MESA, AZ — For almost three decades, Matt Browning has made it his mission to learn about hate — specifically white supremacy.
"A skinhead tried to kill me. He, you know, fought over the gun. The whole movie-clip fight and... he was a skinhead. He wanted to kill me. After that, I thought, you know what, if someone wants to kill me as a police officer then I should really understand who these people are," said Browning.
So, the former Mesa police officer went undercover.
"To get in, I met with three 'white power' guys. They were members of the National Alliance and we met at a Denny's in Tempe. And from that conversation, in my backstory... created an image and a persona of who I am, and is what they wanted," said Browning.
He found himself quickly rising up the ranks within those groups.
"I was asked to be the president of the East Valley Chapter and my boss at the time said, 'I don't think so. We're not having a cop be the president of a hate group.' And so, I didn't move up the ranks. I just stayed there and gathered intel. I didn't need to become you know, a president or vice president. I just needed to do my thing," said Browning.
What Browning learned was hate and hate groups are everywhere — sometimes at your dinner table.
"I'm going to dinner. We're at my mom's house and my little sister brought her boyfriend and he has 'ADA' tattooed right here on his arm. And that was crazy and like, how was this happening at Sunday dinner? And had I not had a husband that was working that kind of thing I wouldn't have known what that meant. She was dating a skinhead," said Tawni Browning, Matt's wife, who ended up enveloped in that life as well, through her husband's work.
"Do you end dinner quickly or did you continue breaking bread?" asked Javier Soto.
"We kept breaking bread because... you know, at that point I was like... 'We don't know who this kid is.' I was still naive. I remember putting my hand on his knee like this, like, 'OK, relax.' You know, it's good," said Tawni.
All of these stories are documented in the couple's new book 'The Hate Next Door' which includes sections with instructions on what people can look out for to spot those affiliated with hate groups.
"There's a line in there, it says that these hate groups have infiltrated every part of American society. You specifically say law enforcement. Is that true?" asked Soto.
"During my time undercover, I stopped one specific skinhead from being hired by the Mesa Police Department. There are people who associate, affiliate with these organizations outside of their work. But there's also lawyers, and there's also doctors and there's also TV personalities, and there's all kinds of people there. There's elected sheriffs that have been in Arizona who are part of the constitutionalist party," said Browning.
The Brownings now run the Supremacist Intelligence Network, a global law enforcement organization that tracks hate groups across the globe.
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"We don't live in fear," said Tawni. "That's what everyone that's been reading the book or talk to us about it. They're like, 'How did you live this way?' and even my children were like, 'Mom I had no idea this was happening.' But I refuse to live in fear."
They hope their work might open some eyes and possibly lead to less hate in the world.
"Hate, bigotry, racism, any word you want to put on it, has been injected into every part of our society, and that's why we wrote the book is we want people to know that this has to stop," said Browning.
"The Hate Next Door: Undercover within the New Face of White Supremacy" is available to read and purchase now.
To learn more about the Brownings' work, click here.
