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Hammerskin Nation

A Skinhead is a member of any of various groups of white British or American youths who shave their heads, gather at rock concerts and sports events, and sometimes participate in white supremacist and anti-immigrant activities. The earliest "skinheads" in Great Britain were working-class youths from the poorer strata of society, who were concentrated in the East End of London. The skinhead appearance consisted of short hair, work jeans, or stay-pressed trousers, plain button-down Ben Sherman or Fred Perry shirts, black felt "donkey jackets," "Blue Beat" hats, and high dockworker boots. The violence of the skinheads reflected the ideals of super masculinity and machismo. The primary target for skinhead violence in England was the Pakistanis, who were sharply differentiated in British society by racial characteristics, religious rituals, food taboos, and a value system that encouraged deference, frugality, and the profit motive.

In America the skinheads are basically a youth movement. Joining the skinheads is the first step in recruitment of a young person interested in becoming involved in the white supremacy movement. Unlike Britain and Europe, American skinheads are a "suburban and small-town phenomenon" (Ridgeway, 1990). American skinheads are also more violent when confronted by minorities than are their European counterparts. In America the single most stated reason for joining the Skinhead Nation is to fight for the survival of the White race. Skinhead violence in America was once random and impulsive, but recently the violence has become more organized and planned.

Juveniles join gangs for many reasons. One of those reasons is because young juveniles want to belong to a gang for protection against other gangs, other juveniles, or adults. Juveniles join gangs for excitement and companionship of kids their age. Juveniles look up to senior gang members much the same as we look to an idol or a mentor.

When Feral House first published the award-winning book "Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground" in 2015, little was known about the "black metal" genre of music, or how many of its members were involved in the murder of citizens, the torching of churches, or its link to Fascist ideas.

Hammerskin Nation is the country's largest Nazi skinhead gang. By 1999 the group known as Hammerskin Nation (HN) was the best organized, most widely dispersed, and most dangerous Skinhead group known. Hammerskin Nation, is one of the most violent and well organized of the white supremacist groups. In the mid-1990s, many U.S.-based racist skinhead groups allied with one another to form the Hammerskin Nation (HSN). HSN eventually developed chapters throughout the United States and in Europe.

While white supremacist organizations used to be segmented into two populations: those who wanted to attain power through violent revolution and those who wanted to attain power nonviolently through public persuasion; however, the distinction has recently blurred. Many supremacist groups will now couch their message in mainstream language but privately condone terrorist acts. Supremacist groups have even found their way into local government.

Young people are being recruited into extremist organizations through the use of professional­ looking publications and music.

For more than a decade, the conventional view of Skinheads by law enforcement and even some white supremacists was that they were little more than drunken street thugs. Skinheads were seen as dysfunctional youth who were in and out of jail and prone to fighting among themselves. In this context, the Hammerskins first appeared in the late 1980's as the Dallas-based Confederate Hammerskins and spread to other States.

By 1989, HN emerged as the unifying organization for dispersed groups and became global within a few years. Like outlaw motorcycle gangs such as Hell's Angels, HN has a strict recruitment policy that requires not only face time with prospective members but also a 3-month probationary period. Unlike criminal street gangs, however, HN had a focused and relatively sophisticated political outlook. The organizational form adopted by HN consists of single, decentralized, autonomously organized cells united on the basis of a common commitment to national socialist ideology.

Loyalty to HN is paramount, but Hammerskins are permitted to also join neo-Nazi groups such as the National Alliance and Aryan Nations. Prospective members undergo a probationary period, pay dues to the organization and pledge their loyalty. It's such a serious promise that Hammerskin members have been known to hunt down defectors and cut the white power tattoos from their bodies. Some leaders of HN have been in prison for violent crimes ranging from assaults and bombings to attempted murder and murder, and HN vigorously and effectively recruits within juvenile correctional facilities. In the early 2000s, other groups such as the Outlaw Hammerskins, Hoosier State Hammerskins, and Ohio State Skinheads challenged HSN for preeminence. These groups saw HSN as “elitist.”

Between 2007 and 2009, skinheads were involved in 36 of the 53 violent incidents the FBI identified in the United States as being tied to m “white supremacist extremism” (WSE) proponents. The Bureau has stated that “violence is an integral part of the racist skinhead subculture.” Elements within the fractious movement even target one another. These criminal acts are typically unrehearsed and opportunistic, targeting nonwhites and “other religious and social minorities.”

It had its own annual meeting/concert called Hammerfest, ran a record label, and had a publishing company. Even as they engaged in fewer and smaller public events, white supremacists continued to enthusiastically attend private events. Hammerfest, an annual hate rock concert and racist skinhead convention, was by far the largest white supremacist event of 2018. The gathering, hosted by the West Coast chapter of the Hammerskin Nation, was also a celebration of the group's 30th anniversary and brought more than 150 attendees to San Diego, California. Private white supremacist conferences organized by groups such as American Renaissance, League of the South, American Freedom Party, and the Council of Conservative Citizens were also well attended.

The Skinhead movement is active in 33 countries on six continents. By 1995 it numbered some 70,000 youth worldwide, of whom half are hardcore activists and the rest supporters. The countries where Skinheads are found in the greatest numbers are Germany (5,000), Hungary and the Czech Republic (more than 4,000 each), the United States (3,500), Poland (2,000), the United Kingdom and Brazil (1,500 each), Italy (1,000 to 1,500), and Sweden (more than 1,000). France, Spain, Canada, and the Netherlands each have at least 500 Skinheads.

Contemporary bias crime in Germany increased dramatically after unification and remained at a relatively high, though fluctuating, level for the decade. Right-wing skinheads and neo-Nazis played a significant role in the violence, but at least one third of the violent incidents came from informal groups of young males who were not affiliated. This represents a shift in anti-Semitic and antiforeigner violence from the 1980s and earlier, when the perpetrators were likely to be older and affiliated with identifiable ideological groups.

On 08 November 2017, Portugal's Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested 20 neo-Nazi Hammerskin Nation skinheads in the cities of Lisbon, Braga, and Albufeira following an investigation into racial, religious and sexual discrimination, murder, and robbery. The individuals were suspected of encouraging “violent actions” against blacks, gays, and other minorities. Using social media, the men allegedly incited “hatred, racial discrimination, persecution and physical violence.” According to Lisbon’s public prosecutors’ office, between November 2013 and September 2015, the suspects, “motivated by discrimination,” attacked various individuals and “tried to cause the death of another, as well as subjecting other individuals to violence and damage to property.” Some of those detained were suspected of involvement in an attack on a group of anti-fascist communist activists in September 2015 following an anti-immigration rally in downtown Lisbon staged by ultranationalist groups.

The Skinhead movements in these various countries are extensively linked with each other. This "Skinhead International" is maintained through the travels abroad of popular Skinhead rock bands and their fans; the worldwide marketing of Skinhead paraphernalia and recordings; the sale and trading of publications; the exchange of propaganda; and the use of electronic communications. In all the countries where they exist Skinheads engage in violence and criminal assaults on racial minorities, immigrants, homosexuals, and Jews.

The Skinhead Nation is highly organized, shares common political viewpoints, and works in concert with other right-wing hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the neo-Nazi Party on an international scale.