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Did Skinheads Used to be Black?
This is an interesting and unsubstantiated piece of information about Skinheads which I found courtesy of a person posting on my forum:
This is a fashion-cum-lifestyle which has curiously become associated with “White Power”. Like almost every other aspect of “White Power”, this movement originated in the Black community, amongst light-skinned Black People whose “kinky” hair indicated their African Ancestry. Such people who wished to pass for white could only elude such identification bt keeping their hair closely cropped. This was often accompanied by a vigorous assertion of a White identity, and so spread amongst into the broader white community, particularly amongst White working class youth.
Whether or not this is actually true, I enjoy these types of factoids because they are so mind-bending. Has anyone ever heard of anything which would support this piece of information?
March 25th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
Skinheads started out as a very multiracial subculture, originally not racist at all. I think it was in the 80’s, in the more right-wing climate of Reagan and Thatcher, that nazi skinheads started taking over the movement and giving skinheads a racist image. There is actually a skinhead movement called SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) that has emerged as a distinct movement to reclaim the original multiracial skinhead culture. A “nontraditional student” (i.e. 30-something man) at my college was an ex-SHARP and he taught some informal, extracurricular classes on punk rock, one of which I went to. He was Puerto Rican, and not a racist.
Anyway, if I remember correctly I think the original skinhead subculture formed within working-class, multiracial communities in England in the 60’s. The kids called themselves “rude boys” (unless I’m mixing up subcultures here) and listened mostly to ska and reggae. They were an important precursor to punk and the movements eventually got mixed up together. I think the skinhead culture splintered off from the Mods.
I could have my facts all screwed up. There doesn’t seem to be much consistent information about subcultures like the skinheads, probably just because they weren’t very well documented back in the day.
March 25th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
So to actually answer your question, LOL, I don’t think that skinheads became racist because black skinheads were trying to pass as white. I think it had more to do with working-class whites becoming more and more racist and xenophobic in the 80’s because of the right-wing atmosphere and rising unemployment, which hit the working classes hardest of all and made poor whites increasingly hostile to racial minorities they perceived as stealing their jobs.
March 25th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
A Message To You Rudy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinhead
March 26th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Everything Joe Chip said, plus a little more:
I was under the impression that the proto-skinheads were actually from Jamaica; One skinhead fashion item is to wear suspenders hanging down, which was derived from the uniforms in Caribbean factories requiring their employees to wear suspenders–many of them let the straps down as an act of everyday defiance.
Reggae grew popular with the pre-punk youth cultures in England by accident–most DJs didn’t have a full complement of rocker/mod/punk/teddie etc. albums, and defaulted to reggae and first-generation ska.
The “Soundsystem” is a lots of speakers and amplifiers on a truck, with some guy with turntables. They drive around and create impromptu parties, and are popular in the Caribbean.
I used to know a SHARP, we called him “Ogre” on account of being about 300 pounds of fury.
————————
Re symbols & racisim:
Malcom McLaren and the Sex Pistols popularized the Nazi Swastika as a fashion item in the UK; Avant-garde designers and the pre-Sex Pistols New York and Detroit punks took over the symbol from the Hell’s Angels. Originally, the only reason to wear it was as an Anti-Totem: it pissed people off, especially in England where WWII was well within living memory. Richard Hell, Rocket from the Tombs (who split into Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys), and the Hell’s Angels all adopted the Swastika for the same reason, which was the same as the pirate’s skull and crossbones, a big middle finger. “My old man’s a square, you’re a square, fuck off,” was how Greil Marcus described it.
But things went wrong. I cant remember the source (maybe Please Kill Me or Lipstick Traces), but trouble started. Paraphrasing, a punk rocker put it like this: “We knew we were in trouble when we saw how excited people got over the swastika.” In my analysis, what happened was a symbol that only had a wholly negative, and therefore, read as little more than “Fuck off”, got appropriated by a political movement (politicized racism amoung the youth) which necessarily had to state its goals as positives–Sid Vicious’ “DESTROY” became some skinhead’s “Vote Tory and Beat Up Pakis.” That’s the issue with a negative symbol, there’s always nutjob political movements ready to sieze them.
About two months ago, I was at someone who had TV’s house and watching a documentary on skinheads in the US–it wasn’t a talking-head style documentary, it was a guy with a camera, no voiceovers, just taping a bunch of angry kids in Savannah, Georgia, as they started fights with locals, went to metal shows, watched triumph of the will & drank beer, etc. It was interesting as far as directoral technique, as well as disturbing.
One of them had an ornate chaos star tattooed on his arm. Whoops.
March 26th, 2006 at 3:33 am
Exactly right, Joe. I used to have several “Sharps” as roomies and this subject came up a lot at ska shows, where folks would get confused (to say the least).
March 26th, 2006 at 3:57 am
I’ve known more than a few Skinheads in my time; SHARPs, ARA Skins, Quasi-Nazi idiots and just plain old bigots and morons. Oh, and a few black Skinheads, too.
I posted that because it was so boldly stated, and the LPA has an interesting way of looking at things.
It’s not really as outrageous as it seems.
The Spirit of 69
Trojan Skinheads
Look at modern “American” entertainment, and tell me if you don’t see the same pattern repeating itelf now. Just turn on MTV for a minute — or don’t.
March 26th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Channel Null said:
“Malcom McLaren and the Sex Pistols popularized the Nazi Swastika as a fashion item in the UK; {big snip} … which was the same as the pirate’s skull and crossbones, a big middle finger.”
I just stumbled on this article that touches on similar themes, via Occult Design (http://occultdesign.blogspot.com/)
http://www.sleekmag.com/sitemap/is_10/Vanities/home.html
(No this ain’t no viral marketing. I smack you one time.)
March 27th, 2006 at 4:43 pm
Around these parts (San Fernando Valley), it’s always been: White Power skins, Two-Tone skins, and SHARP skins (with the occasional “Clockwork Orange” punks who dress up as Droogs). I was always told that the Two-Tones were the OG skins, that WP skins were the bastardization, and SHARP was the counter-reaction.
I imagine that, in two more deacdes, there will be White Power gangsta rappers. I think there already are some in Europe.