Bryon Widner was considered one of the most dangerous and notorious white supremacists in the United States until he had a change of heart. There was only one problem, while Widner turned his back on racism and hate he still had years of tattoos on his face that said otherwise.
According to Widner his face tattoos made it impossible for him to find work while he was shunned by society. His public standing became so bad that Widner actually considered dousing his face in acid at one point just to remove them.
Eventually Widner and his wife turned to a former sworn enemy, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group that hunts down hate groups and aggressively tries to shut them down.
After meeting with Widner and realizing he had turned a new leaf the organization found a donor willing to pay the $35,000 cost needed to remove the facial tattoos.
Because of the extent to which he had tattoo’d his face (pictured above) it took almost an entire year to find doctors with the necessary skills to remove the tattoos. When all was said and done Widner underwent 25 painful surgeries on his face, neck and hands, all of which had to be performed under general anesthesia.
After each surgery Widner awoke with burns and oozing blisters, all which healed over time but provided him with increasing pain.
To this very day the former white supremacist says he suffers form occasional migraines and he must stay out of the sun but when he talks about his new life with his wife and son he says “it’s a small price to pay for being human.”
As for his former supremacists? Widner and his family fled Michigan after cow manure was found on their vehicles and threats were made against his family.
What do you think of Bryon Widner’s brave and painful attempt to turn his life around?
