Tom  Martinez
	Former Hate Group Member

In the aftermath of the September 11th, 2001 attacks, many have forgotten the threat of domestic terrorism that was once embodied in the fanatical images of Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, the Branch Davidian-ATF shootout or the volatile militia insurgence that marked the mid 1990s. But Tom Martinez, a former member of what is arguably one of America’s most violent anti-government movements, reminds us that this threat still lurks in the countrysides and cityscapes of our everyday lives.

Thomas Martinez grew up in the section of Philadelphia called Kensington that was an all white area up until the 1990s—a far cry from the middle-class homogenous atmosphere that gave birth to one of the most violent leaders of the white supremacist movement, Bob Mathews. But the paths that led to their meeting, and eventual place in history, had been paved long before they arrived on the scene.

By the time he was 21, Martinez was disillusioned and became seduced by the handsome eloquence of David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. Attracted to the rhetoric of hate that denounced school bussing and Affirmative Action, Martinez, then an unemployed high school dropout and young father, found solace and security in the affirmation of his sensed victimization by his childhood enemies. He found a mission and purpose in the battle for white superiority and self-importance—he became an official Knight of the KKK.

By his late twenties, Martinez’s fervor for the Klan had begun to wane, and his faith in the quasi-religion of hate had reached a stage of doubt. But the need to belong guided his continued involvement in various hate groups like the National Alliance and eventually Bob Mathew’s own organization, The Order.

The Order had been the invention of the intellectual, young, and charismatic Mathews. His will drew men and women to his side as the organization committed crimes of counterfeiting, violent armed robbery, bombings, and cold-blooded murder. Despite the financial support he received from Matthews to support his growing family, he realized he had allowed himself to go to far, and the time for redemption was fading quickly. It was 1984, and Martinez, seeking to right his wrongs, became an FBI informant and ally in the battle against the White Supremacist, neo-Nazi, anti-government movement.

His autobiography, Brotherhood of Murder—hailed as an inside view of the subculture of hate—has been turned into a Showtime original picture starring William Baldwin, Peter Gallagher and Kelly Lynch. It is the true story of a man finally horrified into awareness by the destructive forces of hate. It is the riveting account of a man finding his conscience, and positive proof that people can—and do—change.