OCEAN COUNTY – A former leader of an international hate group is now spreading a different message: how to be compassionate to others and how to break a cycle of anger and violence.
Arno Michaelis was the keynote speaker at a leadership conference at Ocean County College, held in collaboration with the prosecutor’s office and the Cultural Heritage Commission. The mission was to empower students and encourage them to positively impact their communities.
Michaelis is the author of “My Life After Hate” and came to provide some insight into his personal history. The speaker’s past included founding an international white supremacy group, acting as a reverend of a racial holy war, and performing as the lead singer in a hate metal band.
From Wisconsin, Michaelis now speaks to groups as an activist for love and compassion. In a thought-provoking speech, he challenged students to reflect on their role as upstanders or bystanders in society. He said he valued the power of storytelling: the narratives people believe in and share will shape their lives and interactions with the world around them.
Arnold Michaelis is a former white supremacist who hopes to inspire kids to be kind and compassionate. (Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
Michaelis drew from his own past and shared some of the mistakes he made. He admitted that during his youth, he was not an upstander nor a bystander but rather someone who actively caused problems for himself and others.
However, the former skinhead said he has since dedicated his life to working in the field to counter violent extremism. In doing so, Michaelis said he’d learned a great deal about the often tragic backgrounds that contribute to their radicalization.
Many have experienced childhoods marked by suffering, abuse, and hatred, with some even enduring sexual trauma. He emphasized how such trauma can break a person, leading them to perceive hate as an escape from their pain. He likened the allure of hate to that of a dangerous drug capable of trapping a person in addiction and misery.
Michaelis said his personal story somewhat deviated from the typical narrative associated with former extremists. Despite growing up in a seemingly idyllic household, he revealed that his father’s alcoholism was a significant source of his own suffering. While his father was not a mean drunk, his excessive drinking and prioritization of leisure activities over work put the burden of providing for the family on Michaelis’s mother, who worked tirelessly to make ends meet.
“I grew up watching my mother suffer,” said Michaelis. “I could see how badly she was hurting, and it hurt me.”
However, Michaelis admitted that he distanced himself rather than offering help to his mom. By the time he was in kindergarten, he was already a bully. Michaelis said as he grew a bit older, he got a big kick out of parents and teachers being afraid of him.
By age 14, Michaelis was already drinking alcohol, which intensified his antisocial tendencies, fueling his desire to shock and repulse others. Michaelis admitted to adopting white nationalist ideologies through exposure to white power music, which glorified a distorted worldview centered on hatred towards marginalized communities.
The room of approximately 400 students was hushed as Michaelis recounted the allure of using symbols like the swastika to provoke and repulse people.
A society driven by hate and violence inevitably produces evil and violence in return, he said. He highlighted the tragic consequences that befell his friends as a result of their involvement in hate-fueled actions. Michaelis’ closest friend ended up in prison for a shooting incident, while another lost his life in a street fight, both victims of the hate and violence they had embraced.
Dr. Henry Jackson said that Ocean County College is on a mission to make sure students are upstanders and not bystanders. (Photo by Stephanie Faughnan)
Michaelis emphasized that casting blame on others not only hindered problem-solving, but also exacerbated issues and increased a continuing cycle of blame. Ultimately, the speaker learned something from co-workers who treated him well despite his actions to them.
“What was most exhausting was when people I claimed to hate treated me with kindness,” said Michaelis. “And that’s really what drove home how wrong I was to be a violent racist.”
During the seven year period he was involved in white supremacy groups, Michaelis said all the hate he professed, mixed with violence and alcohol, caused him to break up with his girlfriend. Michaelis was suddenly a single dad to an 18-month-old baby and decided it was time to stop.
By then it was 1994; Michaelis said he left hate groups and went from being a white power skinhead to a raver in Chicago. His new friends noticed his swastikas tattoos but were into the party scene and accepted him as he was. He has since covered up the tattoos.
At this point in his life, Michaelis told the students he’s just trying to undo the harm that he’s done. He encouraged them to practice kindness, gratitude and forgiveness.
“It will make you happy,” said Michaelis. “It will also lead people around you to be happy, and it will make you an upstander in the world.”
He was introduced by Dr. Henry Jackson, OCC’s Executive Director of Academic Success.
“Here at OCC, we’re going to make this a tradition to try and get our students to be upstanders,” he said. “And not bystanders.”
Photo by Stephanie Faughnan
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer told the students he hoped the conference would give them a transformative experience shaping their high school years and motivating them to celebrate diversity and treat others with respect.
Billhimer explained his role as the chief law enforcement officer in the county, saying that his office prosecutes between 5,000 and 6,000 cases each year. The prosecutor’s office also investigates criminal cases in conjunction with local police departments.
“We have members of our office that are on pace to speak to over 100 schools this year,” shared Billhimer . “The goal of all that outreach we do is so we don’t see you as a defendant.”
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