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Former neo-Nazi Frank Meeink will talk about his experiences, racism, and hate 7 p.m. today in Colton Chapel. Meeink has been featured on The Today Show, Frontline, CNN, and MTV.
The event is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by Lafayette Activities Forum, Hillel, Questioning Established Sexual Taboos, LAF-PAC, and Association of Black Collegians.
Meeink is the founder of the Hockey for Harmony Foundation, which encourages youth of all races to play hockey to learn to live and work in harmony.
Meeink became a skinhead at age 13. By 18, he was roaming the country as a skinhead leader and neo-Nazi recruiter with gangs that would beat up people indiscriminately and videotape torture. In Illinois, he had a cable-access TV show, “The Reich.” He was arrested and convicted of kidnapping and beating a member of a rival skinhead gang.
While incarcerated, Meeink befriended men of different races. Once out of prison, Meeink tried to rejoin his old skinhead friends, but couldn’t bring himself to hate those whom he now knew to be friends. After the Oklahoma City bombing, he contacted the FBI. Knowing what motivates hate groups, Meeink believed it was his obligation to spread an anti-hate message.
A Jewish doctor offered to get rid of the neo-Nazi tattoos covering much of Meeink’s body with laser surgery. Despite threats, Meeink has worked with the FBI and educates people who could fall prey to skinhead doctrine and recruitment.