After seeing Arno Michaelis in a CNN interview, and the response from LifeAfterHate.Org to the senseless, hate-filled attack on the Sikh Temple in Wisconsin, I was moved to find out a little more about both this co-founder, and the organization.
Please take a few minutes and watch the video, and learn more about these men (and women) trying to be good in these times… We’ll have more later, but please support and share the important information that there are ways out of Hate.
In this video, Michaelis admits that he once shared the same ideology and violence as the shooter who attacked the Sikh temple in Wisconsin, and explains how he and his fellow white supremacists arrived at their hateful ideology, and how they maintained it. He says, “I was attached to an ideology… that was cast to portray me and my comrades as the good guys, even though we were the ones going out and attacking people because of the color of their skin, or because of their sexuality. We were so twisted because we limited ourselves strictly to information sources that agreed with this ideology…”
Now Michaelis is doing something different with the Life after Hate program. Please visit their site, and watch the video above. Arno Michaelis’ message of personal responsibility will resonate with almost all of us.
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From the LifeAfterHate.Org Website:
Founded by reformed white power skinheads, and the dear friends who helped inspire their turnaround, the mission of Life After Hate is to demonstrate and reinforce the primal, basic goodness of humanity. The first issue of LAH, released on the 2010 birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., features reflective essays by those who have returned from the depths of the white racist movement to share their stories with the world in hope of helping others to avoid making the same tragic and misguided mistakes. Leading this effort are co-founders and former racist skinheads, Christian Picciolini, who recently finished his memoir Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead, and Arno Michaels, author of My Life After Hate. Christian was lead vocalist for the hate-rock bands Final Solution and White American Youth, while Arno was the singer in One Way and Centurion. Both were pioneers in the early racist skinhead movement in America.
Racist skinheads by no means hold a monopoly on hate and violence. Life After Hate is a venue where anyone concerned with racial and human rights issues can speak their mind and contribute to the overall theme of peace, equality, and inclusion.
About Jack Varnell
There’s a British comedian named Mark Steel who has done several radio series: on political and historical figures like Hannibal, Mary Shelley, Billie Holiday, Beethoven, Muhammad Ali, and several others. They are funny, and very interesting as well.
He did another series called The Mark Steel Solution. Each show was an exploration of how to make things better. Since he’s British it’s pretty UK-centered, but tell me if you see a pattern here:
His solution for religion: everyone changes their religion once a week
His solution for the royal family: the royal family is chosen by a weekly lottery
His solution for sexuality: everyone should be gay for two years
Nearly all of his solutions to make the world a better place involve changing your own viewpoint to see things from someone else’s perspective. These people have opened their narrative worldview to encompass experiences that used to be anathema for them, and have become better for it. They, and their work here should be celebrated.
Thanks Adam, and for the pointer to Mark Steel…Next week I may need to be UK centered too. LOL As I dig deeper into the fine folks at this organization the more impressed and encouraged I become.
I’m half Asian and grew up with a small group of Asians in a white neighborhood in the most racially segregated city in the U.S. I don’t really remember what sparked it probably because it wasn’t important, but there was an instance of racial animosity hurled at one of my friends from a group of white people in our neighborhood. He was relating it to use. One of the guys in the group with us was white.
It went like this. White people are so and so. Yeah, white people are so and so. Several complaints were made and then we paused and noticed our friend and so we said, but not you or another friend or another friend. We kept naming white people who were good people and neighbors. Then we stopped and there was a long pause and we talked about something else entirely different. My friend never called us on it and I think we all learned that you can’t paint an entire racial group from the actions of a few.
Below lies a big part of the problem and it can be seen in perfectly benign groups as well. Diversity of ideas is not a noble goal, it is a safety mechanism.
“We were so twisted because we limited ourselves strictly to information sources that agreed with this ideology…”