With November 4, 2017 upon us, and the hate-harvesting Antifa movement purporting to essentially choke America by violently plunging its ideology down throats, I was intrigued by an interview held by OpsLens Senior Contributor Brandon Blackburn and his source, Arno Michealis who dissects his hate-laden past as a white-supremacist skinhead and his resolve to walk the road of redemption.
The Talking Terrorism Podcast interview is a fascinating recount of Michaelis’ deep involvement as a white- supremacist (“white power activist”) whereby he discusses turning points in his life, the prevalent dynamics and traits among hate-infected individuals, and the hate-mongering groups with which they align.
As a mantra, reformed white-supremacist Arno Michaelis uses four echo-sounding words to ensure his heart is in the right place and to repel hateful ideologies from re-entering his life: “Hurt people hurt people.” That is to say people who are hurting…in turn hurt other people, resembling the cycle of violence theory.
“Hurt people hurt people.”
“Violence came from suffering” are the words Michaelis used to describe the root of his former skinhead subculture. Michaelis attributes his hateful past indoctrination to alcohol-drenched unresolved suffering and thus the human dynamic of reaction to crises, albeit wrongly.
Skinhead sports tag “Skinheads Weiss & Stolz” which, when translated, means “White and Proud” (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
“Nonsensical fundamental ideology” is succinctly how Michaelis describes the propagation fueling “white-power” lore. As he defines the white-power cause, it is akin to feeling imprisoned, in bondage, enslaved and shackled from experiencing the rest of the world.
Candid About Conversion
As is the case with every human being, change can be achieved, even in ways which we may have never conceived. On the Talking Terrorism Podcast hosted by Brandon Blackburn whose show is broadcast via OpsLens.com, Michaelis candidly discusses his personal deep-seated violent, extremist convictions and how chronic hate-filled rants accompanied by violence atrophied his soul. Like an hour-glass whose granules slowly seep away leaving a hollow…Michaelis recognized bits and pieces of his earthly existence were diminishing. Fortunately, he wasn’t blind to certain elements in his life and chose maturation over stagnation.
“Nonsensical fundamental ideology” is succinctly how Michaelis describes the propagation fueling “white-power” lore.
Michaelis saw the kindness and authenticity in others as catalysts to think and act differently. They “treated me with kindness when I least deserved it,” said Michaelis of a lesbian coworker and Jewish boss. There is never a secret sauce to humanity. The attributes are present, we just have to dig down deep sometimes and pay attention to the signs of life…as Michaelis eventually did.
Michaelis became a single parent during the same window of time when his best friend was “killed in a street fight.” His wake-up call can be said to have arrived in segments, ultimately compelling his supernova and refreshed philosophical outlook: Out with the old, in with the new.
Anatomy of Hate
Michaelis describes how white supremacy pathology consists of “the fear we were gobbling up wholesale” and getting rise from the glory of it all. There is eeriness in that factor, as much as there is acute courage to recognize one’s soul is terribly tainted by narratives which defy logic. Oppositionists become targets. Counter-cultures are happily placed in crosshairs. Fun-fun…at the expense of others.
Michaelis boasts about his former life and how he and his white-power buddies would get off on the glory stemming from malice. His small group of about 50 skinheads would go-up against hundreds of oppositionists while a “line of police officers separated” both factions. Indeed, the police get the un-sexy task of keeping the peace where at least one side wishes total destruction and unbridled violence.
Indeed, the police get the un-sexy task of keeping the peace where at least one side wishes total destruction and unbridled violence.
Michaelis’ reformation offers up some material resources for cops and citizens to repel and conquer white supremacy types. But it is not always clear-cut.
“Ghost Skins”
Logically, just as police agency personnel infiltrate organizations, clubs, gangs, and even white-collar entities suspected of illicit behavior, so do bad guys try to infiltrate cop shops. Attempts to join law enforcement agencies to sleuth police intelligence and to get the skinny on what the police are doing and how they are strategizing is a scary possibility.
In January 2017, The Intercept ran a story regarding white supremacists infiltrating law enforcement agencies. The FBI “crafted bureau policy” to assess and preempt such a possibility by disseminating a Heads-up! memo to field personnel. Logically, police recruitment divisions were atop the list.
About the memo, The Intercept wrote that “law enforcement had recently become aware of the term ‘ghost skins,’ used among white supremacists to describe ‘those who avoid overt displays of their beliefs to blend into society and covertly advance white supremacist causes.’ In at least one case, the FBI learned of a skinhead group encouraging ghost skins to seek employment with law enforcement agencies in order to warn crews of any investigations.”
Daryl Johnson, a former researcher for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and current analyst of domestic extremism, said, “There’s not even any training now to make state and local police aware of these groups and how they could infiltrate their ranks.”
I can attest that cops are either formally and/or informally studying-up on the hate-group demographic.
That may be true from a federal perspective. From a local police view, I can attest that cops are either formally and/or informally studying-up on the hate-group demographic. New legislation or amendments to existing hate crime statutes beckon fresh outlooks among law enforcement. Like most, my agency routinely patronized “Legal Updates” courses at the police academy. As street tactics and statutes change, cops stay abreast.
Paradoxically, white nationalist leader Richard Spencer and “Unite the Right” organizer and white supremacist, Aaron Kessler both vehemently complained that they were victimized by police negligence during the Charlottesville, Virginia protest which turned violent. One civilian and two state policemen were killed. The shady layers there were appalling, reportedly stemming from police executives casting a stand-down order.
