Modern Music
Of course, sheet music is no longer a dominant form of social media, and music's role in the white supremacist movement has significantly changed. However, music still plays a key role in networking and recruitment.
White Supremacist Metal
In "Lords of Chaos," Moynihan and Soderlind detail the Norwegian black metal scene which contributed to a series of church burnings and murders in the 1990's. While white supremacy was not the ideology of all of these bands, it was the core belief for many members of the movement. Hendrick Mobus, a German neo-Nazi and metal musician claims:
"Every race has a specific genepool, and the DNA is the source for physique and appearance as well as the collective subconscious, with its archetypal symbolism and instinctive behavior. With the human being and the difference in races and subraces nature has created such a wondrous work of art, one that only the really ignorant would be unable to recognize and would want to destroy. It has nothing to do with 'racism' when I mention that the 'white,' i.e. Indo-Germanic race, was and is, from its natural potentiality, chosen for developing superior civilization and for imperialism. The world history bequeated to us is that of the White Ones conquering the Earth."
In "American Swastika," authors Simi & Futrell also trace white supremacist music through metal bands, including Skrewdriver, one of the most well-known (now defunct) white power bands. One fan of the UK-based band claims, "The first white power song I ever heard was 'White Power' from Skrewdriver in high school... Once I heard that, it took over me. That was the attitude and feeling I had been looking for. I was already racially aware, but Skrewdriver motivated me." (Moynihan 64) Another recalls, "I had some racist views before I started listening to [white power] music, but once I heard that first Skrewdriver song, I was sold. It really did change my life. I started going to white power shows whenever I could, and I'd drive anywhere..." ( Moynihan 66)
Other modern bands (many of which are now defunct) include Youngland, End Apathy, Definite Hate, Aryan Rage, Bully Boys, Max Resist, Angry Aryans, Jewslaughter, Bound for Glory, Odin's Law, Prussian Blue, Rahowa, and Final War. Music labels that feature white supremacist records include Resistance Records, Free Your Mind Productions (previously Panzerfaust Records), NSM88 Records, Micetrap, Tightrope, MSR Productions, ISD Records, and Get Some 88 Records. "88" here refers to the phrase "Heil Hitler," as H is the 8th letter of the alphabet (thus, "88" translates to "HH"). These bands have also held large festivals that served as meeting grounds for white supremacists-- some examples include Hammerfest, Althing, Skinfest, and NordicFest. White supremacist band logos can be hard to distinguish for the unitiated. Therefore, they can become a tool for identifying other like-minded individuals in public-- while a swastika is a well-known hate symbol, would you recognize the below logo as a white supremacist one?
White Supremacist Music on Social Media
White Supremacists recognize that the best way to recruit young minds through music is to ease them in without using explicitly racist lyrics. Simi & Futrell quote one member: "Music has the potential to get through to kids like nothing else. The great thing about music is, if a kid likes it, he will dub copies for his friends and so on. This has the potential to become a grassroots, underground type movement, which we see happening already." Songs like If the South Woulda Won on Youtube are not explicitly racist, but they celebrate an alternate ending to the Civil War: "If the South woulda won, we woulda had it made. I'd probably run for President of the United States." While Youtube can quickly remove explicitly racist content (like the Klan recruitment post below), it can be slow or nonresponsive in removing racist content, as Vice investigated in 2018. Facebook has also attempted to remove white supremacist music and content, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has been active in trying to remove hate music online.
Just as it is impossible to completely eradicate white supremacy, it is also impossible to eradicate the music of the movement. Numerous online forums exist where explicitly racist or even genocidal comments are tolerated, shared, and celebrated. Here, one can find threads with dozens of comments about the best kinds of 'white' music-- whether it's Skrewdriver or Beethoven. But just as this movement searches for new ways to recruit and indoctrinate members, organizations like the Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center continue to fight back. While the elimination of white supremacy may not be possible, the unmasking of it is. In the preface to Ku Klux Klan Sheet Music, Crew warns:
"It is my hope that this book will serve as a warning for us to be wary of quick calls to partisanship, patriotism, religion, and self-promotion. While some of these causes will be legitimate, it is incumbent on us all to view such calls with a healthy degree of skepticism and it is our duty to question for hidden motivations. Evil wears many disguises and it is up to us to see beyond the public mask presented by such groups and individuals if we are to prevent another Ku Klux Klan."
Sources and Further Reading
- Abel, Lawrence E. Confederate Sheet Music. McFarland & Company, 2011.
- Burnim, Mellonee V. and Maultsby, Portia K. African American Music. Taylor & Francis Group, 2006.
- Crew, Danny. Ku Klux Klan Sheet Music: An Illustrated Catalogue of Published Music, 1867-2002. Mcfarland, 2003.
- Edwards, Bob and Corte, Ugo. White Power Music and the mobilization of racist social movements. Music and Arts in Action. Vol 1, issue 1 June 2008.
- Moynihan, Michael and Soderland, Didrik. Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House, 2003.
- Simi, Pete and Futrell, Robert. American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement's Hidden Spaces of Hate. Rowman & Littlefield, Maryland. 2015.
- Toll, Robert. Blacking Up: The Minstrel Show in Nineteenth-Century America. Oxford University Press, 1977.
- Witmark, Isidore and Goldberg, Isaac. From Ragtime to Swingtime. Lee Furman, Inc. New York 1939.