Racism in Alternative Subculture
Not So Inclusive Movements of Self-Epression
Fury Basso-Davis | February 4, 2025
Alternative culture exists outside the boundaries of pop culture and thrives within various subcultures that have their own aesthetics and values. These subcultures include emo, punk, heavy metal, goth and more. Some of these splinter into smaller niche subgenres such as screamo, anarcho-punk and nu metal creating even richer and diverse alternative culture. A lot of the fashion required do not allow a lot of wiggle room for those who might not have the right hair for certain hairstyles or are seen not to be doing enough to be part of said subculture. Since that is the case, within all these subcultures, there tends to be ingrained racism and exclusion of People of Color (POC).
According to Britannica, the skinhead movement originated in the 1960s in working-class neighborhoods of London that rejected normativity. Even though many skinheads are and were associated with violence, others in the subculture viewed it as an expression of alternative values and communal solidarity. The Skinhead movement was not originally based on politics, but rather style. During the 70s and 80s, the movement spread to Australia, North America and Europe, especially Germany.
Over the years, the movement has amassed a subgroup of neo-Nazis. Though their beliefs do not align with white power groups, their style has been adopted and claimed as their own. Skinheads Against Racist Prejudice (SHARPS) are also a large portion of the movement.
In an interview conducted by Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSC), the interviewee, Kevin explains that more traditional skins might be more accepting of gay skins than someone who identifies with the neo-Nazi aspect, and that there are differing views on gender as well.
“Some skinheads have traditional views of women and basically believe that women should have more of a back-seat role, and some are more liberal in their views,” Kevin said.
Racist Skinheads: Understanding the Threat, calls them the most dangerous radical-right threats facing law enforcement today, going after Jews, Black people and the LGBTQ+ community, they also happen to be very hard to track down. They organize into either small groups or act individually and frequently move around, even networking and organize across regions.
According to Racist Skinhead an article published by SPLC, “Some police departments now have bias-crime detectives, with many focused on local threats racist skinhead crews have posed. Racist skinheads have also become a regular element in prisons and juvenile corrections facilities, further exemplifying the central role bigotry plays in shaping our criminal justice system.”
In November 1988, three racist skinheads in Portland, Oregon, beat Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw to death with baseball bats. In a 2006 article from SPLC, John Daly, a professional golfer told his story about how he was forced to join a neo-Nazi skinhead gang, and discussed how he enjoyed it until he was outed as a Jew. In October of 1990, they found out his secret and lured him to a late-night skinhead party where he was beaten, stomped and nearly drowned by seven other skinheads.
This specific movement surfaced in Texas in the 80s and moved across the United States and became established in dozens of states and is responsible for some of the most violent hate crimes from arson to murder. Skinheads wear punk attire such as combat boots, leather jackets and are adorned in neo-Nazi and white power tattoos.
Like Racist Skinheads, black metal spreads neo-Nazi messages as well. According to Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC,) Heavy Metal has been linked to Satanism and the occult, but now what was once done for shock value is very real, and has evolved into an attempt to spread neo-Nazi values among America’s youth. According to the same article, the current generation black metal underground is so extreme it makes men like Marilyn Manson, a sex offender, look “normal.”
Black metal emerged around the same time that the Nazi Punk movement spread across the United States. The English black metal band Venom coined the term and their songs about Satan inspired a generation. Black metal bands are extremely anti-Christian by definition and some still follow this because of the belief of Satan as a deity while others think of themselves as independent and who are opposed to the hive mind of Christianity.
In “Black Metal Spreads Neo-Nazi Hate Message,” an article from SPLC, they write about how over the last few years, Black metal’s popularity has increased in the United States. Neo-Nazism and the hatred of Jews as well as POC have been the backbone of the black metal scene which has caused hateful alliances across subcultures
Dolls Kill, a relatively popular alternative fashion brand, came under fire for releasing a line of hoodies and shirts with the phrase "GOTH IS WHITE." This implies that you must be white or you cannot be goth. After being called out, Dolls Kill made a statement saying the line intended to say goths can wear white too.
“Being pale or explicitly white was never a prescribed requirement to be within the scene,” Dani Buckly, a writer for Styled, said.
Kat Von D, a staple in the goth scene, went under fire for her antisemitic behavior and relationships. Her boyfriend at the time was connected to Nazism and was seen in a photo doing the Nazi salute while holding two fingers to his nose, according to People Magazine
Another instance is from the makeup palette she came out with in 2015 in which one of her shades was named “selektion,” which was the process of designating inmates either for murder or forced labor at a Nazi concentration camp. After recieving the backlash and accusations of being a neo-Nazi, she uploaded an eleven minute video to her Youtube channel.
“Just to set the record straight from the beginning, I just want to say I am not anti-Semitic… those are the ones that really don't sit well with me," Von D said. "I mean, if anything, they are extremely offensive and super-hurtful. Not just to me but to my family."
The alternative community is somewhere for people who feel like outcasts to go and feel connected to people like them, and in a world where POC are already ostracized, it is hard to fit into a community where racism is so far embedded. So next time you are at a DIY show, do not punch a Nazi, protect the people who are impacted before resorting to violence.
Here are some BIPOC Alternative Bands to check out!