Sounds Like Hate - podcast cover

Sounds Like Hate

Southern Poverty Law Centerwww.soundslikehate.org
Sounds Like Hate is a podcast from the Southern Poverty Law Center that tells the stories of people and communities grappling with hate and searching for solutions. You will meet people who have been personally impacted by hate, hear their voices and be immersed in the sounds of their world. And, you will learn about the power of people to change – or to succumb to their worst instincts. Sounds Like Hate was nominated for two People’s Voice Webby awards in 2022. Season One takes a deep dive into the realities of hate in modern America: how it functions, how it spreads, who is affected and what people are doing about it. Season Two examines the distorted history of the Confederacy some people accept as truth and how the people we love the most could be guided toward violent extremist beliefs. Season Three reveals the harms done to individuals and our democracy by hate and extremism – while also showcasing the hope and resilience of the people fighting back. Hear from the unsung heroes who have pushed back against voter suppression in the South, who have stood up for the rights of trans children in the foster care system and who have taken on the unlawful militias who target migrants, often in cahoots with U.S. Border Patrol agents. Two of the series in this season were nominated for a prestigious Webby award. In Season Four, we explore the many manifestations of white supremacy in our current moment – from Confederate memorials to the Jan. 6 insurrection. We begin with a special episode marking the one-year anniversary of the extremist assault on the Capitol, which examines clues scattered openly across the nation by antigovernment networks and white supremacists – and shows how SPLC analysts were sounding the alarm well before the attack. Then, we continue our “Monumental Problems” series by taking you inside Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and its racial reckoning. We investigate how students are impacted by VMI’s dangerous and pervasive glorification of the Confederacy – which casts a long shadow of white supremacy over the school. Student and alumni activists’ demands for change are part of a broader struggle in the South and beyond. The story at VMI is about confronting our nation’s past and the legacy of slavery in order to build a more inclusive democracy for us all.

Episodes

Wake-Up Call: Part II

This episode opens with Matriculation Day at the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington – the start of school for first-year students. Racial justice protests in 2020 promoted a state-ordered independent investigation documenting an institutional culture of racism and sexism. What has changed at VMI since then? Have the changes gone far enough in addressing systemic racial inequality?  And will the new governor, Glenn Youngkin, threaten VMI’s progress?

Jun 21, 202257 minSeason 4Ep. 3

Wake-Up Call: Part I

The Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington is a college embedded in Southern military tradition – which includes an unquestioning respect for the Confederacy. But in the spring of 2020, a racial reckoning came to VMI after students of color and some alumni began to air their frustrations and demand change. In this episode, you’ll discover how those students and alumni exposed racism and false historical narratives. This state school with intimate ties to Virginia politics provides insigh...

Jun 14, 202258 minSeason 4Ep. 2

Season 4 Sneak Peek

This exclusive trailer for season four of  Sounds Like Hate  (coming June 14) takes you inside the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, where an independent investigation exposed a longstanding culture of systemic racism. Alumni and students demanded change – including the removal of memorials glorifying the Confederacy. Now, for the first time in 182 years, a Black superintendent has been appointed to lead at VMI. Will he be able to implement real change?

Jun 07, 20222 min

Red Flags Everywhere

In this special episode of Sounds Like Hate Season 4, we travel back to the months leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, to track white supremacists as they plan, prepare and execute their violent plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and overturn an election. Listen now as we examine the events that should have been 'red flags' in 2020 as the hate and extremism movement reached a boiling point in the lead up to Jan. 6, 2021. 

Dec 30, 202138 minSeason 4Ep. 1

The Unwelcome: Part II

The Season 3 finale of  Sounds Like Hate  centers on the small town of Arivaca, Arizona, just 11 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. Here, residents have taken a decidedly pro-migrant stand – but armed anti-migrant militia groups continue to operate nearby, and more anti-migrant residents are moving in. Can Arivaca’s commitment to embracing inclusivity survive in a shifting, politically polarized world?

Dec 07, 202152 minSeason 3Ep. 6

The Unwelcome: Part I

In Part I of “The Unwelcome,” we’re on the southern border in Arizona, where armed militia groups stalk migrants traversing harsh desert conditions. In some cases, militia members arm themselves with guns, scopes and motion activated video cameras seek to capture migrants and destroy their water sources, putting migrants’ lives at an even steeper risk.

