While many people formerly involved with Light Upon Light have quietly backed away because of Jesse Morton’s erratic and threatening behavior, most have been unwilling to go on the record due to the very real threat of reprisals. However, we are now able to publish a short account relayed to us by Erik von Brunn, a former Light Upon Light insider.
Erik von Brunn is not a former white supremacist. However, he has direct connections with many white supremacist figures because his father was James von Brunn, a neo-Nazi who in 2009 committed a shooting attack on the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, killing security guard Stephen Johns. Von Brunn spoke out about his father in this article in The Guardian: “Holocaust museum shooter’s son: ‘The wrong man died that day’”. Because of his family history of abuse and trauma, von Brunn was highly motivated to involve himself in campaigns to prevent more tragedies like the one committed by his father, but he was also vulnerable because of that same history of trauma — and Jesse Morton manipulated and took advantage of him.
After the shooting, von Brunn had developed a close bond with the Holocaust Museum. Its representatives connected von Brunn with the FBI, who wanted him to do a presentation on white supremacist extremism. At this point, unsure of the next step, von Brunn reached out to former white supremacist and longterm exit counselor Christian Picciolini for advice. Picciolini spoke with Erik and also invited him to become an interview subject of “Breaking Hate,” a TV documentary series on counterextremism and exit counseling. Around this time, Jesse Morton and Juncal Fernández-Garayzábal (Morton’s partner and a Countering Violent Extremism researcher) also contacted von Brunn and recruited him to become a representative of the organization that would become Light Upon Light.
Von Brunn was at first enthusiastic about Light Upon Light’s mission. Early iterations of the Light Upon Light website feature him prominently. However, problems soon formed due to Jesse Morton’s intense professional jealousy of Christian Picciolini. Morton began pressuring von Brunn to “get dirt” on Picciolini, which von Brunn refused to do. Morton solicited an article for LUL about von Brunn’s participation in the “Breaking Hate” episode, for which he paid von Brunn. Morton then selectively edited the article to make it highly critical of Christian Picciolini and published it without von Brunn’s consent. The resulting damage to professional relationships was another source of stress on top of an already difficult situation.
When von Brunn began to voice doubts and criticism, Morton attacked him publicly on Twitter and claimed that von Brunn was in debt to them because Light Upon Light had provided him “free therapy”. Von Brunn had no idea he had even been receiving therapy; he thought he was simply having heartfelt conversations with supportive friends. This constant blurring of the personal and professional is another hallmark of Jesse Morton’s manipulation tactics.
As a result of his encounter with Light Upon Light, Erik von Brunn has withdrawn entirely from any public deradicalization work. He would like to become involved again at some point in the future, as he feels his contributions could be valuable. But while Jesse Morton holds any influence in the sphere, this is unlikely. Jesse Morton and Light Upon Light have wounded and alienated many others with this kind of behavior, so von Brunn’s case is not an isolated one.
We invite others to send in their accounts to lightuponlul@protonmail.com insofar as they feel safe enough to do so.
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