1
Skinheads in America: A Movement Toward Violence
By
Regina Raab
The Sociology of Social Movements
University of Utah
May 9, 1993
(Revised January, 2000)
1993-2000 by Regina M. Raab
Duplication of this work in part or in its entirety is forbidden without express written consent of the author.
In 1993, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, a watchdog group, published its annual report on white supremacist groups in the United States. Due to the contents of this report, the Anti-Defamation League was forced to conclude that, “The Skinheads are today the most violent of all white supremacy groups. Not even the Ku Klux Klan…comes close.”[1] The data in this report reflected a huge jump in Skinhead[2] membership and crime rates, as well as a shift from a music-based subculture to a hate-based racist movement. It is becoming obvious that the Skinhead movement in the United States is no longer just an outlet for youthful rebellion, but has evolved into a social movement as a racist, far-right wing revolutionary group.
Skinheads are difficult to pin down to a single representative description or geographic location. Today there are 3,500 racist Skinheads in 40 states, which is a dramatic increase from 1,500 Skinheads in 12 states in 1988. California is the center of most skinhead activity, but there are also strong groups in Portland, Oregon and Chicago, Illinois. Skinhead groups are not just confined to cities, and their numbers are growing in suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. Skinheads are mostly young peopleranging from as young as twelve to twenty years of ageand are predominantly male. The economic background of skinheads ranges across the board from poverty to wealth. The Anti-Defamation League report further stated that Skinheads were responsible for at least twenty-two murders since 1990, most of which can be classified as hate crimes.
To fully understand the skinhead movement one must go to its origins in England. In its first twenty years as a movement, the skinhead culture was about music and working class ethics. In the 1960’s teens began appearing on the streets and nightclubs of London in what is recognized today as the skinhead “uniform”: work boots, suspenders, short or rolled jeans, tucked-in plaid flannel shirts, and shaved heads. This group was dubbed the Mods because (ironically) American musicians such as James Brown, Smokey Robinson, and the Temptations inspired their tidiness and conformity of dress. The Mods emulated these men as people who had overcome oppression to earn economic success through the creation of their own culture, and they saw this as a parallel to their situation in England. In the turbulent years of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Mods split into two factions—the Hippies and the Hard Mods. During this period, the Hard Mods also came to be known as skinheads or “skins” as a reference to their shaved scalps. The skins retained the Mod dress code and began listening to other forms of black music, including ska and reggae. Their cultural identity became a fusion of Caribbean joie de vivre and British work ethics, becoming “a kind of caricature of the model worker.”[3]
In the late 1970’s, disaster struck the laborers of England in the form of stagnant economic growth and a growing dependence on the socialist government for support. Rising unemployment and the resulting decline of the British labor society made the early skinhead fashion statement popular. Dressing like a skinhead was suddenly a way to make a political statement, since it reflected the typical garb of a British laborer. This re-enforced the working-class identity among skinheads themselves and a more open rejection of consumerism soon appeared. Extremism gained importance, as did the questioning of authority figures and their power. The mixture of a new immigrant labor force that was willing to work in dangerous conditions and the newly down-sized, predominately white labor culture disintegrated quickly into frequent racially-motivated attacks on Pakistanis and other immigrants who were not easily assimilated into British culture.
Skinheads reached American shores among the waves of young immigrants from Great Britain and Europe who were looking for employment in the late 1980’s. The skinheads’ potential as a pool of new energy and ideas was quickly recognized by white supremacist groups already operating in the United States such as the Ku Klux Klan, White Aryan Resistance, Aryan Nations, the Christian Identity Movement, and the Church of the Creator. These groups began recruiting skinheads relentlessly, reaching success peaks in the early 1980’s and early 1990’s, and they continue this practice today. The Skinhead movement has the dubious honor of being the first American white supremacist faction to begin in a foreign country and it maintains continuing international ties.
Skinheads can be examined as a social movement through Smelser’s six conditions for the development of such movements. The first variable in Smelser’s system is structural conduciveness, or the general social conditions promoting the formation of social movements. We largely have the policies of the Reagan and Bush administrations to thank for providing structural cohesiveness to the Skinheads and other hate groups. The Reagan era of the 1980’s promoted a new tolerance for racist attitudes and politics through its domestic and foreign policies. One domestic contributor was Reagan’s economic policy. Known as “trickle-down economics”, Reagan’s theory argued that inequalities in wealth lead to gains by the rich which in turn trickled down to the poor and working class in the form of new jobs (essentially promoting a new kind of social Darwinism). This policy replaced the New Deal and other welfare programs with a free market economy, deregulation, and abandonment of any attempt at major social reformincluding promoting the end of racism in America. Thus, the “big guys” got richer while the “little guys” largely stagnated in low-paying jobs under conditions that weren’t going to be changed by the government. It is easy to see how “us vs. them” mentalities could be formed in those conditions and how those mentalities could be extended beyond government to other distrusted groups such as ethnic and racial minorities, Jews, and homosexuals.
