children

This tag is associated with 45 posts

Explaining Hate

By Tamara Westfall ⋅ June 27, 2011 ⋅ 2 comments

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.” [...]

Life After Hate: Year One

By Arno Michaels ⋅ January 18, 2011 ⋅ 4 comments

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 [...]

Dance Like There’s No Tomorrow

By Berni Xiong ⋅ January 5, 2011 ⋅ One comment

As we reflect on our goals and ambitions for 2011, we are reminded of the setbacks we’ve had in 2010. However, we must be mindful of our accomplishments as well. Setbacks are temporary defeats that challenge us to rise above the situation and improve ourselves every step of the way until we reach the success [...]

The Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

By Terry Hoffman-Vincevineus ⋅ January 3, 2011 ⋅ 3 comments

Within the past few weeks, our country has seen the repeal of “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” (DADT). The policy was introduced as a compromise measure by former president Clinton who campaigned on the promise to allow all citizens to serve in the military regardless of sexual orientation. Despite good intentions, DADT effectively became a blatant [...]

‘Tis the Season for Interdependence

By Arno Michaels ⋅ December 19, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

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 [...]

Working a Different Side of the Streets

By LAH ⋅ December 13, 2010 ⋅ One comment

At night, Rangel hits the streets on his own, sometimes to find a particular child, but just as often to cruise rougher parts of town, checking on kids he knows and making himself available to anyone needing help. During the day, he steps into classrooms to deliver life lessons.

Chin to the Bar

By Zek J Evets ⋅ December 6, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Compassion is a muscle. You have to exercise it, or lose it altogether. For some people, leaving old furniture on the corner is the extent of their compassion. About the equivalent of lifting a finger to push a button on the remote-control to the plasma-screen TV they just put in the place of those curbside [...]

Thankful for Norway via Puerto Rico

By Arno Michaels ⋅ November 30, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments

“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 [...]

The ReEducation of Thanksgiving

By Tamara Westfall ⋅ November 25, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments

Here’s a Thanksgiving recipe for you that’s just in time and sure to pack a punch: Get a warm pumpkin pie and some delicious turkey and gravy. Sprinkle in some laughter from kindred spirits and glaze it over with a slathering of Manifest Destiny. (Try the easy to come by flavor: “indoctrinated denial” of racial, [...]

Kindness Not Weakness

By Arno Michaels ⋅ October 18, 2010 ⋅ 4 comments

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.

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.