Are Skinheads Racist? Technically, They're Not: A Look at the Two Different Types of Skinheads

Throughout history, there has been a lot of people in the world who's had a bad reputation, and granted, many of those people deserve it - terrorists, the KKK, Nazi's, gangs, the list could go on. Although however, there is at least one group of people who have earned their bad reputation from unfortunate events and having the wrong kind of the people become active in the scene instead of bringing it upon themselves. These people are what you would call Skinheads.

Now before you jump to conclusions, hold on just for a moment. It might sound crazy for someone to justify these people, but what do you really know about Skinheads? When most people think of Skinheads, the first thing that comes to mind is often a racist Neo-Nazi white male with unsightly tattoos all over their body and a generally threatening demeanor. They might even think of someone like this being affiliated with the KKK. How about a Redneck? Sometimes, that's the case. Except all of this couldn't be farther from the truth. There's two sides to be evaluated here, with two very different types of Skinheads, so lets start with the history of this group.

It all began in the United Kingdom - back in the late 1950s and early 1960s when people had more disposable income to spend however they pleased. A lot of the young people spent their money on high end fashion trends that were brought about by US R&B groups, British rock bands, and even movie stars. These young people became known as Mods, which would be known for their consumerism, devotion to fashion, music, and scooters, which was a major staple in this subculture.

Of course, not everybody during the time could afford to keep up with such trends, and this caused two other very specific subcultures to split off from the Mods. The Peacock Mods (also known as the Smooth Mods) always had the latest fashions and were known as being the least violent of Mods, while the Hard Mods were more working class; with significantly less money, they opted for boots, straight legged jeans, button down shirts, and suspenders. When they did have money, they'd spend it on suits and other classy outfits that they could wear to dance halls where they'd enjoy music of the ska, rocksteady, and reggae genres. These people often had closely shaven heads (mostly for workforce reasons, and ease of maintenance), which is where the term Skinhead arose from. By the late 1960s, it was what they were commonly known as.

These Skinheads were not racist, seeing as the original Skinhead subculture was compromised of both whites and blacks - of course there is always the exception with anything, but as a group, Skinheads did not care about the color of a persons skin, and many weren't even too big on politics. With most of their influence on style and music coming from the Rude Boys of Jamaica (many of them were now in Britain which helped quicken the mixing of cultures), it wasn't unheard of to see these two people groups of people together often, especially at dance halls where they could enjoy the 2tone ska beats. They focused on working, living, staying true to their friends, and, mostly, enjoying music.

Things wouldn't stay so simple for too long, though. The 1970s came, and Skinhead subculture itself began to split off into even more subcultures. Many formed gangs that would have close ties to white supremacist groups such as the British Movement and the National Front, who believed that many of the socio-economic problems existed because of the non-white emigrants in the UK. Even Neo-Nazi's began to take the Skinhead name and warp it. It's because of this, when people think of Skinheads, they think of white supremacists. It's worth knowing that while the white supremacist subculture (aka Neo-Nazi Skinheads) still exist in large numbers, but so do anti-racist Skinheads These anti-racist Skinheads are called SHARP's, which stands for Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice.

Believe it or not, the SHARP culture is incredibly big for a small subculture, especially here in the US. During the 1970s with the emergence of punk rock, the Skinhead (traditional and anti-racist, of course) culture began to really make a comeback. Most noticeably this could be examined with political and anarcho-punk rock bands, and even more with third-wave Ska music that found its heightened popularity in the 1990s. While the former often had major issues with the government and politics with lots to say about it, the latter focused more on enjoying life and having a good time just like the traditional Skinheads. Either way, together they still believed in the same things -- unity, good music, equality, and having a good time.