Department of History

This powerful and thought-provoking documentary examines the dramatic story of one-time white supermacist leader Gregory Withrow, and in so doing explores the underlying strains of violence and domination in American life and culture. At the height of his involvement in the movement in 1988. Withrow fell in love with a woman whose parents had fled Nazi Germany. His own subsequent flight from the militant White Aryan Resistance captured the attention of the national media when Withrow was found beaten and "crucified," his hands nailed to a board. Now, more than a decade later, Withrow is married to a Mexican-American woman and lives a low-key, semi-isolated rural existence. Unlike simplistic stories about "evil-racists-turned-model-citizens," Blink explores the complex middle ground where Withrow still battles his demons and questions the possibility of fundamental personal change. The painful irony of his predicament is that when he renounced the world of racial hatred he was left with the same enraged, alienated self that once propropelled him into the movement. A sterotyped enemy no longer provides an easy target for his gnawing anger. And the mythic warrior power he once enjoyed has been replaced by a silent, uneasy emptiness. The film adds a bold, complex edge to the growing body of material on hate crimes and racism. Blink is an extremely personal story about a man who crossed over the edge and is trying to come back. It breaks down caricatures and gives a human face to the most extreme racist fringe. The harshness of Withrow's experience and the brutality of his rage invite viewers into uncomfortable places.