Ep 9. Erasing Hate

Bryon Widner first became a racist skinhead in 1991, at the age of fourteen. Over the next sixteen years, he was a member of several notorious Neo-Nazi skinhead organizations, such as "The Outlaw Hammerskins," "Blood and Honour," and "The Vinlander Social Club." Around 2007, Bryon, along with his new wife, Julie (also a member of a Neo-Nazi group), started becoming disillusioned with the movement and began spending more time with his new family. Finally, he was presented with an ultimatum by his skinhead gang. He was told to choose between his family and his mates. Bryon chose his family. It was then the death threats began. Bryon and Julie packed up the family and fled from Michigan to Tennessee to start a new life. But starting anew hasn't been easy. Complicating the transition is the fact that during his time as a skinhead, Bryon covered his face, hands and many other parts of his body with tattoos reflecting the racist beliefs he held. Now, he sees them as "just a bad reminder of a part of my life that I left behind," and wants to remove them. In this hour, MSNBC goes inside the world of this former skinhead "pit bull" as he undergoes painful treatments to remove the physical representation of the hate he had exhibited to the world for more than half his life.