News
Hate Metal Music is Part of White Supremacist Circles
By Patrick Condon and Todd
Richmond
The Associated Press
MILWAUKEE Wisconsin (AP) —
When they aren’t ranting in Internet forums,
many of the nation’s white supremacists
seek a louder outlet for their extreme views:
thunderous, thrashing heavy metal or punk
The National Alliance,
a prominent white-
power organization,
sometimes cleared
$1 million a year in
profit from music,
books and
magazines, video
games and other
supremacy products
with lyrics that call for a race war.
Wade Michael Page, the gunman who
killed six people at a Sikh temple in Wis-
consin before being killed by police, was
deeply involved in the “hate rock’’ scene —
a shadowy world of hundreds of performers
in the U.S. and Europe, most of them play-
ing metal or hardcore punk. Some also play
country, folk and other genres.
Largely unknown to most Americans, this
musical subculture is an integral part of
neo-Nazi circles, offering a way for like-
minded followers to connect with each
other and socialize, recruit new members
and raise money for their cause.
“It really was a good political weapon for
the agenda,’’ said Jason Stevens, who once
fronted a white-power band called Intimida-
tion One in Portland, Ore.
Page played guitar and bass with Intimi-
dation One in the early part of the last
decade. He also appeared in bands named
Definite Hate and End Apathy.
Stevens, who turned his back on white
supremacy in 2004 and now owns a small
business, said he was shocked to hear that a
friend he remembered as “mellow and
quiet’’ had committed such a heinous crime.
The two last talked on the phone in 2010,
and Stevens said Page was “his usual laid-
back self.’’ At the time, Stevens said, he had
a job at a Colorado metalworking shop.
Stevens said money raised by his band’s
tours and record sales was often funneled to
legal defense funds for white supremacists
charged with federal crimes, including
Randy Weaver, whose 1992 standoff with
federal agents in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, left a
U.S. marshal and two Weaver family mem-
bers dead.
The music “brings in more revenue than
virtually anything else,’’ said Brian Levin, a
criminal justice professor at California State
University at San Bernardino, who has con-
sulted for the FBI and other federal agencies
on white supremacists.
The National Alliance, a prominent white-
power organization, sometimes cleared $1
million a year in profit from music, books
and magazines, video games and other
supremacy products, Levin said.
One of the most influential white-
supremacist record labels, Resistance
Records, often sold hate-rock albums for
$14.88 — “14’’ represented the 14 words in
a popular skinhead mantra, and “8’’ pointed
to “H’’ as the eighth letter of the alphabet.
Hate rock concerts
and festivals are
commonly held on
private land. Smaller
shows are held at
clubs or bars, with the
groups often
concealing their
ideology from venue
owners
“Doubling it up stood for `Heil Hitler,’’’
said Todd Blodgett, a former Reagan White
House aide who once had an ownership
stake in Resistance Records but later
informed on white supremacist groups for
Intimidation One, of Portland, Ore.
the FBI.
Senior leaders of the groups see hate rock
as the most effective way to recruit young
followers, said Blodgett, who said he never
held racist views but got wrapped up in far-
right organizations without knowing the full
implications of their beliefs.
The band now viewed as the pioneer of
hate rock was called Skrewdriver, hailing
from Britain’s skinhead scene in the late
1970s and pioneering a genre called “Oi,’’
which sounds similar to punk bands of the
period such as the Sex Pistols.
The genre quickly spread to the U.S. and
mushroomed in the early 1980s. The Inter-
net enabled much wider distribution of the
music, with many of its so-called record
labels run by a single person with a post-
office box.
Not all the music is abrasive. Current per-
formers featured on the Resistance Records
website include Saga, a Swedish singer who
sings about how “this is the way my race
ends’’ in a lilting voice that recalls Sarah
McLachlan. White supremacists have
rebranded their version of folk music as
“volk,’’ using the German word for “peo-
ple.’’
Still, aggressive punk and metal are hate
rock’s main outlets. That was what Page
played while fronting End Apathy. Heidi
Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center
tried to decipher Page’s lyrics, but found
them mostly unintelligible beyond choruses
of “Sieg Heil.’’
