Arno Michaels
Explaining Hate
Bryon and Julie Widner – “Explaining Hate” Interview by – Tamara Westfall June 26th, 2011 “I [then] realized that I had more in common with my “Enemy” than I did with those I called brother for years.” [...]
Back to Basics
It’s time again for another healthy serving of Basic Human Goodness, and that’s just what we’re bringing you in Issue 14 this month! “What exactly is this Basic Human Goodness?” you say? Let me break it down for you. Basic Human Goodness is the innate ability to give and receive compassion. The good news is [...]
Black History Month; Thoughts About Where We’ve Been & Where We’re Going
Black History Month. Officially pegged as Black History Week in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson to get Americans to spend some time acknowledging the history of our country’s shortcomings with racial equality, it took another 50 years to be expanded into Negro History Month (later changed to Black History Month). Something about the title [...]
Life After Hate: Year One
A few months ago, my mom forwarded a Powerpoint presentation made up of slide after slide of drawings and paintings. Landscapes, architecture, dogs, people… it wasn’t the most stunning artwork I’d ever seen (my mom is the most amazing artist ever), but there was an undeniable humanity coursing through it. You could feel the artist’s [...]
‘Tis the Season for Interdependence
As readers of My Life After Hate will know, my friend Chuck was murdered after a streetfight in 1990. To this day, that murder remains unsolved. At the time we used the needless tragedy to drum-up more hate and violence, claiming that the white race needed to wake up and defend itself or our children [...]
Thankful for Norway via Puerto Rico
“You’re gonna want to start getting in the right lane…” “Don’t worry about it dood; I’m Norwegian.” That means I always know where I’m going. “The Viking Sense” is what my daughter and I call it when we’re able to find our way around unfamiliar terrain. Sammy and I were on the way back from [...]
Giving Thanks
It’s typical to be thankful in November. It’s a tradition that dates back to the days that embody the essence of Basic Human Goodness- the days when Native Americans were able to Think Past Fear to not only allow Europeans to cohabit the land they loved, but to share its secrets and bounties with them. [...]
Kindness Not Weakness
Whenever “us” is defined by “them”, the stage is set for rationing out measured compassion instead of letting it flow freely. Denying the interdependent nature of all life on Earth begins a process of exclusion that can quickly lead to atrocity. Atrocities like children engaging in the ongoing torture of another child until they see suicide as the only alternative.
Walking the Walk
Racism cannot be overcome without understanding it’s history and everyday impact on our lives. If that history is not actively and universally condemned—it will continue to be repeated, and the negative impact on today will be magnified. We must all universally condemn racism ourselves before we can ask others to.
TJ Leyden: former racist skinhead now author and Peace activist—Part II
TJ: The old Aryan lie, “The Zionist Occupational Government put me in prison!” Well maybe it’s the fact that you went out there and beat that 90 year old homeless man.
Sammy Rangel “FOURBEARS: Myths of Forgiveness”
FourBears: The Myth of Forgiveness: isn't a simple memoir; it is a graphically illustrated guide from tortured child, to remorseless beast, to healing and change. This book is about helping others find their way out of their history and into the here and now. Proof that what once held you down can now hold you up. After the book reflects on a horrific upbringing it looks to offer key and ground breaking insights of the inner workings of the mind of a victim and later a perpetrator of hate and violence. Service providers working in treatment centers and institutional settings would greatly benefit from this work. Anyone facing issues with forgiveness and change might find a process toward healing and recovery.
Recommended Reading
Frank Meeink—Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead
TJ Leyden—Skinhead Confessions
Arno Michaels—My Life After HateMusic
Wizard Fingaz & Soul Sathe embarked on a collaborative project known as Tribal Sorcery · deep conscious hip-hop
