At the time,Michaels was head of the white power punk/metal band Centurion, which sold morethan 20,000 CDs of what Michaels calls “violent, hateful stuff, me bellowingabout killing Jews and blacks.” He said his band still has a following inEurope.
Back then,Michaels was also one of the leaders of Milwaukee’s white power scene andinspired scores of easily manipulated, angry kids and adults to believe inwhite supremacy.
Michaels andhis crew beat up people, spewed hatred, found networks of racists around thecountry, saw friends die and watched another go to prison.
Back in1988, he even helped to organize Skinfest in Doctors Park, which attractedskinheads from all over the country, featured swastika flags and led to adrunken rampage throughout Milwaukee, during which the racist skinheads beat upanyone in their way. In the depths of his race-based world, Michaels thought hewas fighting a “race war,” which “had a kind of romance to it.”
That’s aheavy burden to carry, especially when you’ve renounced that way of thinkingand that way of life.
“I need theworld to know that Arno Michaels is a race traitor,” he said in language thatwhite power skinheads will understand“race traitor” meaning a white guy whodoesn’t believe that whites are superior to anyone else.
“Worst ofall is someone like mea white person who is actively working against racism,”Michaels said.
BasicHuman Goodness
It took along time to get from being a skinhead, getting out of that way of life in themid-1990s, to now, a decade in which Michaels’ racist worldview slowly erodeduntil it could no longer stand.
Michaelsattributes some of that shift to the result of the real world not conforming tohis rigid belief system. Outside of his skinhead community he discovered thatpeople not like him could be kind and smart and interesting.
But he saidthat being a father and wanting a better life for his daughter was the biggestchallenge to his life as a racist. He had an epiphany when watching hisdaughter in day care at MATC, peacefully playing with kids of different racesand ethnicities.
“I neverwanted her to be exposed to the hate and violence I’d perpetrated over theyears,” Michaels said. “I didn’t want her to be a victim. I thought about theparents of kids I’d beaten up. They loved their kids as much as I loved mine.It really hit me how horrible I’d been. I really regretted it.”
After evenmore soul searching, Michaels realized he wanted to share his story and helpothers find positive ways of expressing themselves and their diverseworldviews.
In January,Michaels, Christian Picciolini and Angela Aker launched the online magazine “LifeAfter Hate,”which the founders sayis “about the triumph of love, peace and openness.”
The firstissue, published on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, features essays fromMichaels and fellow former skinhead Picciolini on their experiences in thewhite separatist movement, “in the hope of helping others to avoid making thesame tragic mistake.”
Aker, whohas no history with the white power movement, writes about her positivechildhood experiences with a Laotian family and her insights on singlemotherhood.
“It reallyis about basic human goodness,” Aker said of “Life After Hate.” “It’s aboutreaching out to people regardless of differences and being a little conduit ofgoodness.”
The nextissue of “Life After Hate,” which will be updated on Feb. 18 at www.lifeafterhate.org,will feature an interview with Milwaukee artist Bashir Malik, cover asweatSHOP/Youth Build b-boy battle in Madison, and continue publishing more ofMichaels’ memoir.
Michaelssaid that the project is looking for contributions from artists and writers.
“Anyone whowants to can take part,” Michaels said. “It’s as much a product of its readersas its writers. We want to promote the message of basic human goodness.”
