Gangland

Skinheads

The skinhead phenomenon emerged in the mid 1960's among Great Britain's working class youth. Drawn together by the upbeat tempos of Ska music and reggae, early skinheads developed a look drawn from their blue-collar origins – steel-toe boots, straight-leg jeans, button down shirts and suspenders. The close-cropped hairstyles may have been in defiance of the more bourgeois, hippie culture popular at the time.

By the early 1970s, the skinhead movement had splintered into numerous subcultures. Many formed violent gangs with close ties to white supremacist groups like the National Front and the British Movement, playing on underlying resentments held by some who blamed non-white immigrants for economic and social problems. In response, anti-racist skinhead gangs begin to form.

In the late 70s, embraced by the emerging punk rock scene, skinhead culture began to spread to other countries – including the United States. By the mid-80s, American skinheads numbered in the thousands. As in England, their views encompass the entire political spectrum. However, they become notoriously known – and feared – for their most racist and violent subculture, the neo-Nazi skinheads.

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