NEWPORT BEACH – Arno Michaelis was nervous before meeting Pardeep Kaleka for the first time over Thai food in 2012.
Kaleka’s father was one of six worshippers in a Milwaukee Sikh temple shot dead by a white supremacist – and Michaelis felt partly responsible.
Michaelis had launched a white power group in the late 1980s, and he had played in a punk band (Centurion) that spewed a similar message of hate. He didn’t believe in white power anymore, but the shooter did. He was a follower and a fan.
Still, when Michaelis and Kaleka met, just three months after the shootings, they began a relationship that they hope will start to reverse the cycle Michaelis once perpetuated.
And their meeting wouldn’t have happened without Gen Next, a Newport Beach group of young executives, authors, entrepreneurs and others who use their brains, creativity and wallets to fight terrorism, in all its forms, around the world.
“We provide a way for people to get in touch with one another, and if they wish, work together,” said Ross Frenett.
It’s a simple but powerful goal.
Frenett is project manager for Against Violent Extremism, an online think tank funded by Gen Next that welcomes former extremists and survivors – people like Michaelis and Kaleka – to reconcile and carry a message of unity and peace to those who need it the most.
Turns out, simplicity works.
Since their dinner, Michaelis and Kaleka have co-founded an organization, Serve2Unite. They tell their stories – one of a former race hater and another of a victim of racial hatred – to turn young people away from extremism.
And it’s just one of many projects launched or helped or otherwise nurtured by Gen Next, which was founded in 2008 by Newport Beach real estate executive Paul Makarechian. (The group, which requires a $10,000 fee to join, includes 212 people.)
Against Violent Extremism Network, for example, has 1,000 members, about half of whom are former extremists and survivors. They run the gamut, from former gang members in Los Angeles to former Islamic terrorists in Pakistan.
How does the network define “extremism”?
“We deliberately keep our definition rather broad and ambiguous,” Frenett said.
“Where we do draw the line is governmental extremism.”
Frenett’s group has the resources to give to individuals and nongovernmental organizations that want to do something about the issues that plague their regions – everything from the rise of child soldiers and terrorism to street gangs, cult leaders and skinheads.
The broader goal, Frenett said, is to get things done and not split hairs over definitions.
One rule Frenett follows is to never push. People who choose to give up hatred and work together need to volunteer for the job; they can’t be conscripted.
Certainly that was the case for Michaelis and Kaleka. The initial moments of that first dinner were awkward. An icebreaker, it turned out, was a recent injury to Kaleka’s eye.
“Hey man, what happened?” Michaelis asked him as they sat down to dinner.
Kaleka explained that he had accidentally pierced the hook of the loofah he was using to bathe his young children. It was one of those stories that was funny in hindsight, and the men laughed.
“We were both klutzes and had that goofiness in common,” Michaelis said.
And that was enough.
The testimony of former terrorists and survivors such as Michaelis and Kaleka has proven extremely powerful, Frenett said.
“In many of the world’s most turbulent regions … these former terrorists have helped inoculate young people before they join these extremist groups,” he said.
Michaelis and Frenett say Gen Next members have been generous with their time and resources.
“These are successful people whom I don’t really identify with,” Michaelis said.
“As a blue-collar guy, it was amazing to see for myself how much Gen Next members are so dedicated to the same issues I’m passionate about.”
Gen Next member Micha Mikailian shares that passion.
He offered up the services of his San Diego-based company, EBoost, which provides Internet marketing services for startups. Frenett said Mikailian’s help and support with blogs, social media and other marketing services could have easily cost more than $100,000.
Mikailian said he and his staff derived tremendous satisfaction from working on the project.
“If we can play a part in helping break the cycle of extremism and prevent people from becoming terrorists, what can be better than that?” he said.
Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com
