People Camp Out To Have Tattoos Covered Up And Lives Changed At Stop the Hate In The 918 Event

A local tattoo parlor in Sand Springs teamed up with dozens of tattoo artists to give back to the community. Stop the Hate in the 918 helped those with hate, gang, or racially related tattoos turn them into something new.

Dozens of people set up camp at the Case Community Center, hoping they'd be lucky enough to have their lives changed with a new piece of art.

Counting down the minutes until he could forget part of his past.

"Two hours," said Robert Lotton. "I changed my life so I'm trying to better it by covering up the old stuff."

Lotton had been waiting for this moment, and now it finally came.

"I'm kind of nervous, but it's for the better," he said. "I've been clean and sober for a year, so it's changed drastically since then, it's been wonderful."

Lotton was first in line at the Stop the Hate in the 918 tattoo coverup event.

"We got out here at 10 o'clock last night just so we could be out here and not miss out on the tattoo," he said. 

Lotton has tattoos all over.

"Certain ones have certain meanings," he said.

But there was a specific one he wanted to get rid of that he got when he was in prison.

"It's a Ku Klux Klan Patch," Lotton said. 

He's had it for 26 years, but now he had new motivation to cover it up.

"My granddaughter, she's two now, and she looks up to me," he said. 

Jamy Magee has organized the event for seven years and said this has been a way for him to give back to the community.

"We all make mistakes when we're young, but not everyone has to carry those mistakes around visibly on their arm," Magee said. 

Lotton said he was thankful for this opportunity.

"I can't afford to go spend $450 on a tattoo so it's a good to go get stuff covered up that you don't want anymore," he said. 

While the needle may have stung, Lotton kept his mind on the bigger picture: his granddaughter.

"Show her that I don't have no hate like that in my heart no more," said Lotton.