lifeafterhate.org
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 [...]
Standing Tall While Sitting Down
Rosa sat near the middle of the bus, right behind the seats that were reserved for whites only. Soon enough, all of the seats on the bus were filled. When a white man boarded, the driver insisted that Rosa stand to make room for him. Rosa quietly refused to give up her seat and would not move.
Loss of the Middle Way
A fellow student made the analogy that “we are all like facets on a jewel, having different sides and perspectives.” I love this idea because we can be who we are but also accept our connectedness to the ‘sides’ of others—our interdependence. If our goal is to bring about a peaceful world we cannot polarize ourselves and wish that other perspectives don’t exist. We need to accept them as part of our existence.
The Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
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 [...]
Choose Joy to the World
I was raised a Christian and I have continued to practice and study and live my life as a Christian all sixty of my years. I am a Christian because I want to be and in reading Angie’s email, I realized, for the first time, that I am a Christian because I choose it daily. I marveled that she sees that in me. The choosing, I mean.
Can Christmas Coexist?
Happy Holidays to All: As I toured the Miller Brewing company in Milwaukee with in-laws, we enjoyed a light show synchronized with music. My 2 year-old niece pointed, laughed, and smiled, with a look of excitement accentuated by holiday lights reflected in her blue eyes. After the show, one of the tour guides proclaimed over [...]
Working a Different Side of the Streets
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
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 [...]
To My Girls
My Child: You have been my motivation…my inspiration in my failures and the joy in my struggles. Whenever I thought life was impossible and I couldn’t take another day; I had you to fuel me. I used to pray at night for a miracle and I was blessed with you; my purpose to be better. [...]
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 [...]
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
