Skinheads (from old days to now days)

These days, it seems everyone thinks all skinheads are racist. Thanks to the mass-media (looking for a sensationalized story to sell papers and air-time), and the increased growth of the racist right's organizing efforts in North America, the skinhead subculture has been stolen and demonized by racists. The original skinheads first appeared in England in the late 1960's, growing out of the "rude-boy" and "hard-mod" movements. White, working-class kids who couldn't afford to keep up with the increasingly expensive tastes of the mod movement adopted their own, hard mod, style, placing their emphasis on clean, practical clothing and hairstyles suitable for work and on taking pride in being working class. An influx of working-class immigrants from the West Indies brought the hard mods into direct contact with the Carribean youth subculture of the rude boys, who introduced the hard mods to the joys of ska and reggae and the rugged individualism that was their trademark. Never at odds with each other, the members of these two youth subcultures united, and skinheads were the result. The original skins were black and white, and listened to ska music (a faster, more danceable predecessor to reggae), as well as soul and blue beat. These skins had a tough, clean style which expressed their working-class backgrounds, wearing Doc Marten workboots, Levis jeans, donkey jackets, and suspenders (called "braces"). At dances they would wear flashy suits, and youth from Britain and the West Indies would mix freely, openly admiring and adapting each other's music, style and culture. Racial violence by "skinheads" was practically non-existent at this point. How could there be when the skinhead style grew out of black culture, and skins listened to black music?! (for this reason, we call neo-nazis "boneheads" because they are an abomination to where real skinheads come from and a betrayal to the real skinhead culture). Obviously, the skinhead subculture can truly claim to be one of the only youth movements with multicultural roots. It is true that skinheads were often linked to violence (which was frequently mindless). Skinheads frequently got into scraps with other subcultures, the police, and towards the end, other skinheads. This eventually led to their downfall, and by 1972 the original skins were a rare breed. Out of the punk rock explosion of the late 70's grew Oi!, a street level movement of kids dedicated to bringing punk back to its angry roots. Oi! bands sung about real issues faced by youth in the UK, such as unemployment, prison, authority, etc., and many of the original and most revered bands had an obvious left-wing slant (such as SHAM 69, THE BUSINESS, and the ANGELIC UPSTARTS). Since the skinhead movement is a movement for and about working-class youth, this political leaning only makes sense. Following the popularity of OI!, the NATIONAL FRONT (a fascist political party which at the time was at its height in Britain), eager to recruit young, expendable cannon fodder to do their dirty work for them in street fights, began to attempt to co-opt the skinhead image. It is at this point (more than a decade after the original birth of the skinhead movement) that the first racist and neo-nazi "skinheads" also began to appear. A bastardization of the original racially-mixed skinhead movement, they sought easy scapegoats to the problems of unemployment and recession, blaming immigrants, blacks, and other minorities instead of the conservative British government (then under Maggie "the vampire" Thatcher). Nazi bonehead bands such as SKREWDRIVER and BRUTAL ATTACK, and organizations like BLOOD & HONOR (a racist bonehead network) made the message popular Of course, the mass media helped the nazis along by giving them exposure without debate. Interested only in selling papers, the media refused to allow anti-racist skins a voice, effectively silencing those who directly fought this nazi-resurgence on the streets, and flooding the skin scene with right-wing scum. Despite this setback, real anti-racist skins continued to fight on for their tradition by organizing Oi! against racism concerts, and physically fighting nazis out of the streets and shows. It was at this point that the real skins also gave rise to the Two-Tone ska movement, which strongly condemned the racist boneheads. Multiracial ska bands like The Specials, Bad Manners, Madness & The Selecter rose to the top of the charts, building ska to the height of its popularity and promoting multiracial unity along the way. People ask why we don't just give up being skins, since we get attacked both by the right for being anti-racist, and the left and general public who think all skins are racist. To this,we answer that skinhead is our identity. We believe in it. It is who we are. We are proud of what being a skin really stands for (and not the racist shit preached by the right and the media), and we want to create a culture that expresses our ideals. In short, being a skin is our life, and we won't let anyone take that away from us. Many skins argue that we should keep our beliefs out of the scene. To this we argue that being a skin means standing up for what you believe in, and having pride in it. We hate the rich, the police, the nazis and the politicians. We want change because we're tired of being screwed over, and we want a better world. Politics affects our lives, and we're sick of letting others "crucify" us without a fight. We're proud of our beliefs because they are a part of who we are and where we want to go. And we're working-class skins who want a change, so our beliefs belong at the shows, clubs, and dancehalls "Fencewalkers" are skins who refuse to take sides, but claim to be into "unity". We argue that there can be no "unity" with boneheads who are a blight on the authentic skinhead culture and have no place in our scene. In the coming battle you have to choose sides-the nazis or us. And you'd better know which side of the fence you stand on.
 
 
 
 

arzlan
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