VUJC hosting Erasing Hate screening and Skype session

Jasper – The Student Activities Office at Vincennes University Jasper Campus will be showing the documentary Erasing Hate followed by a Skype session with the subject of the film and the producer on Thursday, March 21, in the NCB Lecture Hall starting at 6:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend.

Erasing Hate is a remarkable story of transformation and redemption. Bryon Widner’s face, neck and hands were covered with intimidating, racist tattoos. It was then, with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center, he began a series of painful end extensive laser tattoo removal procedures – twenty-five treatments over the course of more than a year and a half. But the tattoo removal was just the outward sign of an inner transformation. Erasing Hate chronicles both in a film that takes viewers inside the dark world of racist skinheads, yet offers hope in the story of one man’s struggle to escape a life of addiction, bigotry and violence.

Tragically, Erasing Hate is highly promotable for the U.S. Midwest and specifically Indiana. Two of the skinhead groups to which Bryon (the subject of the film) belonged were either Indiana born (The Hoosier State Skinheads) or have a presence in Indiana (The Outlaw Hammerskins). And tragically, the film could not be more current and relevant. As the recent killings at a Wisconsin Sikh Temple demonstrate, the racist skinhead movement is very much alive in the United States. The alleged shooter had ties to the Hammerskin Nation, another group to which Bryon had ties.

If you would like more information about the documentary you can visit the website at www.erasinghatethemovie.com.

The film will be shown starting at 6:30 pm on March 21, 2013 in the NCB Lecture Hall at VUJC. Doors will open at 6:00pm. Following the film there will be a question and answer session with Bill Brummel, the film’s producer, and Bryon Widner, the film’s subject, via Skype. Vincennes University students, faculty and staff are invited to attend for free. The event is also open to public for free. For additional information, contact Alli Baer, Student Activities Coordinator at VUJC, at (812) 481-5941 or abaer@vinu.edu.