I believe that those of us, who are better fit (better raised, better educated, have the resources, or the finances), have the responsibility to re-direct those, who don’t know any better. Maybe they will learn their lesson, maybe not, but we cannot turn our back worrying about potential ramifications, because we do not fully understand what these people have been through and what motivated them to do what they did. We also cannot know what’s inside their hearts and deny the possibility that they made a mistake in the past and have changed since. This post reminded me of District 9. Not so much because of the apparent issues it deals with (in the most unconventional way, I must add) such as: apartheid, xenophobia, racism, blah, blah, the obvious stuff, but the philosophical meaning that I felt, underlined the whole movie: there is a very ugly side to the human nature and a very benevolent one. One, however, cannot fully understand either, until he puts himself in that person’s shoes.

Tim, I did think about the potential moral ramifications of educating these guys. For example, one said that he wanted nothing to do with computers when I brought him into the wired classroom, and I stopped myself short of saying what I usually do when students demonstrate tech-trepidation: “if you want to get a good-paying job, you’re going to have to learn how to use computers at least at a basic level.” But I didn’t say that because I imagined him getting connected to hate groups via the Internet.

Moreover, do you feel just a teensy bit like you betrayed your own convictions in being so liberal as to accept these guys as “regular people”? I mean, I think and hope that I would have done the same thing in your shoes — looked them in the eye, dealt with the task at hand, and done my job — but I’d also be twisting and tying myself in knots over the moral ramifications. They do deserve to have a shot at a better life.

Having gotten out of the joint they should not have the doors to a college education automatically slammed on them. However, what their tats represent is some of the most vile, contemptible thought and action that human beings can and have mustered. Shouldn’t people who display that kind of hatred on their bodies be called to account for it?

It’s not your job, of course, to do so, and you would most likely have been way out of line if you had said anything to them. At the same time, isn’t it everyone’s role to work against such hatred? I hope that the education you are helping to provide them is a source for real change in their lives, and cuts the hold that white supremacist ideology has had on them.

Thank you for sharing this story. I look forward to more developments.