The tattoos that covered the face of a man show hatred that was once in his heart.
Bryon Widner was one of America's most violent and well-known white supremacist, and his face heavily tattooed is displayed with pride.
But after avoiding racist beliefs, it was still unable to find work because of his facial scars, and went through a long and complicated to have the tattoos removed, hoping to start a new life .
After 25 surgeries over 16 months, Mr. Widner past has now disappeared from view, leaving him a happy father and a member company employee.
It wasn't always that way, and during one of his darkest periods of despair, his wife Julie was terrified — afraid her husband would do something reckless, even disfigure himself.
'We had come so far,' she says. 'We had
left the movement, had created a good family life. We had so much to
live for. I just thought there has to be someone out there who will help
us.'
After getting married in 2006, the
couple, former pillars of the white power movement (she as a member of
the National Alliance, he a founder of the Vinlanders gang of skinheads)
had worked hard to put their racist past behind them. They had settled
down and had a baby; her younger children had embraced Widner as a father.
And yet, the past was ever-present —
tattooed in brutish symbols all over his body and face: a blood-soaked
razor, swastikas, the letters 'HATE' stamped across his knuckles.
Wherever he turned Mr Widner was shunned — on job sites, in stores and restaurants. People saw a menacing thug, not a loving father. He felt like an utter failure.
The couple had scoured the Internet
trying to learn how to remove the facial tattoos safely. But extensive
facial tattoos are extremely rare, and few doctors have performed such
complicated surgery.
Besides, they couldn't afford it. They had little money and no health insurance.

The non-profit civil rights organisation, based in Montgomery, Alabama, tracks hate groups, militias and extreme organisations. Aggressive at bringing lawsuits, it has successfully shut down leading white power groups, bankrupted their leaders and won
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