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February 19, 2000
Tattooed man knowsprejudice, pushesto eliminate hateBy GUY PRIEL Journal Staff Writer MORGAN -- Covered with what he considers one continuous tattoo from head to toe and having a multitude piercings on his face, America's only live comic book hero took to the stage at Cedar Mountain High School Thursday night. "I dedicate this hour to all the kids who have lost their lives in school," The Scary Guy said. His favorite phrase is "This rocks," as he visits members of the audience, shaking hands and seeking reactions to his appearance. He legally changed to the Scary Guy two years ago after seeing an ad in a Tucson newspaper. He refuses to give his previous name. "I have spoken to 1 million people this year, and you won't believe what I've seen and heard," he said. "I have heard people whisper 'I know who he is, I know what he does.'" He has been called everything from a biker, to a wrestler, to Gov. Jesse Ventura. He worked as a tattoo artist for 10 years, but all that changed two years ago, when he put his last tattoo on a 45-year-old female doctor. It took him 250 hours and he got paid $30,000. When he saw the ad in the Tucson paper, he wanted revenge for being called scary and he was determined to see what he could do, he said. "I have never been a violent person, I wanted revenge, but not in a violent way," he said. "Violence puts you in jail. I've never seen the inside of a jail. I have visited with kids in a detention center. You know what those are? They can't put them up fast enough these days. They are jails for kids." He realized that everyone looks different, but everyone has the same thing in common -- a heart. He picked up the phone and called someone at a help line because he wanted to share his feelings about the anger he had toward the ad. "You know what I was told?" he said. "I was told that if I cop an attitude, it would be like a magnet and would attract more of the same. I was told it wasn't my job to make things right and I should just let it go." He learned that helping others was quite a concept. He developed his own line of clothes called Scary Wear, based on what he was called by the newspaper. "I took a negative thing and turned it into a positive," he said. "Then I started to teach people about America's No. one social disease -- prejudice, which leads to hate, which leads to violence, which leads to death." There are two types of name calling, hardcore and softcore. Hardcore is the actual verbal name given to someone based upon an image. Softcore is every thought, action and notion built around an image that is given a name, he said. "It is what you do with the thought and the name that counts," he said. "You can't be me walking around in this skin without running into prejudice." He used to be a computer salesman and used to laugh at his boss' racist jokes, thinking that was the way to keep his job. Before that he was a baby portrait photographer and would see two different types of people divided by tension. "Before that I was in school when T V was a lot different than it is now," he said. "Today channel surfing is a sport. You can get 500 channels and spend your life changing channels. But the shows are filled with people shooting each other. We can't get enough." Violence is not a new concept. It has been going on a long time, it has just changed its form, he said. In the past two years the Scary Guy has taken his message of non violence and respect on the road. He has been featured in 1,600 newspapers, has been on 600 radio interviews and 50 television shows. He is 46 years old and has been in the name-calling business for 43 years, where he came up with more names than anyone would ever imagine, he said. "Imagine being overweight and walking down any street," he said. "That's pain, unrelentless pain. The ads keep pushing for products to grow hair or things like that. What are they doing? It's like it's not OK to be who you are." He runs a non-profit organization known as Kids Vision Heart, Inc. The mission is to eliminate hate, violence and prejudice. He teaches people to never reject anyone because of how they look, never take drugs and never smoke. He lives in a warehouse in Tucson, because of death threats and fire bombs that have endangered his wife Julie. He has a daughter who lives in Minneapolis. "Unless we stop prejudice and hate, none of this will ever go away," he said. "Every teardrop tells a story and boys don't tell enough stories. Every day, I challenge you to live with your heart, but don't forget your brain." He challenged everyone in the audience to live one week without a negative comment or name calling. "If you call names, you expose yourself as someone who is hurting," he said.
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