Nov 30, 202150 minSeason 3Ep. 5

Season 3 Update

This special bonus episode of  Sounds Like Hate  provides an exclusive update on The Base, an international “white power” terrorist group that we’ve been tracking since Season 1 of the podcast. Since then, some members of The Base have been arrested and charged with hatching violent plots – here are the details of the disturbing crimes these extremists were planning to commit.

Nov 23, 20219 min

Fostering Hate: Part II

In part II of “Fostering Hate,” we tell the stories of LGBTQ parents and children navigating a foster system with a history of anti-LGBTQ discrimination. Too often, foster parents are not adequately vetted or trained. In this episode, we meet LGBTQ people who have been deeply impacted by issues of bias, rejection and queer identity in the foster system – each of them ultimately connected by their desire for a chosen family where LGBTQ identities are accepted and celebrated. Children and fam...

Nov 16, 202155 minSeason 3Ep. 4

Fostering Hate: Part I

In 2018, Philadelphia tried to defend its policies to prevent discriminatory treatment of LGBTQ parents in its foster care system – and got sued by a religious right organization over it. This episode unravels the ongoing legal battle over the future of queer parents in Philly’s foster system and includes interviews with some of the kids and parents who have been directly affected.

Nov 09, 202155 minSeason 3Ep. 3

Collateral Damage: Part II

In Florida, many people who have previously been incarcerated have had their right to vote taken away by discriminatory legislative measures. In this episode, we meet some of these people who have served their sentenced time and simply want their rights back – and are bravely fighting to be heard by lawmakers and to give voice to others who share their struggles.

Nov 02, 202151 minSeason 3Ep. 2

Collateral Damage: Part I

In this episode, we visit Georgia to investigate a devastating new voter suppression law and meet the activists and community members who are fighting its deliberate and calculated suppression of people with disabilities and other marginalized groups.

Oct 26, 202152 minSeason 3Ep. 1

Sneak Peek: Season 3

In this exclusive sneak peek at  Sounds Like Hate ’s third season, we travel to the deadliest border crossing in the nation, along the U.S.-Mexico border in Arizona, where undocumented migrants are crossing in record numbers. Humanitarian organizations are attempting to help the migrants, venturing into the Sonoran Desert to distribute food and water – but groups of vigilantes are patrolling the same territory, trying to catch them. While these&n...

Oct 19, 20218 min

Monumental Problems: Part III

Stone Mountain, Georgia, sometimes called the “Mount Rushmore of the Confederacy,” is home to one of the largest stone carvings in the world: An image of Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is etched into the side of the mountain. “Monumental Problems,” Part III, focuses on Stone Mountain and the “Lost Cause” narratives still widely spread by powerful families and corporations, and how these falsehoods fan the fires of white nationalism. 

Jun 09, 202149 minSeason 2Ep. 5

Monumental Problems: Part II

In “Monumental Problems,” Part II,  Sounds Like Hate  producer Jordan Gass-Poore tells a personal story about her Texas Hill Country family. Gass-Poore is the descendant of Confederate veterans, and the choices made by her ancestors generations ago continue to impact the family today. We follow Gass-Poore home to Texas as her family embarks on a painful reckoning with the past. 

Jun 02, 202148 minSeason 2Ep. 4

Monumental Problems: Part I

“Monumental Problems,” Part I, brings us to Florence, Alabama, where a large Confederate monument has loomed in front of the county courthouse since 1903 – but perhaps not for much longer if community members like Camille Bennett get their say. Bennett is the founder of Project Say Something, a local civil rights organization that is rallying the community to decide the fate of the Confederate statue. We follow Bennett as she travels to Montgomery to speak one-on-one with Alabama Secretary of St...

May 26, 202150 minSeason 2Ep. 3

Baseless Update

In the first 5 episodes of Baseless you listen to secret recordings of over 100 white supremacists applying for membership to a violent neo-Nazi hate group called The Base. In this bonus episode you’ll hear the latest about the founder, Rinaldo Nazzro, who roams freely, and the members who have been arrested and are now behind bars or awaiting trial.

