Gay Man and his Former Skin Head Attacker Join to Preach Peace

[Darren10]

Several nights ago I was in my bedroom brainstorming a dialogue on this forum. I forget the thread but ion so doing I recalled this story. Obviously I did not post this story on that thread and before I forget to do it once again, I decided to sit down and get this story posted here. 

Tim Zaal is a former skinhead who in his teens always looked for a fight. You can say he coveted fighting. One night Zaal and 13 of his friends cornered a young gay male and severely beat him down. That person was Mathew Boger. Zaal nearly killed him.

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Zaal recalls that particular night, when he thought he took another man's life. It began with listening to a band called Fear. During the show, a bouncer was stabbed and the police came. By the time he and his friends got to Oakie Dogs, they were juiced up on alcohol and testosterone and spoiling for a fight.

They found their victims across the street, a group of gay street kids. They were just hanging out when Zaal and his friends cornered one and started kicking and hitting him — 14 skinheads pummeling him all at once. But the small gay kid was still moving. For some reason, that enraged Zaal.

"I walked up and said, 'What is wrong with you guys, can't you do it right?' " Zaal recalls. The kid they were beating on looked up and made eye contact with Zaal. "I kicked him in the forehead with my boot and that was it," Zaal says, snapping his fingers. "He was out like a light."

Thinking they had just killed a kid, Zaal and his friends drove away. Zaal put all his past in the back of his mind and moved on in life haunted over the idea that he probably killed someone. Zaal began to give talks about his past and about the need for peace. As fate had it, Zaal was asked to speak at the museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. There Taal began to talk to the operations manager and accompanying speaker to Taal. That person was Mathew Boger.

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The pair reminisced about West Hollywood back in the '80s.

"And there was this moment in which I said that I lived on the streets," Boger says, "in which I said I hung out on this hamburger stand, and [Zaal] said, 'You know, we used to hang out there, but we stopped hanging out there after this one night that was so violent, I think I killed a kid.' "

In a flash they both knew without saying that Boger was that kid.

"It was the very first meeting that we had realized who we were to each other 20-something years ago," Boger says.

Zaal recalls the moment the way anyone in his position would.

"Of course I was ashamed," he says. "I didn't know how to handle the situation. And obviously he didn't how to handle the situation and he left as quickly as possible. It was about two weeks before I saw him again."

Ex-Skinhead And His Victim Form Unlikely Alliance

The two made amends and joined together to regularly talk about their past. I do not know if they are currently together but the fact that these two joined to tour and talk about peace is to me an amazing story of forgiveness. I see Borger as having shown extraordinary forgiveness to accept Taal as his co-partner in their quest to help bring peace. I also think Taal showed great courage to leave his violent skinhead past behind and move onwards.

Here's the news video I saw from which I learned of these two.