“A
man who I used to be
walked
into a Sikh temple,
murdered
six people,
because
they had brown skin,
because
they wore turbans on their head.”
The
man felt
the
weight of responsibility.
He
had not pulled the trigger,
but
he had helped to create
an
environment of hate.
The
man founded
one
of the largest white power groups
in
the country,
but
the man left the movement
to
work for the group, Life After Hate.
The
man has
Swastikas
tattooed on his arm
now
covered up with other ink,
but
they can not be erased.
The
former white supremacist said:
“Hate
was something I was good at.
I
hadn’t been good at anything before.
I
was good at fighting;
I
was good at hating.
I
was consumed by hate…
and by fear.
It
was a terrible way to live.”
The
man changed his ways—
dedicating
himself to opposing
the
hatred
he
once embraced.
The man is Arno Michaelis who had been
the lead singer of the white power band, Centurion. He tours with Pardeep Kaleka, the son of one
of the men murdered during the killing at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin last August. Together they hope to teach
people to turn away from hate.
© 2012 Catherine Giordano
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