May 12, 2023
Racist tattoo removal a chance for change
A new programme will allow people to get rid of tattoos which may be holding them back in life.
The Chance for Change initiative started in Australia, and it’s now being offered on this side of the Tasman to people who may regret their racist or antisocial tattoos.
Mike Anderson from the Think Again Laser Clinic in Ponsonby says it came about from conversations with people who came to his business wanting to get their ink removed, but they couldn’t afford the cost.
“We have very frank conversations with these people and can tell the tattoos are holding them back and they are remorseful and we decided despite the fact they weren’t able to afford the service we could do a good service to the community by offering it to them free of charge so basically we started doing it and then decided to make it a programme because we figured that if a couple have come through by themselves there must be others in the community who want to make that last bit of change to their ideology,” he says.
The free removal is only for racist or hate-based imagery such as swastikas, slogans, or in one case an Al Qaeda tattoo.
He says otherwise tattoos cost about 10 times as much to remove as to put on.