May 21, 20219 min

Baseless: Part V

Part five of  Baseless  continues the story of a young white supremacist and the family members who tried to intervene after it was too late. We also follow a 21-year-old recruit from Massachusetts who was radicalized in high school to explore the phenomenon of white supremacists who tactically switch from one group to the next. This trail leads us to a New England nationalist socialist group that claims they were at the U.S. Capitol insurrection to protect white people. ...

May 19, 202152 minSeason 2Ep. 2

Baseless: Part IV

We continue our coverage of the neo-Nazi, accelerationist group The Base with two new episodes of  Baseless . This time, Sounds Like Hate examines what parents should be doing to prevent radicalization. With exclusive access to The Base’s headquarters and tactical training grounds in Bad Axe, Michigan, we interview the father of a white supremacist as he explores The Base’s Michigan compound after an FBI raid. 

May 12, 202149 minSeason 2Ep. 1

Sneak Peek: Baseless Exclusive

In a sneak peek of Season Two’s Baseless, we hear portions of a harrowing conversation with the father of a white supremacist leader who operated The Base’s training compound in Bad Axe, Michigan. Podcast hosts Geraldine Moriba and Jamila Paksima are guided by the compound leader’s father as they tour what remains of the headquarters after an FBI raid. Poring over the remains of the group’s preparations for a race war and the fall of society as we know it, they discuss youth radicalization and w...

May 05, 20218 min

Baseless: Part III

Using secret recordings, Part III reveals what you don’t know about today’s increasingly violent white supremacists, including the Base, one of the most violent neo-Nazi groups in America. It’s about why crimes by these extremists are not properly addressed by law enforcement and how close we’ve come to attempts at mass murder. It’s also about efforts to prevent their apocalyptic fantasies from happening — and about how the Base began to unravel.

Oct 29, 202048 minSeason 1Ep. 7

Baseless: Part II

Part II exposes the efforts of the Base, a white nationalist group, to develop paramilitary training drills. Using artificial intelligence we uncover patterns of deception found in the exclusive secret recordings from the “vetting room” of these homegrown neo-Nazis. It’s about how they intend to use paramilitary training to instigate the collapse of America. We expose the Base’s underground international network of deceit and terroristic schemes.

Oct 22, 202046 minSeason 1Ep. 6

Baseless: Part I

This is the truth about the Base, an international terrorist group plotting for a race war. With 83 hours of exclusive secret audio recordings, Part I goes inside their “vetting room.” We expose their methods of recruiting deliberately from the U.S. military, the ways they encourage terroristic behavior, and their expressions of paranoia. It’s also about one reporter who infiltrated this network strategizing for the collapse of America.

Oct 15, 202042 minSeason 1Ep. 5

Not Okay: Part II

In part two, we return to Randolph, Vermont, as activists nationwide protest the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Sean Reed, Rayshard Brooks, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others by police and vigilantes. As tensions escalate, what will happen when a battle erupts to remove the Galloping Ghost, the school’s mascot resembling a KKK knight on a horse? Can educators protect students of color from ongoing racist threats?

Sep 21, 202041 minSeason 1Ep. 4

Not Okay: Part I

Not Okay takes us inside Randolph Union High School in Vermont, where 95% of students are white. The high school is at the center of two linked battles that are tearing their community apart: whether to remove a mascot some say bears a disturbing resemblance to a hooded Klu Klux Klansman charging on a horse and whether to fly the Black Lives Matter flag.

Sep 14, 202041 minSeason 1Ep. 3

Getting Out: Part II

Part two takes Samantha’s story from the privacy of chatrooms to the corridors of power. What was the cost of her neo-Nazi separatist views? How did she contribute to the spread of deadly lies? And why did she decide to get out?

Aug 17, 202037 minSeason 1Ep. 2

Getting Out: Part I

Getting Out begins with the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. But this isn’t about that white supremacist rally — it’s about a woman named Samantha, who worked behind the scenes to support this violent alt-right march. This chapter leads us through the story of how Samantha became the women’s coordinator of Identity Evropa, a white nationalist group, and why she decided she had to get out.

Aug 10, 202039 minSeason 1Ep. 1

Introducing Sounds Like Hate

Join award-winning journalists, producers and filmmakers Geraldine Moriba and Jamila Paksima — who are behind the new SPLC podcast,  Sounds Like Hate  — as they tell the stories of people grappling with the rise of hate across country.

Aug 04, 202059 sec