A few years ago, my friend Peter Maer called me with a request.
Peter had a very successful career as a journalist for CBS Radio and he knows an important story when he hears it. He had gotten to know the guy he hired to do some work on his house in Northern Virginia. As they talked, he discovered that Kelvin Pierce was the son of William Pierce, who was, at one time, the most dangerous white supremacist in America.
Under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald, William wrote the book “The Turner Diaries” about a white supremacist overthrow of the government. It was the blueprint for both the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh and the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. (Especially chilling, the episode termed “the day of the rope” on which Jews, Blacks and government officials were hanged in public.)
Kelvin was shaken by the events in Charlottesville, Virginia in August 2017 and decided it was time to tell his story. Peter brought him to me hoping I could help him to do so. As it turns out, he did not need my meager assistance.
His book, “Sins of My Father,” recounts in unembellished terms the hateful trajectory of the man who became the successor to George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party. Kelvin offered his testimony to the Virginia Commission on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Among the things he said was this: “When you hate other people, you are, in essence, hating yourself…We can choose to hate the other or we can choose to love the other.”
He continues to speak and write about his terrifying childhood.
Perhaps you would consider it sufficient if he simply blew the lid off of the foundations of this racist hate network. Certainly, we are educated and shocked by the misconduct of all sorts of people practicing evil on their fellow human beings— abusers, hatemongers, predators and others.
The ones who bear witness certainly feel a catharsis in the telling and a vindication in the resulting support. The listeners and readers certainly feel more sensitized and educated as a result.
Perhaps you would be supportive of Kelvin Pierce embarking on his own national tour, using his father’s notoriety to amplify his repudiation of the repugnant philosophy William promoted. But that just doesn’t fit the man Kelvin has become.
He kept his head down for many years, raising two adopted daughters from the Republic of Georgia. He established a construction business (Commonwealth Home Design) that brought him into friendship with Peter, a Jew who represented just about everything his father hated.
Softspoken and naturally introverted, Kelvin has put considerable energy into overcoming his fear of being identified with his father’s legacy. Charlottesville compelled him to embrace the good man he had become and carry a message aimed at mitigating the damage his father caused.
It seems especially appropriate that Kelvin Pierce is a builder by trade. Each Saturday night, when Jews conclude Shabbat and begin the work week ahead, we recite a verse from Psalm 90: “May the favor of Adonai, our God be upon us; may the work of our hands be established for us; may the work of our hands be established.” Kelvin is not Jewish, but he epitomizes this verse, and not only in his commercial life.
As I noted, he is the father of two daughters who were adopted from Georgia. He and his wife consider them the great blessings of their lives and so have established a foundation to assist the homes of orphaned and abandoned children in Georgia. The story of his work there— as effective as it has been modestly pursued— is the subject of a brief documentary from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty called “Healing Hate.”
It is impossible for one individual, however motivated, to undo the suffering and misery sown by another during a lifetime. For the child of such a perpetrator, who has made the difficult choice to continue the family name, there is a particular frustration in witnessing the poisonous fruit of the family tree consumed to such ugly effect.
But it is possible to live a redemptive life in which love, compassion and reconciliation flourish at home, throughout the land, and even across the sea. If you are motivated by hate, whether of others or yourself, redemption is that much more difficult. But when you discover the transformative power of love, making that choice can redeem entire worlds.
A Conservative rabbi, he is currently serving on Good Faith Media’s strategic advisory board. This article only represents Moline’s personal views and not those of any organizations with which he is affiliated.
