How did a subculture with such great origins get smeared with hate, and ripped off by ignorant unoriginal nazis? The mod movement came up in the early 60s in England: post-war economic boom, consumerism, mod culture, R&B, and soul music. Mod culture is defined by their Austin power vibe and racing around on scooters through London in the 50s. There became two types of mods, soft mods who just wanted to dance around. And hard mods, aka Lemonheads or peanuts. Hard mods were gangsters who liked to get into fights as a pastime, compared to their counterparts. The skinhead movement came from hard mods. They shaved their heads in defiance of the hippie movement.
In addition to mods, the skinhead movement was also fueled by Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and early reggae. The roots of skinhead culture were all about uniting, they were the original tolerant, anti-racist, and anti-violent kids. Chilling with Jamaican immigrants and dancing in suits.
In the second wave (1970s) punk rock was introduced. Most of the skinheads at the time reacted to the commercialism of punk by adopting a look that was in line with the original 1969 skinhead style. But at this point, skinheads had strayed from their mod roods and even before this, there was a war between mods and rockers as the rockers saw mods as weedy, effeminate snobs. With the decay of the working class and the rise of punk, the movement grew stronger.
The skinhead style is mistaken as basic if you don’t know what you’re looking at. It’s characterized by military boots, short hair (No.2 No.3 clip guards), or fully razored off. Bomber jackets, suspenders but not the thick lumberjack kinds, no thicker than 1 inch thick. Sometimes splotchy bleached, straight-leg jeans, mohair jumpers, and polo shirts. A very traditional look to the average working-class British man in the 80s and a timeless yet hardcore look.
But during this movement, in the 70s, because of the poor economic climate in England, far-right fascist groups started recruiting young skinheads cause they were already angry and on the dole. They turned the angry working-class kids against their immigrant neighbors with propaganda. Racist skinheads came into the ballpark, they traveled in packs and tormented minorities, especially East Asian and Jewish people. They looked like a skinhead with buzzed hair and combat boots but they usually had thicker suspenders, white or red laces on their boots, and symbols to identify each other. Identifying each other became a big thing, they stole symbols and made phrases to identify each other in public, especially lace code. They didn’t have a place from the start and didn’t hold the values of their so-called roots, neo nazi wanna-be baldies existed after the unifying working-class ones existed. To combat the racists on the rise, the term trojans and S.H.A.R.Ps (skinheads against racial prejudice) was coined to differentiate them. That didn’t stop the mainstream media from using the term skinhead in reports of racist violence. regardless of whether the perpetrator was a skinhead; this has played a large role in skewing public perceptions about the subculture, even though the majority of skinheads are not racist.
Even a seemingly liberal city like Portland, Oregon, has a past with racist skinheads. Portland’s skinhead wars began in the 1980s and frequently spilled into public places, including Pioneer Courthouse Square, often called the city’s living room. on Nov. 13, 1988, three racist skinheads in East Side White Pride (a racist group) beat to death an Ethiopian college student, Mulugeta Seraw, with a baseball bat. 28 years ago a sharp skinhead (jon bair) shot a racist skinhead (Erik Bank) in 13000 SE Stark St during a fight between sharps and neo nazis. Both racist and non-racist skinheads still exist today. I have seen my fair share of boneheads with Totenkopfs plastered on their arms and cropped hair walking around pretending to be skinheads. Their population is going down now that there is no space for them in public especially at punk shows. The second they talk into the door of any venue they get trampled and bombarded with flying steel-toe boots. The way god intended. Even though there are not a lot of self-proclaimed baldie punk rockers with swastika flags in their rooms, there are still racist organizations trying to adopt the skinhead look. With Walmart brand combat boots, Fred Perry polo shirts, and shaved heads.
I’m passionate about this because I have a whole army of S.H.A.R.P friends who would rather eat glass than Sieg Heil. We as a society shouldn’t let racists take our stuff. They can make their own stuff up and stop leeching off already existing movements, dragging them down. Lace code is a sham and all it does is give in what they want; to identify each other. It’s like giving them a platform. We shouldn’t hand things to claim them in fear of them. We must reclaim the things they stole, wear whatever lace color we want, and shave our heads. Of course, there is a nasty history with the subculture and we should remember and understand when any such violence or hate is resurfaced. But the bottom line is that racists weren’t here first, they weren’t the ones roughing up yuppies with bike chains and dancing two-tone with their friends in all-black night clubs in the ’60s so they don’t deserve the title skinhead. The only enemies of a true skinhead are policemen and sellout drum circle hippies with their crystal deodorant.
