“Many of them join for the same reasons: trauma, social isolation, structures within the community not being in place, not having resources, and then looking for something that will make them whole,” said Shannon, who doesn’t share her last name for safety reasons. “People don’t wake up one day and decide they’re going to be a violent extremist”
Originally published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
By Natalie Eilbert | March 19, 2026
