Arno Michaelis Photo: Supplied
Arno Michaelis spent seven years in the midst of a racist skinhead organization and was the lead singer in a hate-metal band.
He grew up in a alcoholic household in Wisconsin, where violence was normalised and where he was told he could achieve anything he wanted.
At school he channeled his aggression into bullying, and by the time he was 17, was already involved in the white power movement surrounded by skinheads.
Arno declared war on the world and alongside his skinhead friends acted violently and remorselessly against others It was when he became a single parent age 24, that he began to distance himself from his earlier beliefs.
He stopped drinking, and in 2007 he wrote a memoir Life After Hate.
Today Arno is a speaker, author, and has worked with Serve2Unite, an organisation that engages young people of all backgrounds as peacemakers.
