How a white supremacist gang leader shed his racist beliefs

[Lithos]

Thought this interesting. A very brave man who has found a reason to look inside himself to live as opposed to hate.

The tattoos that covered a man's face show the hate that was once in his heart.
Bryon Widner was one of America's most violent and well known white supremacists, and his heavily-tattooed face displayed it proudly.
But after shunning his racist beliefs, he was still unable to get work because of his facial scarring, and went through a long and complicated journey to have the tattoos removed, in the hope of starting his life anew.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2055437/Bryon-Widner-tattoos-Criminal-tuns-time-16-months-laser-surgery.html

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. wow

with a rec

[Nye Bevan]

2. He should have used *temporary* tattoos. Easily removable with rubbing alcohol (nt)

[saras]

14. Hey, I'm happy he used temporary beliefs.

[dionysus]

3. wow, good article.

[pnwest]

4. Really good article, thx for posting. Wish i had seen the MSNBC show. nt

[Dystopian]

5. KandR

Thank you for posting this beautiful story of change and love...
I'm thankful that I did a search for his name as I was just about to post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/reformed-skinhead-removes_n_1067431.html?ref=impact&icid=maing-grid7%7Caim%7Cdl4%7Csec1_lnk2%7C108938

This proves that people can change...
I was brought to tears....

All it takes is one...and another will follow.


peace~

[Shagbark Hickory]

6. After all that and I can still see them plain as day.

:silly:

[roguevalley]

7. he's a hero for changing so much.

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. "Hero" is a bit generous.

[roguevalley]

12. not unless you consider how far down he has come up from

[Posteritatis]

8. Pretty much everyone involved in that story rocks. (nt)

[-..__...]

9. Racist aspects of the story aside...

there are probably any number of hipsters and modern primitive types whom should have thought twice before getting something as asinine as facial or neck or tattoos if they ever expect to be taken seriously in life and have a chance at a meaningful job.

[Occulus]

18. Yet you, in your post, perpetuate the very attitude that

keeps them from doing exactly that.

Which, of course, only reinforces my belief that the people who go about prattling that "life isn't fair" and "society will judge you badly for that" are, in fact, the very selfsame people who go about making life for others unfair and being negatively judgmental toward "the other".

[OneGrassRoot]

11. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm always searching for these stories...

:yourock:

K&R

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. What did they use, laser removal?

Yes I am too lazy to read the article but familiar with the process. (Oh and for the record it is not painless either)

[Lithos]

15. yes, some sort of laser

Which did something to burn the ink. They made a major point of saying it was far more painful to remove than to add. Part of the reason for the 25 sessions was to give him time to heal from the burns. They also ultimately had to give him general sedation/anesthesia because it was so painful for him to experience.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Yes, it is extremely painful

My hope is he rebuilds his life

[me b zola]

16. "I forgive you"

:thumbsup:

[AverageJoe90]

19. This guy may have been a jerk & brainwashed Establishment sheep back then.........

....but now, none of that really matters. He's made an honest attempt to leave that ugly-ass movement behind. Give him credit for it, IMHO. :)