In foreign policy, the Reagan administration encouraged these combative mentalities through its policies dealing with the so-called communist threat. The anti-Communist feelings of the administration were extended to the people in countries labeled as “Red”, and people living in those countries became enemies of democracy. Thus, the socialist governments of Central America and Asia became targeted as enemies, as were their inhabitants. It wasn’t a big stretch to begin seeing Latinos and Asian Americans as a threat, and they became additional targets for hate groups.
These political policies did not end with Reagan. His successor, George W. Bush, used the “Willie Horton” campaign ploy to prey upon Americans’ racially based fears.[4] He also repeated one of his predecessor’s xenophobic campaign strategies, presenting himself as an ultra-patriot and war hero who had risked his life to fight America’s various enemies. President Bush continues in Reagan’s footsteps in most economic and social policies, resulting in many of the same mentalities. Leonard Zeskind, of the Center for Democratic Renewal, commented on the skinhead’s generation, “These kids have come to social consciousness in the age…when affirmative action is a bad word and race relations are going backwards. They’re alienated and fed up, and no one has reached them.”[5] These two presidents have made the social conduciveness of the United States very supportive of the rise of white supremacist groups, including the Skinheads.
The second of Smelser’s variables is structural strain, or the tensions that produce conflicting interests within a society. One area of strain represented in the Skinhead movement is class. In today’s labor market those who come from the working class feel that their work ethic is undervalued. Their society’s material ideal is at a level of wealth that most of them cannot hope to attain. They are frustrated by the limited employment opportunities that exist, and some become even more frustrated when they have to compete with non-whites for those jobs. Once again, feelings of victimization take over with resulting decreases in the acceptance of difference and a distrust of authority figures (teachers, schools, police, and clergy/religious institutions). The disaffected become easy targets for racist anti-authoritarian ideologies.
There are many middle-class Skinheads who initially join the group in rebellion against parents and society in general. Bob Ackal, a California state representative, observed that the skinhead movement is “really appealing to the young people in the college campuses and the young workers. They can’t get jobs or they see their fathers working, struggling to put them through school, and they think it’s all being handed to blacks because of race. They do believe that they are being asked to suffer because of …prior discrimination [against blacks].”[6] As they get older, go to college, and are faced with starting a career, some get angry and disenchanted with the depressed job market.
It is not only inadequate economic opportunities that trigger these fears and conflicts. There is often a personal level of racial or ethnic discomfort that leads young people to become racist Skinheads. Many of them feel a sense of loss of innocence and morality in a changing, more violent world. Some fear that violence by racial gangs might affect them or their loved ones. Many of these teen racists don’t seem to have a sense of the history behind classic racial rhetoric, such as the symbolism of the Nazi swastika or the reasoning behind the burning cross of the KKK. These young people just seem to want the protection from authority figures and other perceived enemies that the fraternity of Skinheads appears to offer. John Leo states that these youth “feel so abandoned by a changing America that they want to take matters into their own hands.”[7] However twisted it might seem, they become Skinheads in order to solve (or protect themselves from) these problems through violence members of an organized group.
Smelser’s third condition is generalized beliefs-ideologies that crystallize grievances and suggest courses of action for the movement. The most prevalent ideology of the Skinheads is the warrior ethic. The call to arms against the enemy is a universal feature of the movement found on almost every piece of Skinhead propaganda. The white warrior’s targets are manifold: non-whites (defined as anyone not of northern European decent), homosexuals, Jews, Catholics, the government, and authority figures in general. Skinheads admire violence as a way of asserting their own authority or expressing their beliefs. They often seek out potentially violent situations and it seems that some feel a compulsion to do put themselves in danger of a fight. Even when Skinheads don’t directly initiate violence, they enjoy presenting themselves (through their intimidating manner and tough-looking steel-toed boots, flannel shirts, jeans, shaved heads, and ubiquitous leather apparel) as being potentially dangerous.
It is ironic that another skinhead belief—individuality—is partially subverted by this uniform. For Skins, the point of wearing this type of outfit is to stand out. They do not want to blend into the larger society like members of the Klan and other white supremacist groups. However, this nearly universal mode of dress denies them any physical individuality, defines them as a group, and seems to contradict the non-conformist ideals of the skinhead movement.
