New Film Highlights the Path to White Supremacy

A new film explores white supremacy and the path taken to seek redemption and renewal.

In “Skin,” from husband-and-wife producers Guy Nattiv and Jamie Ray Newman, a difficult childhood drives Byron, played by actor Jamie Bell, into an American neo-Nazi gang. The film is based on the true story of Bryon Widner, who became known from the 2011 documentary, “Erasing Hate,” in which he removed his numerous facial tattoos. It follows his journey for redemption as he seeks to escape the confines of his white supremacist lifestyle. 

Guy Nattiv and Jamie Ray Newman​, producers, joined Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to talk about the path from racism to redemption. 

The producers were in Detroit last month to discuss race relations at the Jewish Community Center of metro Detroit along with Rev. Kenneth Flowers of Detroit’s Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church and Daryle Lamont Jenkins, whose Philadelphia-based group documents and publishes information about far-right hate groups. Newman discusses growing up in a segregated community in Farmington Hills.

“It becomes status quo when you don’t have these community discussions,” Newman says. 

Click on the player above to hear host Stephen Henderson interview the producers of “Skin,” showing in select theaters now.