know that hate groups turning on their own members is not an unusual occurrence. Their hatred is so strong it cannot be restricted to a few other minority groups. They hate each other just as much as their supposed enemies, and there is no one who will escape that hatred, should they align with such folk. I once considered myself just as hateful. Looking back on my life, in which I worked as a funeral service provider; hospice volunteer; and crisis counselor, I can see these are not the actions a hateful person would choose.

I credit a large part of my awakening to taking part in competitive bodybuilding. This was my first positive exposure to large groups of different races, and while I was uncomfortable in the beginning, this later turned into respect, and then friendship, and I had to ask myself, “Just what have these people ever done do me?” Nothing. Not one member of another race has ever hurt me or my family in the way that white supremacists have.

Finally, an old friend gave me the push I needed and encouraged me to stop the pretending and sever my ties with the movement for good. I then realized just how long I had wanted to do that, and decided I would go public with my statements that I am no longer a racist, have not been one for a while now, and am willing to take whatever comes my way as a result of coming forward.

Today I can honestly say I don’t hate anyone. I am not asking for forgiveness from those I offended during my time in the movement. I understand that not all people will forgive, and regardless of whether they do or not, I still need to live in the way that is right. I no longer fear being targeted by those I once considered my friends. I will be forever grateful that my two children did not internalize the pointless hate that I tried to teach.

I have just finished the painful process of having my racial tattoos covered up. I had to get tattoos that were much larger than I would have preferred, and it took several months, but it is finally over. I had to fight back tears of joy; that artist gave me my life back. I am finally free of an external appearance that reflects a hatred I no longer feel.

Many people who want to leave cannot, and I feel fortunate that I was finally able to. I look forward to whatever the future may bring, and I would encourage anyone else who has a story to tell about leaving the movement to share it.

I  know that hate never dies. These organizations have been around much longer than I have, and will continue to exist long after they forget who I am. All I am is one more person who walked away, and one more person who will spend the rest of her life teaching her children and their c
hildren that there is more to life than hating everyone else for no reason.