Sammy Rangel’s childhood was unspeakable. He was ignored, abused and raped. He was prevented from getting food or sleep often, made to kneel beside his mother’s bed. His mother did “everything she could to degrade” him, Sammy told The Forgiveness Project. He nearly killed his mother the day he decided to run away. He embraced violence, drugs and street gangs in Chicago before he reached his teen years and was locked up before he was a legal adult. It was in prison where hate and power became entwined, where one became the path to the other. His hate became more focused and purposeful, it gave his life a sense of meaning that it hadn’t otherwise had, he told The Forgiveness Project. He felt as if  he was on the outskirts of society then, he says, ready for the world to reject him and beating the world to the punch. A psychologist within the prison system described him in his notes as “incorrigible,” essentially giving up on Sammy. What changed him was an encounter with a single individual who wasn’t afraid of Sammy, who was never shocked by what he said, who didn’t care about what he’d done. He met someone who saw through to his humanity and heard him. “Listening is a form of validation that we all need,” Sammy told us, “and I grew up feeling never listened to.” Today, Sammy gives that kind of validation to others. In 2010, he helped found Life After Hate, with former skinhead Arno Michaelis and others. He now leads the organization, which supports people distancing themselves from hateful ideologies and far-right hate groups. The group helps people process shame and trauma. Sammy has also worked with former convicts in Racine and The Forgiveness Project, a restorative justice group that uses the stories of both victims and perpetrators to facilitate understanding. He also founded Formers Anonymous, a network of people seeking redemption and recovery from self-destructive lifestyles. Sammy, who has a master’s degree in social work, suggests that the current political climate has an outsized impact on those struggling with extremism. “What I know today, is no one is broken beyond repair,” he says.