Skinheads

   This is a white supremacist and anti-Semitic youth subculture, many of whom are affiliated with white nationalist organizations. The original skinhead subculture started in Great Britain in the late 1960s and was neither based on white power nor neoNazism, but some skinheads had engaged in “gay-bashing,” “hippybashing,” and random violence against Pakistanis and other South Asian immigrants. The original skinhead movement had mostly died out by 1972, but a revival in the late 1970s came partly as a backlash against the commercialization of punk rock. The skinhead revival in Britain included a sizeable white nationalist faction, involving organizations such as the National Front, British Movement, Rock against Communism, and later Blood and Honour. Because of this, the mainstream media began to label the whole skinhead identity as neo-Nazi. The racist subculture eventually spread to North America, Europe, and other areas of the world. In the United States, for example, the Hammerskin Nation was formed in Dallas, Texas, in the late 1980s. Subsequently, racist skinheads gained acceptance among other organized hate groups such as Church of the Creator, White Aryan Resistance, and the Ku Klux Klan. In 1988, there were approximately 2,000 neo-Nazi skinheads in the United States. According to a 2007 report by the Anti-Defamation League, groups such as White Power skinheads, neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan, have been growing more active in the United States in recent years, with a particular focus on opposing nonwhite immigration, specifically from Mexico, and attacks against Jews. White Power skinheads are known for wearing Dr. Martens or combat-style boots, flight jackets, jeans, and suspenders (also known as braces). White Power skinheads generally have tattoos that often feature explicitly racist content, such as the swastika. Some wear badges, chains, or rings featuring Nazi or White Power emblems. Together with other neo-Nazi groups, the White Power skinheads celebrate Adolf Hitler’s birthday on 20 April.