She Sought Out the People Who Threatened Her

Deeyah Khan was editing a film when the BBC called. The threats were serious enough the police were already on their way. “Stay where you are,” they told her. “If there are windows in the room, move to a different one. Wait for us.” She had given an interview saying Britain would never be all white again. White supremacist sites in the United States picked it up and ran with it. One of those sites had been frequented by Dylann Roof, the man who murdered nine Black parishioners in Charleston in 2015. Now their followers were sending death threats by the hundreds, telling her to be afraid, telling her she should not exist.

The police gave her a personal alarm and a security briefing. That night, sitting alone, she made an unusual decision. She would not hide. She would seek out the people threatening her, sit with them face to face, and try to understand who they were. I had the privilege of speaking with Deeyah recently on Cults, Culture & Coercion. She is a BAFTA and two-time Emmy winning documentary filmmaker. Over the past fifteen years, she has done what almost no one in journalism has been willing to do. She has interviewed convicted anti-abortion terrorists from the Army of God, the leader of America's oldest and largest neo-Nazi organization, and pro-Trump militia members plotting violence against refugees. She has done it warmly, with genuine curiosity, while also holding strong positions of her own about human rights, women's rights, and the basic dignity of every person. She is an inspiration and she has, but being respectful snd curious and asking questions without attacking, has been able to help deradicalize a major figure in the hate cult. Please read this blog on Substack and listen to this amazing interview.

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