Whereas one argument is that the police are caught dead-center on the spectrum of Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter movements, The Conversation describes an imbalance and implicates the police institution by directly torching the racist wick, saying, “the denial about the scope and the breadth of racist and White nationalist ideas, beliefs and practices in the US runs deep. The reaction of many police officers and their supporters has been to insist instead that ‘Blue Lives Matter’. And nativists are quick to retort that ‘All Lives Matter’. ”
Arno Michaelis posing with some Milwaukee police officers, all of whom serve to unite. (Credit: Serve2Unite)
Published October 25, 2017 was a no-holds-barred paragraph written in The Conversation article: “Racist statements by President Donald Trump have emboldened and encouraged other White supremacists and Nazis to come out into the open and forcefully demand, among other things, to make America White again.”
Our nation is unequivocally grappling with some very steamy issues which beckon equitable outlets. Regarding racism, what is an effective elixir to cure white-power-fueled disdain?
Kill ‘Em with Kindness
Metaphorically-speaking, Michaelis espouses the age-old wisdom credo “Kill ’em with kindness.” Via his Buddhist teachings and organic maturation, kindness instead of cruelty is Michaelis’ potion for peaceful existence.
Drawing attention away from hate-filled extremists will “utterly cripple” such groups which crave (need) the interests of others to not only survive but to expand. Michaelis explains how his involvement in hate groups since age 17 gradually drained his true heart and soul. Epiphanies for him evolved from people who provided kindness copiously.
Compassionate understanding of suffering caused by our own reaction to things is a root to redemption. “It was the unconditional forgiveness I was given by people who I once claimed to hate that demonstrated the way from there to here,” Michaelis elucidated. A recent white-power protest in Tennessee was peacefully countered by people who exemplified Michaelis’s mindset; granted, police were positioned in the middle of the road, literally.
As Michaelis suggests, overcoming hate-filled groups such as antifa is by countering them with kindness. Have you seen the image of Aaron Alex Courtney, a 31-year-old black spectator hugging a white supremacist while asking “Why do you hate me?” at a recent event held by white nationalist icon Richard Spencer? That is an illustrated example of what Michaelis suggests.
“Why do you hate me?”
According to Mr. Courtney: “I asked him, ‘Why do you hate me? What is it about me? Is it my skin color? My history? My dreadlocks?” Receiving silence, Courtney again asked “Why do you hate me?” to which the white supremacist reportedly replied, “I don’t know.” And that talks to the heart of Michaelis’ journey from skinhead to salvation.
When he asked again, “Why do you hate me?” the man replied, “I don’t know.”https://t.co/dEfi4ZC1qj
— Chicago Libertarians (@ChicagoLP) October 20, 2017
Non-foolhardy, Michaelis echoes what we also know deep down: If kindness is shoved and poked by a hater, natural instincts and rights to self-defense always apply.
Antifa Trumpets November 4, 2017 Blitzkrieg
Advertised ad nauseam is the antifa movement’s intent on overthrowing the American government and slaughtering every identifiable Trump supporter in cities across the American landscape. A roster of cities where antifa will be present was published by refusefascism.org. Antifa plans to protest its belief that the American government is fascist and wants President Trump and VP Pence ousted from the White House. Whether the antifa hoodlums simply display a tiny spark accompanied by din or create a quasi-atomic blast remains to be seen.
Antifas members banner behind face masks, an iconic ID concealment regularity among its members . (Credit: RASH – Red and Anarchist Skinheads – West Coast)
Disengagement
“The war on terror has been a miserable failure,” said Michaelis. With his cleansed constitution, his views come after having lived terroristic tendencies, having been a harbinger of horror. Both locally and globally, he saw wheels spinning without any substantial headway.
Although Michaelis was sort of reconstituted by the happiest and sorrowful events in the spectrum of life, can others also get off the crazy train? How do hate-mongers reform, redeem, and find resolve?
A July 2017 research study published in the Journal of Crime and Violence analyzed gang-membership reduction and intervention strategies. The core content describes exactly what Michaelis went through: “pushes and pulls” leading to “disengagement” from gang/hate culture. As explained in The Crime Report, “disengaging from the gang was the result of multiple rather than single factors” and often combine both pushes and pulls.
Pushes are classified as “internal to the gang and often suggest a negative action—such as getting shot or injured, arrested and incarcerated, or simply growing tired of the gang life.” Pulls are categorized as “potentially pro-social opportunities and include things like getting a job or moving to a new neighborhood or city.” Michaelis became a single dad to a baby girl and also experienced the fatal shooting of his best friend who perished in “a street fight.” It is not confusing to see why he grew weary of skinhead culture and knew changes were warranted. It is a matter of living for others versus prematurely dying for the grim reaper.
Flying in darkness can result in a broken wing. Sometimes broken wings mend. Mended wings enable soaring.
As Michaelis exemplifies life after violence and hatred, his Twitter base announces his travels and attendance at peace-oriented events such as the Community, Cops, and Culture exposé held at Albertus Magnus College on October 28, 2017:
Had an awesome time waging peace with everyone at the Community, Cops, & Culture event today! @… https://t.co/GVP8FAeGvS
— arno arr michaelis iv (@mylifeafterhate) October 28, 2017
Absolute worse-case scenario for any white supremacist is for no one to pay attention to them, explains Michaelis. In that light, it comes as no surprise that as a reformed white nationalist he is a well-traveled sought-after speaker…sharing his triumphant story of reconciling hateful undercurrents and uniting others in kind, compassionate, and loving overtones.
Flying in darkness can result in a broken wing. Sometimes broken wings mend. Mended wings enable soaring.
