The White Supremacist Lives Down the Street

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 Sassy Politics with Christi Chanelle
  The White Supremacist Lives Down the Street

White supremacy isn’t a headline—it’s a house down the street.

In this episode, I’m pulling the curtain back on something way too close to home. One of the leaders of the hate group that marched through Kansas City last week? Yeah—he went to high school 15 minutes from me. Lives in Grapevine, Texas. Shops where we shop. Eats where we eat. And he’s not hiding.

We’re talking about what happens when hate stops lurking online and starts organizing right in your neighborhood. I break down the group behind the Kansas City march, what they’re planning, and why this can no longer be considered “somebody else’s problem.”

We end this episode with one question: What do we do now?

Because silence is complicity. And suburbia isn’t safe when hate has a mortgage.

Listen now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you stream.
Follow: @ChristiChanelle
Website: ChristiChanelle.com

💥COMING UP NEXT:

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The leader of a white supremacist hate group didn't
come from some small dark cornerin the internet.
He came from my town.
I'm Christy Chanel, and this isSassy Politics, grapevine,

(00:22):
texas.
Not a a headline, not a warninglabel a real place where
families grow, where kids walkto school, where life feels safe
.
But one of ours, thomas russo,graduated from capel high school
.
Today he leads patriot front, anationally recognized white

(00:44):
supremacist group, the samegroup that marched through
Kansas City this Memorial Dayweekend.
He didn't pop up out of nowhere.
He wasn't imported from anotherstate.
He is the radical your neighbordoesn't see, and he's proof
that hate doesn't just come forour towns it grows in them.
Prove that hate doesn't justcome for our towns it grows in

(01:05):
them.
The man down the street, thomasRyan Rousseau, born in 1998,
raised in Grapevine, attendedCapel High School.
He wrote opinion pieces inschool, arguing for guns on
campus and against transinclusion.
He was already building anidentity of exclusion and

(01:26):
control.
After Charlottesville in 2017,he broke from Vanguard America
and formed Patriot Front, andnow he leads masked men through
city streets with fascist chantsand banners calling for blood
and soil in broad daylight.

(01:47):
This isn't just some extremist.
This is the founder, thearchitect, a kid who used to
walk the same halls in CoppellHigh School that my own children
did.
On Memorial Day weekend, tiktoklit up with footage Patriot
Front marching in Kansas City.
They were masked, uninformed,chanting white nationalist

(02:10):
slogans, organized, synchronized, clean branding.
But behind that polished veneeris an ugly violent ideology.
They don't march to changepolicy, they march to intimidate
.
And their leader he's from here.
Grapevine didn't just raisesomeone who joined a hate group,

(02:31):
we raised a guy giving theorders.
What's happening here ishappening everywhere.
Patriot Front chapters aredistributing propaganda in at
least 25 states.
They post stickers, hangbanners and stage quick hit
rallies to generate media buzz,which they got in Kansas City.

(02:52):
They target high schoolers andyoung men, often through social
media and pseudo-patrioticlanguage.
And if someone like Russo canradicalize right here in
Grapevine, a middle-class,suburbian Texas town, that no
community is immune, this is notabout red states or blue states
.
It's about recognizing thathate doesn't wear horns.

(03:14):
Sometimes it wears a lettermanjacket and walks at graduation.
So what do we do now?
Name it, say his name, say thegroup, say the ideology.
Don't soften the language.
Watch your schools.
Patriotic Front recruits young.
It starts with memes, tradpride, nationalism.

(03:36):
It ends with hate.
Educate your neighbors.
If they don't know Russo's name, tell them.
If they think this is justfringe, show them the Kansas
City footage organized locallyLeaders, school boards,
neighboring groups.
Pressure your institutions toteach history, real history, and

(03:57):
monitor extremism.
Resist passively and actively,online, in town halls, in school
elections.
Do not let silence protect thisideology.
You know, it was really strangeBecause I saw these videos On
TikTok.
I had that reaction of oh my god, I cannot believe they're

(04:19):
walking the streets like this InKansas City With U-Hauls, that
they're all jumping into U-Haulsallowing this.
What are they going U-Haul'sallowing this.
What are they going to do aboutit?
Do we ban?
Do we protest?
U-haul Like I know?
Freedom of speech, right, right, no, not for hate.
That's completely different.

(04:39):
And then I looked it up.
I saw that he lives 15 minutesfrom me.
The leader of a white nationalhate group lives 15 minutes from
me and it took my breath away.
When the leader of a hate groupgrows up down the street,
neutrality is no longer anoption.
It's complicity.
Lovely Mishabai, thank you, you.