The neo-Nazi who found redemption thanks to an unlikely friendship

For most of his adult life, 38 year old Micheal Kent has been a neo-Nazi and part of a violent white supremacist group, the swastika tattooed on his chest while in prison a sign of his strong beliefs.

This year, he finally walked into a specialist center and voluntarily got his tattoos removed in a grueling 15 hour procedure. And it is all thanks to an unlikely friendship with his parole officer, Tiffany Whittier... a black woman.

Refusing to hate Kent who discriminated against 'her kind', Whittier decided she wanted to be a positive influence on him and chose to use her time beside him being his friend and making him choose happiness over hatred. Months of friendship overcame decades of personal racial beliefs as the father of two would go on to remove the Nazi banners in his house and actually put up - on her insistence - smiley faces instead.

“When you wake up and see a smiley face, you’re going to go to work and you’re going to smile.” Kent recalls Whittier telling him.

Kent now works alongside dozens of other employees in a chicken farm - the only white man of the lot - and is happy to have them as his family. And he knows he has Whittier to thank for it.

“Before all this, I wouldn’t work for anybody or with anybody that wasn’t white,” said Kent. “Now we have company parties, or they have quinceañeras, I’m the only white guy there!”

Removing the tattoos was a painful procedure but Kent agrees that it was worth the pain.

“I don’t want my kids to live the life I lived and live with hate,” said Kent. “I want my kids to know me for who I am now—a good father, a hard worker, and a good provider.”


Unknown to him, Whittier made the journey to visit Kent - who had not seen her for a year - the day after he got his tattoo removed. You can watch the lovely reunion of these unlikely friends here.

Author's note:

If we can look beyond our inner prejudices, we are all capable of a positive change. Micheal Kent's transformation after a lifetime of racial hatred is a wonderful example of the quote by Mahatma Gandhi.

"No human being is so bad as to be beyond redemption."

I am taking part in The Write Tribe Problogger October 2017 Blogging Challenge.

#writebravely #writetribeproblogger

Other articles written during this challenge are:

- The Neo-Nazi who found redemption thanks to an unlikely friendship

- Which books would you like your child to read as they grow up

- When Florence + the Machine sang for a terminal patient at her hospice

- Student saves a Life while waiting for Job Interview

- 10 Things Your Anaesthesiologist Asks You At Your First Meeting

- Indian Politics: Where Changing the Label Makes Poison Healthy

- Tuberculosis: The Terrorist who kills 2 lakh Indians every year

- Bollywood flops that had awesome music albums 

Tiffany Whittier is a genuine hero of compassion. 

There is a lot more kindness where that came from.
I have compiled over 30 heroes of kindness and compassion this year.

You can find the list here.