If you look for Erasing Hate on IMDb, IMDb will direct you to a forty-five minute MSNBC documentary, but the version that I saw was an extended version, 91 minutes long, and had the same director and topic. Erasing Hate has parallel storylines both involving Bryon Widner, a former skinhead. Erasing Hate’s first storyline addresses Widner’s involvement with then defection from a white supremacist organization, and the second storyline documents the painful two-year removal of his tattoos, which symbolize his violent past.
I would not have watched Erasing Hate if I had known that we would see the medical procedures, including multiple injections with enormous syringes. I could handle Widner’s graphic verbal descriptions of slicing people with a razor, but my mom had to tell me when it was safe to look up whenever he went to the doctor’s office. If you are squeamish when it comes to needles, do not watch Erasing Hate. It is not worth it. Side note: Widner was in a lot of pain. While the results were amazing, is it normal for someone to be in so much pain during a tattoo removal?
As a Christian, I am so excited that Widner literally had a come to Jesus moment, repented, left the skinhead movement and attends church with his family. Erasing Hate was aired in June 6, 2011, but it is over five years later. What November 9, 2016 taught many Americans, and sadly affirmed for mournful Christians such as myself is that going to church and being a Christian does not automatically mean that white supremacy has not also infected the (white) church and perverted the Gospel of Jesus. While Widner has left an obvious evil, is he going to a church that conflates Jesus’ teachings with an American Dominionist theocracy that endorsed and celebrated the victory of a candidate that bears little similarity to Mister Rogers, forget Jesus? Will Widner be reinfected with hate because of an insidious infection of tares among the wheat? Jesus, protect him and his family from being burned at harvest. What is the recividism rate for hate? And while he is on guard against racism, he may not be on guard against other temptations. The hate tree has many branches (sexism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia) that can harm and have grown, intentionally or not, within the church. Hopefully the Southern Poverty Law Center and One People’s Project’s support will continue to help Widner and his family fight against the lures of the devil.
Erasing Hate reveals aspects of a skinhead’s life that I don’t find surprising, but may be revelatory to some viewers. Widner and his family became disenchanted with skinheads because while they were explicitly preaching white power, they only witnessed rampant drug use, rape, child and spousal abuse, and the hypocrisy became too much to bear. Unfortunately their kids were already exposed to this lifestyle, and anyone who has either experienced addiction or knows someone who escaped the destructive cycle of addiction or any kind of cult knows that the hardest part is starting from scratch or hanging out with the friends who actually liked your destructive behavior. I wish that Erasing Hate had explored that aspect of Widner’s adjustment more instead of alluding to it and rushing away when violence reared its head again.
While I may not heartily recommend Erasing Hate to any squeamish viewers or those already familiar with white supremacist movements, I would love a sequel of Erasing Hate to see how Widner and his family are fairing in an America that has seen hate crimes increase after November 9, 2016.