Protester hugs Nazi at a rally,
​asks 'Why do you hate me?'

The man who hugged a Nazi outside Richard Spencer’s speech at the University of Florida on Thursday, October 19 said, “I could have hit him, I could have hurt him ... but something in me said, ‘You know what? He just needs love.’”
October 25, 2017
ImagenAaron Courtney hugs a man wearing swastikas all over his shirt at the University of Florida, where white supremacist Richard Spencer was scheduled to speak. (Photo by Politics for Dummies)


A man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with swastikas on Thursday was surrounded by a crowd of protesters who screamed, punched and spat on him before Aaron Courtney gave him a hug.
Courtney, a 31-year-old high school football coach in Gainesville, yelled, “Why don’t you like me, dog?” as he wrapped his arms around the Nazi in a video that quickly went viral on social media. The Nazi was later identified as Randy Furniss.

Speaking to the New York Daily News , Courtney said, “It’s a step in the right direction. One hug can really change the world. It’s really that simple.”

Courtney said he didn’t know who Richard Spencer was when he received a state of emergency notification on his phone on Monday. Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared the emergency ahead of Spencer’s appearance at the school just two months after the white supremacist helped plan a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Va., that broke out in deadly violence.

Surprised that the emergency declaration wasn’t warning of a kidnapping or an impending hurricane, Courtney set out to do some research on Spencer. 

“I found out about what kind of person he was and that encouraged me, as an African-American, to come out and protest. Because this is what we’re trying to avoid. It’s people like him who are increasing the distance ... between people,” he said.

Courtney, who spent nearly four hours protesting that day, was getting ready to leave when he saw Furniss causing a commotion among the other demonstrators. “I had the opportunity to talk to someone who hates my guts and I wanted to know why. During our conversation, I asked him, ‘Why do you hate me? What is it about me? Is it my skin color? My history? My dreadlocks?’” he told the Daily News.

But the man simply looked off into the distance and brushed off his questions as Courtney pleaded with him and grew increasingly upset.

Citing the teachings of his father, who is a bishop, Courtney told the Daily News, “Something in me said, ‘You know what? He just needs love. Maybe he never met an African-American like this.” And so he told the Nazi to give him a hug. And despite some initial resistance, Courtney said, “I reached over and the third time, he wrapped his arms around me, and I heard God whisper in my ear, ‘You changed his life.’”

The crowd around them immediately reacted and when Courtney pressed him again, asking “Why do you hate me?” Furniss finally answered, “I don’t know.”

“I believe that was his sincere answer. He really doesn’t know,” Courtney said.

After Furniss was ushered away by police, he took a photo with Courtney’s friend. The 31-year-old said, “I honestly feel that was a step in the right direction, for him to take a picture with a guy that he hated when he woke up this morning.”
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