A former Ku Klux Klan leader is this week coming to Rotorua to speak against racism and hate groups.
Johnny Lee Clary said he was raised in the US in a family filled with racism, anger and bigotry, which led him to become a national leader in the Ku Klux Klan. After turning his life around and finding religion, he wants to talk about his experiences and teach people how to live without racism or violence.
Mr Clary said that when he was a teenager his father committed suicide and his mother abandoned him. He said he found himself alone and looking for somewhere to belong.
"At 14, I was seduced by the teachings of the notorious David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan and I joined the organisation."
He said he became enthralled with the "sense of belonging" and his need for family that he participated in KKK events as a security enforcer and bodyguard to David Duke.
He spent 16 years as part of the KKK and worked his way to being the national head of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a branch which originated in Mississippi, and was considered to be the most dreaded KKK faction in history and widely acknowledged by law enforcement as the most violent branch.
As the Klan's national leader, it was hoped Mr Clary could change the image of the Klan, by attracting new members through his many appearances on such television programs as The Oprah Winfrey Show where Mr Clary advocated, supported and defended racism.
After being harassed by the FBI as well as the United States Secret Service and finding out his girlfriend was a police informant, Mr Clary left the KKK.
Mr Clary said over the next year he found himself "derailed by personal issues", losing all of his friends and struggling just to make an honest living. He said he was also feeling guilty about his life of violence and on the verge of committing suicide he started to read the Bible.
He started to go to church and decided to dedicate his life to religion.
In the early 1990s, he developed Operation Colorblind and started to use his life experiences to help others.
He became a motivational speaker and would go to various schools and church groups to talk to give people the skills they needed to avoid involvement in racism, drugs, gangs and violence.
Mr Clary also became an ordained minister with the World Evangelism Fellowship and an ordained elder under the Church Of God In Christ, America's largest African American denomination with more than 6 million members.
He is coming to Rotorua as part of a speaking tour in New Zealand and said he just wanted to spread his message about avoiding involvement in racism and violence.
He said adults from all walks of life needed to set a proper example of promoting racial unity for children. "If you want to play beautiful music, you have to learn to mix the black and white keys together on the piano."
Mr Clary will be speaking at C3 Church on Fenton St, next to Rydges Hotel, from 7pm on Thursday. The event is open to the public.