From white nationalism to LGBTQ+ advocacy, COPH alum shares his transformation from hate to love

June 25, 2021 | Academic & Student Affairs, COPH Home Page Feed, Featured News, Monday Letter, Our Alumni, Undergraduate Programs

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June is Pride Month

Going down the path of hate

USF College of Public Health (COPH) alumnus Scott Ernest’s involvement with the white nationalist movement was “one of trying to do the right thing the wrong way, and then following that path into darkness.”

That dark path opened to him in 2004 when he said he came across a posting online showing two young white nationalist children being attacked. Ernest contacted the authorities who then recommended he contact their parents.

“I did that and ended up becoming a friend of the family. That family was well-connected in the white nationalist movement, and their influence, along with joining sites like Stormfront [a neo-Nazi online forum] led me down that dark path,” he said.

From there Ernest went on to become a recruiter for a hate group in Montana and was a member of a few other white nationalist organizations, including some connected to the insurrection at the White House.

*USF College of Public Health alumnus Scott Ernest. (Photo courtesy of Ernest)*

He said in an interview with PBS that being involved with the movement became an “addiction” for him.

“I was a specialist in normalizing white nationalism. “

“I was a specialist in normalizing white nationalism. I tended to be moderate in my speech…no slurs or outright hate. I was successful as a recruiter because I was great at marketing and gaslighting those that opposed us. I could make people think, ‘He’s not so bad,’ while also helping others push some of the most dangerous positions and ideas. Politically, I seemed no worse than the average conservative, while associating with the worst of the worst,” he said. “I’d argue, however, that my ability to normalize hate, which helps lead to things like Unite the Right in Charlottesville and the Jan.6^t Insurrection, made me even worse than what I just called the worst of the worst.”

Born in Flint, Mich., Ernest said his family did a lot of “roaming” during his early childhood years, living in various cities in Michigan, Tennessee, California and Ohio. He moved to Tampa, Fla., with his family during his last year of high school, after his father left the U.S. Air Force.

“As an adult, I pretty much kept wandering; Tampa, Orlando, Lakeland, Winter Haven, and Cocoa in Florida, New Orleans, and eventually I joined a white nationalist hate group in the Flathead Valley in Montana,” he said.

He lived in Montana for five years, actively recruiting for the Kalispell Pioneer Little Europe, a white nationalist group tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center. But in 2011, Ernest said he started to feel the hate taking a toll on him.

A new point of view

His turning point started when he discovered that Anders Breivik, a member of the movement, terrorized and murdered children in Norway. Stormfront told Ernest to hide posts in support of the person accused.

“I was a Stormfront [moderator] at the time, and staff was told to delete posts in support of him. They wanted to hide the fact that he was a member and hide the ongoing support for his murders,” Ernest said.

Ernest said this experience pushed him toward a new path of disengagement.

“I’m a gun owner, and self-defense is one thing, but I could not abide murder.”

“That was the first time I ever wondered what I was really involved in. I took a hardline no-violence stance. I’m a gun owner, and self-defense is one thing, but I could not abide murder,” he said. “Over the next few years, there was mass murder after mass shooting. Every single time, supporters would come out of the woodwork to support it. I would get threatened for not supporting them.”

He said his transformation happened slowly at first.

“I didn’t change right away. But I started interacting with people I had once opposed. I reached out to Christian Picciolini of Free Radicals Project, who at the time was with Life After Hate. I also reached out to local anti-hate groups like Love Lives Here in the Flathead and the Montana Human Rights Network.”

In 2015, he had enough.

“I stopped recruiting and vetting. The next thing I know a man came to be part of the Kalispell. Not long after he showed up, he went on Twitter to threaten to shoot children in a local playground. That was my last straw. I informed every white nationalist I knew, including those I lived with, that I was leaving the movement. However, I still had to live with them,” he said.

Finding his way out

Ernest needed an excuse to leave and in 2016 he said he told the group he was leaving to transfer to Montana State University to study nutrition and dietetics.

“I realized I wanted to do more for more people. So, I changed over to public health. I liked Montana State University, but [their program] was not exactly what I wanted. I knew that USF had one of the best colleges of public health around, so it was a no-brainer. It also helps that my permanent domicile is in the Tampa area, in Lakeland,” he said as to what brought him to pursue his degree from USF.

Ernest changed course and focused on infection control while earning his BSPH degree.