Label 56, the Baltimore-based outfit that
released End Apathy’s music, on Monday
removed from its website all images and
products related to the band, and denounced
Page’s actions. An email inquiry sent
through the outfit’s website did not get an
immediate response.
Hate rock concerts and festivals are com-
monly held on private land. Smaller shows
are held at clubs or bars, with the groups
often concealing their ideology from venue
owners.
“You’ll see a lot of machismo, a lot of
aggression,’’ said Pete Simi, a University of
Nebraska-Omaha social scientist who’s
done field research into hate groups and
attended shows.
“It’s a very hyper-masculine space. The
men will have their T-shirts off, and most
See HATE on page 7
Group Accuses 5 Florida School Districts of Discrimination
By Melissa Nelson-Gabriel
The Associated Press
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Black children in five Flori-
da school districts are suspended from school, arrested at
school or given other punishments at a higher rate than
other students, according to a federal civil rights complaint
filed on Tuesday.
The Southern Poverty Law Center said the complaint,
filed with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil
Rights, was based on a year-long study of disciplinary
actions taken by Florida School Districts.
“Many Florida School districts criminalize children for
the most-minor, nonviolent infractions such as dress code
violations and cell phone infractions that result in lengthy
out-of-school suspensions, corporal punishment, school
arrests and expulsions for children as young as eight and
nine years old,’’ Stephanie Langer, an attorney for the cen-
ter, said at a news conference. “African-American children
across the nation and in the state of Florida are subjected to
these unforgiving disciplinary measures at alarmingly high-
er rates than their white counterparts.’’
Langer said the Bay, Escambia, Flagler, Okaloosa and
Suwanee county school districts were found to be the worst
offenders.
The complaint asks the federal government to investigate
the districts and use its oversight to change the policies.
Malcolm Thomas, superintendent of the 40,000-student
Escambia County School District, said the district will com-
ply with all requests for information. But Thomas said his
Page 6 The Seattle Skanner
August 8, 2012
district does not base student discipline on race.
“I’d love to see zero suspensions, but that is not reality,’’
he said. ``It’s not about race. If we discriminate, we dis-
criminate against bad behavior. If you are getting in trouble,
it’s not because of your color.’’
According the study by the Southern Poverty Law Center,
black students make up 36 percent of Escambia County
School District’s population and 65 percent of out-of-
The study found that 16
percent of Flagler County’s
students are black and 31
percent of all out-of-school
suspensions are African-
American.
school suspensions.
Thomas said he couldn’t verify the center’s numbers, but
that school has reduced its overall number of out-of-school
suspensions in recent years from 7,482 in 2007-2008 to
4,251 in the 2010-2011.
“We have a standard discipline for all students. If there
are more black students who are suspended, it is because
there are a disproportionate number of black students com-
mitting offenses.’’
Flagler County School District attorney Kristy Gavin says
her 13,000-student district is gathering documents to
respond to the allegations and will cooperate with any
requests for data from federal authorities. Gavin said she
had not had time to review all of the allegations in the
lengthy complaint, and could not comment about specific
charges.
The study found that 16 percent of Flagler County’s stu-
dents are black and 31 percent of all out-of-school suspen-
sions are African-American.
The three other districts named in the complaint did not
immediately respond to calls from The Associated Press.
The study by the civil rights group found that black stu-
dents are 15 percent of Bay County’s student population
and 30 percent of out-of-school suspensions, 12 percent of
Okaloosa County School District’s study population and 12
percent of out-of-school suspensions and 14 percent of the
Suwane County School District’s population with 31 per-
cent of the out-of-school suspensions.
Jackie Brazzell’s son attends high school in Okaloosa
County. Brazzell said he has been unfairly targeted by
school officials.
``My son has been humiliated, traumatized by school offi-
cials. He’s been told he will never be an A student. My son
is a regular, kind-hearted teenager who enjoys skateboard-
ing and playing football. I’ve done everything I can to sup-
port him and his dream,’’ she said.