,

This is a big day for the Southern Poverty Law Center. We’ve just launched our new podcast, Sounds Like Hate – and we want you to be among the first to hear it.

Listen and subscribe here: sounds-like-hate.captivate.fm/listen – or find us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

You can also stream the episode at the podcast’s website: soundslikehate.org.

Sounds Like Hate is an audio documentary series that focuses on the stories of people and communities grappling with hate and searching for solutions. Each two-part episode, divided into 40-minute installments, 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.

These are gravely serious issues, but Sounds Like Hate aims to inform and empower listeners, not frighten them. Unlike many other podcasts, Sounds Like Hate is not a series of abstract discussions. Instead, we take an immersive approach that places you at the center of real human stories. You will meet people who have been personally touched by hate, hearing their voices and the sounds of their world. You will learn about the power of people to change – or to succumb to their worst instincts. And you will hear about the ways that people across the country are becoming change agents in their own communities.

“Getting Out” – Sounds Like Hate’s first episode – tells the story of Samantha, a young woman who became radicalized and immersed in the hateful world of white nationalism. How did someone who once campaigned for Barack Obama end up serving as a behind-the-scenes organizer for the infamous August 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia? Later, what prompted her to leave the movement behind – and how did she manage to escape? Finally, how has the same extremist ideology that once consumed Samantha worked its way into some of the highest levels of the Trump administration?

Part one of “Getting Out” is available now; part two will follow on Monday, Aug. 17. More new stories will be released in the months ahead. You can listen and subscribe to the series with your podcast app of choice.

Future episodes of Sounds Like Hate will cover a diverse range of topics, including a heated battle to remove a racist mascot and recognize Black Lives Matter at a Vermont high school and an SPLC-exclusive investigation into the white-power hate group The Base. The best way to ensure you don’t miss a single episode is to subscribe to Sounds Like Hate on your preferred podcast platform, such as Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Our excitement about the Sounds Like Hate podcast has been growing for months, and we’re thrilled that the day has finally arrived to begin sharing it with the world. We hope you will find these episodes to be just as absorbing, illuminating, challenging and thought provoking as we do. Please tell us what you think by writing a review or leaving a star rating on your podcast app.

And if you like what you hear, please tell your friends and networks! We are making this podcast in part to spur a larger conversation about hate and how to fight it, and we want as many voices as possible to join. Your support and enthusiasm can make all the difference.

With sincere thanks,
Seth Levi
SPLC Chief Program Strategy Officer

P.S. Did you know that we are hosting an online panel discussion about Sounds Like Hate on Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. Central time? Click here to learn more or to RSVP.