milwaukee
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 [...]
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 [...]
‘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 [...]
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.
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. [...]
SpeakUP & SpeakOUT
It was supposed to be a small thing. Still, I was nervous. I’d never spoken in public before about my experience with domestic violence. I’d written about it very publicly, and had personal conversations with many women about it, but never a public declaration owning my precious and hard-won experience. But it was Open Mic [...]
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.
All-City People’s Parade and Pageant 2010
Throughout the summer of 2010, a diverse collection of beings—collected by Milwaukee Public Theatre, Milwaukee Mask & Puppet Theatre, and a host of community organizations—pooled their creative energy to coalesce an expression of concern for people and our planet, along with affirmation of the basic human goodness we can nurture to address those concerns. Months [...]
TJ Leyden: former racist skinhead now author and Peace activist—Part III
Not too long ago, I had the honor of engaging in a 2 ½-hour conversation with a man I consider a hero: TJ Leyden. TJ left the white power movement during the mid-nineties as I did, after spending many years recruiting kids to become violent racists. Since then, he has been a tireless advocate for [...]
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
