NCJ Number
149142
Date Published
1992
Length
12 pages
Annotation
Neo-Nazi Skinheads have committed many assaults, vandalism attacks on synagogues, and even murders and promote their bigoted messages to themselves and others mainly through a type of hard-driving rock music known as White Power or Oi music.
Abstract
Beginning with a small number of adherents in the mid- 1980's, Skinheads now number approximately 3,000 activists in 34 States. Their heads are usually shaven or closely cropped, their bodies usually have racist tattoos, and they wear suspenders and steel-toed boots. They have no central organization; instead, they operate in gangs that are sometimes loosely combined in regional networks. Their victims have been members of racial and religious minorities, homosexuals, immigrants, foreign tourists, and other Skinheads. Germany is the main source of their music, most of which is manufactured by a German company named Rock-O-Rama. Record titles include The New Storm Troopers, Take the Sword, Reich n' Roll, Johnny Joined the Klan, Fetch the Rope, White Rider, White Warrior, Fists of Steel, Head Kicked In, and Blood and Honor. In the United States and other countries, the music's effect is to incite racial violence. Appended list of Skinhead bands, Skinhead- related homicides in the United States, and addresses of Anti-Defamation League organizations.