“When you get down to it extremism, such as white nationalism, is a mixture of cult + infection + addiction. It spreads just like infections do.”

“I am fascinated by microbes, but also because it helps my anti-extremism work. When you get down to it extremism, such as white nationalism, is a mixture of cult + infection + addiction. It spreads just like infections do,” he said. “I was also an anti-vaxxer, and there are links between being anti-vax and a right-wing extremist, so it helps there as well.”

He graduated in Dec. 2019.

“What I had been missing in my life was community. I wanted to do for society. I do one-on-one work with my volunteer work, so I wanted to make my career about helping the public as a whole,” Ernest said. “I think one of the best things about it for me is that I can help people not become like me. I’m an obese former far-right extremist who smoked for 25 years. All of those are public health issues.”

Standing up for the LGBTQ+ community

During his time in the white nationalist movement, Ernest said that he was closeted.

“I came out as polyamorous on Stormfront just before I got myself banned from the site,” he said. “Needless to say, they were not happy. But aside from that, in October 2016 after leaving the PLE, I came out as polysexual. I joined the Queer Straight Alliance at MSU and everyone was so welcoming. I took the Safe Zone course so that I could learn the things I didn’t know due to my own ignorance.”

“My pronouns are he/they.”

When he transferred to USF, Ernest said he become more and more involved with connecting to all types of people he has once dismissed. He came out as nonbinary the year he graduated.

“I’m still masculine in look and do not identify as trans, but I really don’t consider myself a man. My pronouns are he/they,” he said.

A year ago he co-founded an exit organized called Hands of Eir, a group that focuses on getting LGBTG+ extremists out of white nationalist movements.

*Screen shot of the Hands of EIR website (courtesy of Ernest).*

“My co-founder, like me, was a white nationalist. And one thing we realized when we got into the anti-extremism field was that there were few places where LGBTQ+ former extremists could be comfortable. No place that totally understood what it was like to be LGBTQ+ and extremist.”

*Ernest and co-founder Victoria Drennen’s bio pages on Hands of EIR. (Photo courtesy of Ernest)*

Hate is a public health issue

“Ideas spread in darkness. The vector leaves the reservoir with the ideas and goes to infect others,” he said as to why he wants others to know about his story.

Ernest said he wants others to know there is a path to escape extremism.

“It is possible for extremists to change.”

“It is OK to get out. It is OK to learn. It is OK to improve yourself. It is OK to change. It is possible for extremists to change. Right now, extremists face a lot of anger. Anger they earned. But sometimes when people are angry with you, it may make it harder for you to reach out for help,” he said.

He hopes that his story will stop people from getting involved with extremist movements in the first place.

“I got involved because it was never talked about when I was growing up among white people, so I was susceptible to influence,” he said.

Looking forward

Ernest is currently focusing his efforts on anti-extremism volunteer work and is currently working as an exit counselor, helping extremists to leave whatever movement they are in—QAnon, white nationalism, Incel, and more.

” In my volunteer work, I like helping others get out of the life of an extremist. “

He also is a consultant giving talks at universities, churches and for trainings to highlight his story and show how others can also get out.

“I love meeting and helping people. In my volunteer work, I like helping others get out of the life of an extremist. I like meeting and talking to journalists, students, professors and anti-extremism experts,” he said.

The Tampa Bay Times also profiled him after the Jan. 6^th insurrection.

Aside from his non-profit NGO Hands of Eir, he owns a small beard oil company called Montana Sasquatch.

Ernest’s future plans include obtaining his MPH and to find a paid position in public health with a focus on vaccines, public health education or infection control.

“I’m looking at eventually trying to get grants for Hands of Eir so that we can afford to do far more to help former extremists than we even do now,” he said.

*Ernest enjoying the snow in Montana. (Photo courtesy of Ernest)*

“My public health practice is educating about extremism, and my public health passion is helping others to improve themselves. The USF COPH rocks because it gave me the tools I needed to be somewhat good at this!” he said.

USF COPH Alumni Fast Five:
What did you dream of becoming when you were young?
A sasquatch… and I succeeded. I didn’t really have any dreams, I tended to go with the flow.

Where would we find you on the weekend?
Swimming in an alpine lake.

What is the last book you read?
“Breaking Hate,” by Christian Picciolini.

What superpower would you like to have?
Control fungi. Because they are awesome.

What’s your all-time favorite movie?
Clue.