Former skinhead hits road with story

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Frank Meeink was tired of people writing stories about him.

The former skinhead and drug addict said he was contacted by a woman who was writing a chapter about him in her upcoming book, but Meeink decided it was time for him to tell his own story.

“We got to talking one day and I said, ‘I think I might be more than a chapter,’” he said.

Meeink will be signing copies of his book “Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead” 7 p.m. Wednesday at Barnes and Noble, 5132 W. Saginaw Highway, in Lansing, as part of his fall book tour.

His memoir was published April 1. Since then, Meeink has been touring the U.S. and participating in speaking engagements.

Meeink also will be the closing speaker at the Michigan Response to Hate Conference at 3 p.m. Thursday at the Ramada Lansing Hotel and Conference Center, 7501 W. Saginaw Highway, in Lansing.

Melissa Pope, chair of the victim support subcommittee in the Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crimes, or MIAAHC, said the fourth annual conference will bring awareness to hate issues in Michigan, and Meeink came highly recommended.

“After identifying all of the problems that are out there, we wanted to have someone who brings together that hope of change and a decrease in involvement with hate-based organizations,” Pope said.

Pope said other sponsors of the conference include the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the Department of Justice.

Meeink said his memoir tells of how after his parents separated, he began following his cousin who was involved with a group of skinheads by the age of 13.

“I found it very attractive how they all hung out together,” he said. “I was really trying to fit in.”

Meeink said the group’s philosophy was easy to believe because he did not personally know any Jewish people.

“Violence was a major part of everything we did,” he said. “I wound up in Illinois where I kidnapped this guy and went to prison.”

While in prison, Meeink became friends with some of the men he played sports with, and although he tried to go back to being a skinhead, something was not the same as before.

Eventually, Meeink began helping civil rights organizations and speaking to groups, but he said that wasn’t enough.

“I didn’t just want to be the guy who goes around speaking of the good things he had done,” he said. “I wanted to start building up my credit score with God.”

Meeink founded Harmony Through Hockey, a program that teaches hockey, especially to inner-city youth.

“The whole time I was doing that, I was writing my book,” he said. “It’s been great in the fact that it’s not just about the skinhead stuff, but drugs and recovery.”

Meeink said the response on his tour has been great, and many people have related to the second half of the book, which tells the journey of how he became clean and sober after struggling with his drug addiction.

Kate Sage, co-publisher of Hawthorne Books which published Meeink’s autobiography, said Meeink has visited more than 20 cities since the spring, and the fall has mostly consisted of speaking at universities.

“A lot of schools are bringing him in to talk about diversity,” Sage said.

“There are a lot of kids that struggle with things that he struggled with but don’t talk about them.”

Sage said in addition to Meeink being a stunning speaker, students are able to relate to his young age and his experiences.

“The time in his life that he was struggling with hatred and addiction was a time that, had he been on that trajectory, he would have been on the end of high school and starting college,” she said.

Meeink still runs his hockey program and said that a TV show about racism intervention is in negotiations.

_The book signing is open to the public, but Pope requests people interested in attending Meeink’s talk at the conference e-mail her at melissalpope@yahoo.com

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