A former white supremacist from Ohio, USA, got his massive swastika tattoo covered up with a rose to honor and show support for the Black Lives Matter protesters and movement.

34-year-old Dickie Marcum, a 34-year-old steelworker from Cincinnati, Ohio, cried tears of joy after inking away the vile racist symbol.

In a post that he shared on Facebook, which is viral, Marcum said:

Daddy doesn’t hate people anymore. When I came home and my wife saw the cover-up, she started crying and hugged me and kept saying that she’s so proud of me. I’m proud of myself, but I still feel shame fo ever getting it.

In a lengthy confession about how he got the tattoo, he said that he got the tattoo 13 years ago.

He said that he was heavily bullied by black students in his high-school days, which led him to socialize with people that used racial slurs.

Not only that, but he also said that a black man was convicted of kidnapping and attacking his girlfriend in 2007, he got blinded by hate and got the tattoo.

He explained:

When I heard what a black man had [done], I was blinded by hate and immediately shut down and all I could think about was how much I hate ‘them.’ It’s a really stupid way to think, and I can’t justify how I felt and I’m not going to, I was an idiot and I held onto that tattoo for 10 years as punishment to myself.

The tattoo that he had stopped him from going for a swim as he feared that people will see the swastika tattoo that he got.

He explained:

Because I lived almost 20 years having that mentality, I felt like I deserved the shame that I felt.

Explaining how he changed his mind, Marcum said that he works in construction, which is also the work of a lot of people from different races.

He said working in construction helped him learn that people are more than their skin color.

Last week, Marcum went to the Silkworm Tattoo in Hamilton, Ohio, to get the tattoo removed.

The Silkworm Tattoo also offers discounts for customers that are covering up intolerant images in honor of Juneteeth, a holiday that celebrates the official end of slavery.

Talking about his tattoo, he said:

My daughter doesn’t really know what that [swastika] symbol is, so I explained that the tattoo meant that daddy didn’t like people, and now she knows daddy doesn’t hate people anymore.

Before getting the tattoo, Dickie attended a BLM protest in Cincinnati and said that people are asking him to attend more events like these since his story is a symbol for the movement.

Talking about supporting the movement, Marcum said:

I feel like a weight has been lifted, but I also feel like responsibility has been put in its place, and I feel now I need to get out there and speak for those who are going unheard. I fully support the Black Lives Matter movement. Though I had people of every colour show me the light, at no point was that ever their responsibility to eradicate that type of hate, but it’s people like me who need to do that. They shouldn’t have to convince people not to hate them.

Such an amazing story!

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