Life After Hate

The former white supremacist said:

“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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Sikh Killings

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Another senseless shooting.
Another tragic loss of life.
Another violent hate-filled attack
in America.

An attack on the very essence,

the very definition,
of the United States
of America.

Sikhs, work for the well-being

of our nation,
Sikhs, part of the mosaic
of America.

An attack on a Sikh temple,

it is part of the trend
of violence and extremism
in America.

Too many guns,

Too many out-of-control people
We must have gun control
in America.

How many more will die in America for the sake of the profits of the gun industry?

 © 2012 Catherine Giordano

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Hate is Alive and Well

Racism is pushing up daisies?

Marcus Faella didn’t get the memo.

The self-proclaimed “protector

of the white race” was whipping

his troops into shape for Helter Skelter.

On Faella’s Osceola County’s

 “Aryan compound,” the white supremacist group,

American Front, was stockpiling

AK-47 assault rifles, was engaging

in para-militarty training, and was plotting



Order Here

to develop bio-chemical

weapons of mass destruction.

The reputed end game: killing

Jews, immigrants and minorities,  

during the “upcoming race war.”

Racism  is over?

Only it isn’t. 

And sadly, never really has been.

Racial-hatred like crab grass,

keeps coming back fouling

America’s neatly manicured

melting-pot curb appeal.

Obviously, hate mongers

are a breed apart.  Yet their toxic beliefs

can infect larger elements of society.

It’s naïve to believe we can conquer

racial hatred by denying its existence.

© 2012 Catherine Giordano

Members of the American Front, a hardcore skinhead hate group, were arrested on May 8^th due to the efforts of an infiltrator.  They were plotting to blow up Orlando City Hall among other things.

9/8/Update:  Mark Faella's trial starts this week. He could get life in prison.

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