In life, a person is able to transform in many ways, sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better. One of the few stories that really stuck out to me in recent times is that of a man by the name of TM Garret. TM Garret Schmid (born on September 28, 1975, as Achim Schmid), publicly known as TM Garret, is a German-American author, producer, filmmaker, marketing expert, radio personality, human rights activist and founder of C.H.A.N.G.E.
The organization he founded is a Memphis-based nonprofit that engages in community outreach programs, food drives, seminars, anti-racism campaigns and anti-violence campaigns. He is also the founder and organizer of the annual Memphis Peace Conference, which includes an Inter-Faith and Community Panel, and was first held at Withers Collection Museum and Gallery in Memphis.
He has appeared on FOX 13 of Memphis, and his story has been told on HBO’s VICE and CNN’s United Shades of America. He is an outspoken interfaith activist, and serves as director and board member of World Religion Day Memphis, as well as US ambassador for EXIT Germany. He is a popular campus speaker against antisemitism for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
But what resonates the most out of all of these accomplishments is how far he has come – and the stark contrast from who he was. TM is a former white supremacist and KKK member whose life mission now is to tell the world that hate is not the answer.
I recently had a chance to speak to him and hear first-hand his unbelievable story and the journey he has taken in life to be the man he is today.
I first heard your remarkable story on a social media post when you posted a picture of me with Sami Steigmann, a dear friend who is an international public speaker and Holocaust survivor. You had crossed paths with him recently, and you mention in a Facebook post that the two of you ended up speaking for the first time for some two hours. Looking back at your early days, in which you were a former member of an extremist group, what made you enter that life and what was the defining moment that made you decide that you wanted to make a personal change?
It happened at a time in my life when I was at the height of my involvement in the white supremacy movement. A time when I thought I’d deserve to get the hate back which I was spreading in the world. Instead, a member of a minority group that I hated showed me unconditional love and compassion. It threw me off track. I didn’t expect that this would happen, and his influence (over a time frame of about six months) made my hate crumble. I tried to unmask him and prove that he was a bad person as was everybody that I saw as my enemy. But the reality is that I wasn’t successful. He didn’t wear a mask and was just a human being. I had to both consider and reconsider everything I believed in.
What made you catch the eye of various producers and media outlets who were able to tell your compelling story to the world?
Many years after I left hatred behind, I started to help others leave the extremist organizations as well. One of the campaigns in this “Exit Program” is called “Erasing The Hate,” which I started in 2017 to help people who leave hate groups and gangs and to have them get rid of their tattoos with a cover up or laser removal. Tattoo studios all across the country then joined the campaign and began to offer this service for free. The Guardian did a big story about it last year and, of course, everybody in the media world wanted to talk to me and hear about the campaign and my personal story.
Tell me about some of the past and recent projects that you have worked on and how people have reacted to your life story, journey and mission?
The most current project was my involvement in the “Nonviolence Week,” an annual week long event which is sponsored by the mayor of Memphis, per proclamation. This is local for me and since it creates a lot of attention, people were of course interested in hearing the man who used to be a KKK leader speak about peace and nonviolence in a city with an African-American population of nearly 70%. But the most remarkable reaction came from the Jewish community. While I thought the people who I once vilified the most would turn their backs on me, I received nothing but compassion. I’m now discovering Judaism and spent this year’s Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur at a local synagogue. It actually feels like coming home. My first name that was given to me when I was born is Hebrew and means brothers, you know that? “Achim.”We live in a time and day where your message is more important now than ever. WIth the rise and uptick in antisemitic attacks across both America and Europe (including the most recent attacks on synagogues and Jewish institutions), what message would you have to the younger version of yourself that may be involved in these hate groups. How would you inspire them to make a change in their lives?
I would show my younger self-compassion and respect, and try to look into that box with the closed lid in which no one else is looking in to. I would want my younger self to just discover that there’s a human being that’s lost in fear that has now turned into ignorance and hatred. I would make sure that this young man receives the unconditional love that every human being deserves. I’m convinced that you’re only able to love if you are able to receive love as well. Hate just creates more hatred. We need to break that cycle. Compassion is the only way and so far, many were able to change that way with our help.The writer received his undergraduate degree in business cum laude from Yeshiva University, and his MBA with double distinction from Long Island University. He is a financial adviser who resides in New York City, and is involved in Israel-based and Jewish advocacy organizations