Another common Skinhead ideal is extreme patriotism. The problem with this particular brand of patriotism is that it is based on a skewed view of American history. Jack Moore states, “In supporting America, Skinheads…appear to be dreaming of some mythical nation of the legendary past, when America existed in a racially, ethnically, heterosexually pristine state.”[8] Many Skinheads believe that the United States government is run by a Jewish conspiracy designed to deprive white citizens of their rights.
One white supremacist’s solution to the dilemma of a tainted America is to actually re-create this “pristine state”. Richard Butler, leader of the Aryan Nations, has proposed a “ten percent solution” that would create a whites-only nation out of the states of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, and Washington. His reasoning is that whites mostly populate these states in the first place, and so it would be easy to make them into an Aryan Nation or a National Racist State for “racially conscious” whites. Many Skinheads support this idea, and Aryan Nations has become one of the top recruiters of Skins in the United States.
The fourth of Smelser’s conditions is precipitating factors, which are events or incidents that actually trigger direct action by those who become involved in the movement. There does not seem to be any one specific event that sparked the skinhead movement. Skinheads are reacting to an accumulation of disadvantageous trends rather than a specific event or incident. John Leo states, “The movement’s ideology seems to be equal parts fear, envy, and self-contempt.”[9] The movement seems to be fueled mostly by sustained hatred toward several targeted groups that is manipulated by relatively few leaders to achieve direct action by individual Skinheads.
The definition and organization of skinheads as a group is dependent on the motivations of their leaders. There is a very informal organizational structure within the individual groups, therefore they are, “…easy prey for older white supremacist leaders, who cynically offer a sense of family and purpose—along with a hate-filled ideology.”[10] In general, the heads of the various white supremacist groups serve as the leadership for the Skinheads, with individual Skins serving as go-betweens among specific cities and these leaders. This leadership structure satisfies Smelser’s fifth condition.
The most prominent Skinhead leader by far is Tom Metzger, the founder and president of the White Aryan Resistance (WAR). His son John leads the Aryan Youth Movement, an organization specifically aimed at the recruitment of Skinheads from around the country. Tom Metzger’s ideology is very different from that of other white supremacist groups. Metzger’s top priority is not race, which he defines as a “side issue”[11], but the championing of the white working class against a “treasonous” white government. He states, “…we feel our number one enemy is within our own race. Most of the guys in the government are white. So who’s screwing us? It’s our own people. So essentially we’re in a protracted civil war among white people.”[12] He is anti-Klan, whose members he calls “Hollywood soldiers.”[13] He is against ordinary conservatives, whom he claims wasted too much time fighting communism abroad and ignoring problems at home (although he is also anti-communist). Most importantly, though, he is against other white supremacist groups because he rejects the concept of Hitler worship. Instead, he has formed a “third position”, which is not capitalist or communist (which are authoritarian institutions to rebel against) but combines socialism and internationalism into a racial and populist ideology.
Nevertheless, Metzger is definitely a racial separatist and he has intensely recruited skinheads to assist in this part of WAR’s cause. His cable-access television show, Race and Reason, is one example of the resources that he utilizes to obtain more converts to his movement and he often has Skinheads as guests on the show. There are message lines in several cities that WAR sympathizers can call weekly to hear new hate rhetoric against blacks, Latinos, Jews, and homosexuals. WAR distributes newsletters and pamphlets containing much of the same material plus racist cartoons and artwork. But Metzger’s most successful recruiting tools are the Skins who go to various cities and recruit in person, serve to bring in more skinheads as “front-line troops” for Metzger’s cause.
According to Metzger, Skinheads make perfect race warriors because, “They’re pissed off at the system. They’re fighting every day. It takes somebody beaten down to stand up, and they have their place in the movement.”[14] It is this kind of ideological support that draws masses of skinheads to Metzger, and they in turn take his brand of hate onto the streets of America in search of new recruits.
The sixth and final condition of defining a social movement is the operation of social control. Government authorities could respond to the Skinheads’ complaints by passing racist legislation, using the police to promote racism, or taking legal action against non-whites. In this case, however, it is unrealistic (and perhaps unconscionable) to give in to the racist, homophobic, xenophobic demands of the Skinheads and their leaders.
On the other hand, the current increase in legislation against hate crimes will not solve the problem, either. It is only a bandage solution, treating the symptoms of social strain instead of the cause. Increased prosecution of hate crimes will increase the existing warrior image of the Skinheads by adding a martyr element to the cause. Skinheads’ economic insecurity and basic fear of a compromised existence should be the focus of intervention by government authorities seeking to relieve the conditions of strain that began the increase of white supremacist power in America. If those root problems were addressed, the racist Skinhead movement would be left standing on shaky ground, and its end could be conceivable.