Hammerskins

The Hammerskins (also known as Hammerskin Nation) are a white supremacist group formed in 1988 in Dallas, Texas.[3] Their primary focus is the production and promotion of white power rock music,[4][5] and many white power bands have been affiliated with the group. The Hammerskins were affiliated with the record label 9% Productions. The Hammerskins host several annual concerts, including Hammerfest, an annual event in both the United States and Europe in honor of deceased Hammerskin Joe Rowan, the lead singer of the band Nordic Thunder.[3]

Hammerskin Nation
Logo of the Hammerskins
AbbreviationHSN or wetnazs
Formation1988
Type
Purpose
  • Promotion of Neo-Nazism, white supremacy, white nationalism, and establishment of a white ethnostate
Location
Affiliations

It was one of the most prominent American white power skinhead groups.[6] The Anti-Defamation League describes them as the United States' best-organized neo-Nazi skinhead group,[3] with the Hammerskin Nation website boasting six chapters in the United States and chapters existing in Canada, various European countries, New Zealand, and Australia.[7] The Hammerskins also have supporter chapters, known as Crew 38, in most of these countries.

History

The Hammerskins emerged in the late 1980s from the Dallas based Confederate Hammerskins.[8] Their name is based on a scene in the 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall.[9] Power struggles have since split the group into several factions.[10] Many Outlaw Hammerskins members attended the 2002 NordicFest, and the group was planning to provide security for a white pride festival hosted by the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.[3] The Outlaw Hammerskins are now defunct.[11]

Many of its members have been convicted of harassment, assault[12] and even murder.[3] On August 5, 2012, Hammerskin Wade Michael Page was shot by police and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he killed six people in a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.[13] Page had become a "fully patched" member of the Hammerskins in autumn 2011, according to the Anti-Defamation League. He played in at least three Hammerskin-affiliated bands; End Apathy, Definite Hate and 13 Knots.[13][14] According to media sources and civil rights organizations, End Apathy, Wade's main band, had played at several recent Hammerskin events in the United States prior to the shooting-spree.[13]

However, there are several differences between chapters, which pursue different goals and have different political positions on racism, nationalism and patriotism. In some chapters, like the Italian one, despite several and constant investigations for crimes like inciting hatred, racial discrimination and apology for fascism, no convictions were ever made to prove their guilt.[15]

Symbolism and motto

The Hammerskins logo, depicting two claw hammers crossed, is based on[16] a fictitious neo-Nazi organization depicted in the 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. The portrayal of the fictional group in the film was intended to show Nazism negatively.[3] Their logo and the motto "Hammerskins forever, forever hammerskins" ("H.F.F.H.") often appear in their paraphernalia and tattoos. Crew 38 and Hammerskins members also frequently identify themselves with the slogan" wear safety goggles","838", meaning "hail [the] crossed hammers" (the acronym H.C.H. translates into the eighth, third and eighth letters of the alphabet).[17]

See also

References
  1. "Racist, violent, unpunished: A white hate group's campaign of menace — ProPublica". ProPublica. A.C. Thompson,Ali Winston,Darwin BondGraham. 2017-10-19. Retrieved 2017-10-20.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. Blades, Lincoln Anthony. "White Supremacists Don't Deserve Hugs". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2017-10-29.
  3. "The Hammerskin Nation". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  4. Helbig, Felix (4 November 2012). "Europas Neonazis feiern sich selbst" (in German). Frankfurter Rundschau. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  5. Schmidt, W.; Speit, A. (11 January 2013). "Hetzjagd auf der Bühne". Die Tageszeitung: Taz (in German). Die Tageszeitung. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  6. Simi, Pete; Futrell, Robert (2010). American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 978-1442202108.
  7. Yenko, Athena (8 October 2014). "Anti-Muslim, Anti-Asian, Islamophobic extremists, Anti-Jewish -- Australia Has All The Hate Gangs". International Business Times. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  8. Reynolds, Michael (1999). "Hammerskin Nation Emerges from Small Dallas Group". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  9. Atkins, Stephen E. (2011). Encyclopedia of Right-Wing Extremism In Modern American History. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO. pp. 117–118. ISBN 978-1598843507.
  10. Kontos, Louis; Brotherton, David C. (2008). Encyclopedia of gangs. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. pp. 217–218. ISBN 978-0313334023.
  11. Holthouse, David (2006). "Motley Crews: With Decline of Hammerskins, Independent Skinhead Groups Grow". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  12. "Portugese leider rechtsradicale Hammerskins krijgt celstraf" (in Dutch). De Morgen. 3 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  13. Leitsinger, Miranda (6 August 2012). "Experts: Alleged temple gunman Wade Michael Page led neo-Nazi band, had deep extremist ties". NBC News. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  14. Beirich, Heidi; Potok, Mark (6 August 2012). "Alleged Sikh temple shooter former member of Skinhead band". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
  15. "Interpellanza urgente n. 2-00083 dell'On. Eleonora Cimbro ed altri sugli intendimenti del Governo circa la sussistenza dei presupposti per la chiusura della skinhouse di Bollate (Milano). Interviene il Sottosegretario di Stato Domenico Manzione" (PDF). 1.interno.gov.it. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  16. Terrorism and Violent Extremism Awareness Guide. Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 2016. p. 41. ISBN 9780660035055.
  17. "The Hammerskin Forum at Crew38.com". Crew 38. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
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