‘Change your future’: Tattoo shop offers to cover up hate symbols for free

Kentucky tattoo artists said response was ‘amazing’ as people with racist designs commit to covering-up

(Gallery X Art Collective)

A tattoo shop in Kentucky has called on people with racist tattoos to book an appointment and “change your future in becoming a better person” with free tattoo cover-ups.

The Murray, Kentucky, business has now covered numerous hate related tattoos since it pledged on Facebook to cover up anyone’s “mistake of a tattoo” without cost.

“If you feel it’s time to change your hate, or have been reformed but been too broke to cover your mistake of a tattoo, come see me you’ll get a class tattoo for free that can start your path to being the person you were meant to be”, wrote the Gallery X Art Collective on its page.

The shop’s owners and tattoo artists, Jeremiah Swift and Ryun King, said that they wanted to take a stand against racism as protests erupted across the US after George Floyd’s police-involved killing last month.

“Having anything hate related is completely unacceptable. A lot of people when they were younger just didn’t know any better and were left with mistakes on their bodies. We just want to make sure everybody has a chance to change,” the paid told CNN on Sunday.

Since posting on Facebook about the free cover ups two weeks ago, the shop told The Independent that it has seen an “an amazing outpour of people looking to right their wrongs and change their image”.

“One of the people we got was a man with both of his forearms completely covered in hate symbols, absolutely everywhere. How is this man going to interact with society with the mistakes he made 10, 15, 20 years ago?” Mr King told CNN.

“We also got a guy with a giant swastika who said he has never taken his shirt off in front of his kids,” continued Mr King. “I like seeing that. I like seeing people want to change themselves for the better. That swells me full of emotions.”

The artists, whose first cover up involved a confederate flag on someone’s ankle, are due to cover more racist tattoos this week.

The artists told CNN that they would also cover up tattoos from those who are out of state, with multiple designs to choose from.