American Militancy: SHARP and the History of Skinheads

One of the most well-known racist images in this world, is also the most misrepresented image of all time. Skinheads often evoke images of hate and racism, mixed with neo Nazism and nationalism. However, that is not how the skinhead movement started.

(Photo credit: SPLC)

To understand the skinhead movement, we should look back to England in the 1960s, and an influx of Jamaican immigrants. It started with working class children who were looking for something new and different. They found appeal in the music and culture that accompanied the Jamaican immigrants. It was a mesh of the two cultures that created the original skinhead culture.

Skinheads had a specific culture that was centered on music and fashion. They had their own look and own feel. The media of the time, though, didn’t see it as such. During that time in England, actual racism was very prevalent. Open racism was an everyday occurrence, even acceptable behavior. The media used the skinhead movement as a scapegoat for the racist beliefs.

(Photo credit: Subcultz)

It wasn’t until the 1970s that actual racism became part of the skinhead movement. It started with the new generation entering the movement that had grown up with all the false reports of racism in the movement. One of the main things that really influenced the racist side of the movement was the release of the book “Skinheads” by Richard Allen. Many younger skinheads looked up to Richard Allen because his look personified the fashion aspect of the culture. The crux to this, was that Richard Allen was racist to the core.

This was also the same time that politics entered the skinhead world. The National Front was a large influence in Britain at the time, and it began to infiltrate the skinhead movement. The National Front is a far right political party that had no real political influence at the time, but did have a significant cultural impact. That was the beginning of the racist skinheads.

(Photo credit: Derek Ridgers)

While music was still the basis of the skinhead movement at the time, it was starting to show vast cultural differences than how it originally started. Both the racist side, and non-racist side enjoyed the mixture of Reggae and Punk which came to be known as two-tone. The Rude Boys were a very popular two-tone band at the time. But soon, most Two-tone bands started to see the definitive racism and wanted to disassociate from the skinhead culture.

(Photo credit: Emaze)

In the 1980s, the skinhead culture took on a harder, less culturally inclusive feel. Oi! was a subgenre of punk that conveyed this feeling. It was hard, aggressive, angry punk. It turned the peaceful music loving culture into an angry, gang like, street fighter culture. This music took hold because it was a time of major economic hardship that had the majority of the population in a hopeless situation. It was the riot of Southall. Southall was a city with a large Asian population. At the time, there was a gathering of Oi! Bands that were performing at the Hambrough Tavern. Most of these bands had a large right wing following and eventually their fans took to the streets, and in classic mob mentality style, started a riot that ended up targeting anyone, and anything that was not part of the white race. By the end of the night the Hambrough tavern had been burned to the ground, and Oi! Music had been banned in England. From that point on, skinheads became known exclusively as racists.

In the early 1990s, the original skinheads made the move to take back their culture. They started Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP). Roddy Moreno produced a record with SHARP that started bringing the anti-fascist and anti-racist into the mainstream. SHARP wanted to change the perception of skinheads as not being the racist movement that it appeared to be at the time.

While the perception of skinheads still evokes imagery of racism, it is starting to slowly migrate back to the music and fashion roots that it originally started as. There are still older generation skinheads who are part of the original culture of reggae, rock, ska, and soul music, and the red Doc Martins, Simmons jackets, and button up shirts.

SHARP has had it’s own growth and off branches as well. One of which is Red and Anarchist Skinheads (RASH) who were formed in 1993 to battle the anti-gay sentiment that was prevalent in the fascist skinhead movement. Other groups that were influenced by the skinhead movement include Rock Against Racism, and Love Music Hate Racism.

(Article by Jonathan Anderson)