St. Martin’s Press
Hardcover
288 pages • $26.99
ISBN: 978-1-250-10754-1
A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate
Arno Michaelis and Pardeep Singh Kaleka with Robin Gaby Fisher
One Sikh. One former Skinhead. Together, an unusual friendship emerged out of a desire to make a difference. When white supremacist Wade Michael Page murdered six people and wounded four in a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin in 2012, Pardeep Singh Kaleka was devastated. The temple leader, now dead, was his father. His family, who had immigrated to the U.S. from India when Pardeep was young, had done everything right. Why was this happening to him? Meanwhile, Arno Michaelis, a former skinhead and founder of one of the largest racist skinhead organizations in the world, had spent years of his life committing terrible acts in the name of white power. When he heard about the attack, waves of guilt washing over him, he knew he had to take action and fight against the very crimes he used to commit. After the Oak Creek tragedy, Arno and Pardeep worked together to start an organization called Serve 2 Unite, which works with students to create inclusive, compassionate and nonviolent climates in their schools and communities. Their story is one of triumph of love over hate, and of two men who breached a great divide to find compassion and forgiveness. The Gift of Our Wounds is a timely reminder of the strength of the human spirit, and the courage and compassion that reside within us all.
©
© Drew University
Arno Michaelis is the author of My Life After Hate and works with Serve 2 Unite. He has appeared on major media outlets including the BBC, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Pardeep Singh Kaleka is the co-founder of Serve 2 Unite and has appeared on NBC, Fox, CNN, Democracy Now, NPR, and Voices on Antisemitism.
Robin Gaby Fisher is a New York Times bestselling author of seven nonfiction books and a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing.
Share this:
