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Removed music and youth culture section as it was a discussion of cultural history that was not directly relevant to the article and contextually implied rampant racism in cultures where it was either nonexistant or exaggerated.
deleted another totally off-topic section. It had nothing at all to do with music.
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It is a multi-millon dollar industry which helps finance and recruit for "hate groups in the Western world", the internet and low air fares have helped internationalize the efforts.<ref name=pulera>Dominic J. Pulera, ''Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America'', pages 309-311.</ref> The music is more pervasive in Europe than the U.S. despite many countries banning or curtailing distribution.<ref name=pulera/> European governments regularly deport "extremist aliens", ban racist music groups and raid racist organizations that produce and distribute the music.<ref name=pulera/> As of 2001, there were albums from 123 US-based bands and 229 from other countries, mostly Europe.<ref name=pulera/> Racist music is protected [[freedom of speech in the United States]] by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]].<ref name=eatwell>Roger Eatwell, Cas Mudde, ''Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge'', Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 0415369711, 9780415369718, pages 54-5.</ref> As such the concerts serve as effective recruiting tools to bring in youth who are attracted to the music, concerts, and culture of skinheads.<ref name=eatwell/> The multimillion dollar industry is arguably most active in the U.S. bringing in funds for [[right-wing politics]] groups in the U.S. and producing music and propaganda for the rest of the world.<ref name=eatwell/> Racist music is also becoming less [[taboo]] as the Internet allows users to purchase quickly and anonymously as compared to having to go into a physical store.<ref name=umwp>David Marchese, "Ugly Hate Machine: White Power Music Takes a Digital Path to the Mainstream", ''Spin'', Jan 2009. </ref> Mainstream music retailers cite the first amendment and "[[slippery-slope]]" logic to defend racist music the right to be sold online.<ref name=umwp/>
It is a multi-millon dollar industry which helps finance and recruit for "hate groups in the Western world", the internet and low air fares have helped internationalize the efforts.<ref name=pulera>Dominic J. Pulera, ''Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America'', pages 309-311.</ref> The music is more pervasive in Europe than the U.S. despite many countries banning or curtailing distribution.<ref name=pulera/> European governments regularly deport "extremist aliens", ban racist music groups and raid racist organizations that produce and distribute the music.<ref name=pulera/> As of 2001, there were albums from 123 US-based bands and 229 from other countries, mostly Europe.<ref name=pulera/> Racist music is protected [[freedom of speech in the United States]] by the [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] to the [[United States Constitution|U.S. Constitution]].<ref name=eatwell>Roger Eatwell, Cas Mudde, ''Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge'', Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 0415369711, 9780415369718, pages 54-5.</ref> As such the concerts serve as effective recruiting tools to bring in youth who are attracted to the music, concerts, and culture of skinheads.<ref name=eatwell/> The multimillion dollar industry is arguably most active in the U.S. bringing in funds for [[right-wing politics]] groups in the U.S. and producing music and propaganda for the rest of the world.<ref name=eatwell/> Racist music is also becoming less [[taboo]] as the Internet allows users to purchase quickly and anonymously as compared to having to go into a physical store.<ref name=umwp>David Marchese, "Ugly Hate Machine: White Power Music Takes a Digital Path to the Mainstream", ''Spin'', Jan 2009. </ref> Mainstream music retailers cite the first amendment and "[[slippery-slope]]" logic to defend racist music the right to be sold online.<ref name=umwp/>

==Institutionalized racism in the U.S.==
{{under construction |comment=Restructuring section to integrating more music history and likely trimming some of the non-music history |altimage= }}
[[File:ColoredDrinking.jpg|thumb|400px|An African-American drinking at the "Colored" water cooler in an [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]] streetcar terminal in 1939. Institutionalized racism like the [[Jim Crow laws]] led to treatment and accommodations that were usually inferior to those provided for [[white American]]s, systematizing a number of economic, educational and social disadvantages.<ref>{{Cite web| last = Lee | first = Russell | title = Negro drinking at "Colored" water cooler in streetcar terminal, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | work = Prints & Photographs Online Catalog| publisher = [[Library of Congress]] Home | year = 1939 | month = July | url = http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/fsa1997026728/PP/ |accessdate = March 23, 2005}}</ref>]]

The [[American Civil War]] (1861–1865) was waged because eleven [[Southern United States|Southern slave states]] declared their [[secession]] from the U.S.<ref>The [[Origins of the American Civil War|causes of the war]], the reasons for its outcome, and even [[Naming the American Civil War|the name of the war itself]] are subjects of lingering contention today.</ref> They were opposed by the U.S. federal government with twenty mostly Northern [[Free state (United States)|free states]] in which slavery already had been abolished, and by five "border" slave states; the Northern states had a much larger base of population and industry than the South. The main focus was eliminating all forms of slavery with most slaves being blacks held by whites in the South. After four years of devastating warfare (mostly within the Southern states), the South surrendered and slavery for the South's 3.5 million blacks effectively ended and was later outlawed everywhere in the nation.<ref> Slavery for the Southern slaves ended when Union armies arrived; they were nearly all freed by the [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. Slaves in the border states and those located in some former Confederate territory occupied prior to the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by state action or (on December 18, 1865) by the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]]. </ref> The [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction Era]] began during the war (and continued to 1877) in an effort to solve the issues caused by reunion including the degree of federal control that should be imposed on the South, and the process by which Southern states should be reintegrated into the Union. These disputes became central to the political debates and underlying racism remained unresolved for generations. With the [[Compromise of 1877]], Army intervention in the South ceased followed by a period that white Southerners labeled [[Redemption (United States history)|Redemption]], in which white-dominated state legislatures enacted [[Jim Crow laws]] and (after 1890) [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disfranchised]] most blacks and many poor whites through a combination of constitutional amendments and electoral laws.<ref name="Glenn Feldman 2004, pp. 135&ndash;136">Glenn Feldman, ''The Disfranchisement Myth: Poor Whites and Suffrage Restriction in Alabama'', Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2004, pp.&nbsp;135&ndash;136 </ref><ref> [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=224731 Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", ''Constitutional Commentary'', Vol.17, 2000, p.27]. Retrieved 15 March 2008.</ref> The laws and amendments mandated [[de jure]] [[Racial segregation in the United States|racial segregation]] imposing institutionalized [[white supremacy]] and second-class citizenship for blacks in all public facilities, with a supposedly "[[separate but equal]]" status for black Americans. Jim Crow laws were in many ways a model for the [[Nuremberg Laws]], German legislation against Jews, which the Congress of the [[Nazi Party]] met to pass in 1935.<ref> [http://www.mtsu.edu/~baustin/nurmberg.html ''The Nuremberg Laws'' by Ben S. Austin]</ref> The laws monopolized the "[[New South]]" into the 1960s, when the civil rights and voting rights of African Americans were finally protected and enforced.<ref>Bruce E. Baker, ''What Reconstruction Meant: Historical Memory in the American South'' (2007)</ref>

The [[African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968)|Civil Rights Movement]] (1955–1968) aimed at outlawing [[racism|racial discrimination]] against [[African American]]s and restoring [[Suffrage|voting rights]] in Southern states. By 1966, the emergence of the [[Black Power|Black Power Movement]] (1966 to 1975) , enlarged the aims of the movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from oppression by [[white American]]s. The movement was characterized by major campaigns of [[civil resistance]], [[Nonviolence|nonviolent]] protest and civil disobedience which produced crisis situations between activists and government authorities highlighting inequities faced by African Americans in the South.<ref> Forms of protest and/or civil disobedience included [[boycott]]s, such as the successful [[Montgomery Bus Boycott]] (1955–1956) in Alabama; "[[sit-in]]s", such as the influential [[Greensboro sit-ins]] (1960) in North Carolina; and a wide range of other nonviolent activities such as the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] (1965) in Alabama.</ref> Songs and music were integral to the movement; they comforted marchers who were subject to violence and sometimes death,<ref name=sbgmusic> [http://www.sbgmusic.com/html/teacher/reference/historical/civilrights.html Music of the Civil Rights Movement], Pearson Education, Inc. </ref> they sustained the movement through hardships and hard-won successes,<ref name=nprmusic>Nick Morrison, [http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99315652 Songs of the Civil Rights Movement], [[National Public Radio]], Jan. 19, 2009. </ref> and they became "a central aspect of the cultural environment" that was "the language that focused people's energy".<ref name=smithmus> [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]], [http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2269 Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966], 1997, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. </ref> By the 1960 [[Greensboro sit-ins]], “freedom songs” were central to the movement.<ref name=yaleteach> Dennis Killian, "Understanding the music of the civil rights movement", May 6, 2008.</ref> Well known performers like [[Dion]], [[Peter, Paul and Mary]], [[The Impressions|Curtis Mayfield and The Impressions]], [[The Rascals]], [[The Staple Singers]], [[James Brown]], [[Sly and the Family Stone]], and [[Aretha Franklin]] had chart-topping “protest” or “message” songs associated with the civil rights movement.<ref name=yaleteach/> A partial list of other notable performers that also supported the movement include; [[Billie Holiday]], [[Mahalia Jackson]], [[The Freedom Singers]], [[Fannie Lou Hamer]], [[Bob Dylan]], [[Congress of Racial Equality|The CORE Freedom Singers]], [[Bernice Johnson Reagon]], [[Cordell Reagon]], [[Nina Simone]], [[Grant Green]], [[Sam Cooke]], [[Hank Crawford]], [[Jimmy McGriff]]<ref name=smithmus/><ref name=nprmusic/><ref name=sbgmusic/><ref> "Freedom Songs: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement", [[PBS]].</ref> Singer [[Harry Belafonte]] was happy to help when asked by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], [[Joan Baez]] donated the proceeds of many of her concerts to the civil rights movement.<ref name=sbgmusic/>

Opposing the Civil Rights Movement and [[desegregation]], especially in the 1950s and 1960s was the [[Ku Klux Klan]] (KKK), a name used by many independent local groups.<ref>The first Klan flourished in [[American South|the South]] in the 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. Their iconic white costumes consisted of robes, masks, and [[Pointed hat|conical hats]], and were designed to be outlandish and terrifying.(Elaine Frantz Parsons, "Midnight Rangers: Costume and Performance in the Reconstruction-Era Ku Klux Klan." ''Journal of American History'' 92.3 (2005): 811-36, in [[History Cooperative]].) The second KKK flourished nationwide in the early and mid 1920s, and adopted the same costumes and code words as the first Klan, while introducing cross burnings.</ref> They often forged alliances with Southern police departments,<ref> as in [[Birmingham, Alabama]]</ref> or with governor's offices.<ref name="McWhorter">McWhorter 2001.</ref><ref>as with [[George C. Wallace|George Wallace]] of Alabama. Several members of KKK groups were convicted of murder in the deaths of civil rights workers and children in the [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing|bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham]].</ref> The KKK make frequent reference to America's "[[English-American|Anglo-Saxon]]" and "Celtic" blood, harking back to 19th century nativism and racialism priding themselves on being descended from the original 18th century [[Thirteen Colonies|British colonial revolutionaries]].<ref>Michael Newton, ''The Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in Florida''</ref> As of 2010, researchers estimate that there may be approximately 150 Klan chapters with upwards of 5,000 members nationwide.<ref name="ADL">{{cite web|url=http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |title=About the Ku Klux Klan |publisher=Anti-Defamation League|accessdate=19 February 2010}}</ref> A Large majority of sources consider the Klan to be [[far-right]],<ref><br>* O'Donnell, Patrick (Editor), 2006. ''Ku Klux Klan America's First Terrorists Exposed'', p. 210. ISBN 1419649787.<br>* Chalmers, David Mark, 2003. ''Backfire: How the Ku Klux Klan Helped the Civil Rights Movement'', p. 163. ISBN 9780742523111.<br>* [[Chip Berlet|Berlet, Chip]]; Lyons, Matthew Nemiroff (2000). [http://➡.ws/텊﹁ Right-wing populism in America: too close for comfort].[http://books.google.com/books?id=Md1aRhWNk1QC] [[Guilford Press]]. p. 60. ISBN 9781572305625.<br>* Rory McVeigh, ''The rise of the Ku Klux Klan: right-wing movements and national politics organizations''. University of Minnesota Press. 2009.</ref> and a "subversive or terrorist organization"<ref name="ADL">{{cite web|url= http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/default.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=kkk |title= About the Ku Klux Klan |publisher=Anti-Defamation League|accessdate=2 January 2010}}</ref><ref><br>* {{cite news|url= http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/16/us/inquiry-begun-on-klan-ties-of-2-icons-at-virginia-tech.html|title=Inquiry Begun on Klan Ties Of 2 Icons at Virginia Tech|date=November 16, 1997|publisher=NY Times|page=138|accessdate=2 January 2010}}<br>* {{cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/06/us/06bowers.html|title=Samuel Bowers, 82, Klan Leader Convicted in Fatal Bombing, Dies |last=Lee|first=Jennifer|date=November 6, 2006|publisher=NY Times|accessdate=2 January 2010}}<br>* {{cite web|url= http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/05/28/supremecourt/main510317.shtml|title=Court Will Review Cross Burning Ban|last=Brush|first=Pete|date=May 28, 2002|publisher=CBS News|accessdate=2 January 2010}}<br>* In 1999, the city council of [[Charleston, South Carolina]] passed a resolution declaring the Klan to be a terrorist organization.({{cite web|url= http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=c0wPAAAAIBAJ |title=Klan named terrorist organization in Charleston|date=October 14, 1999|publisher=Reuters|accessdate=2 January 2010}} A similar effort was made in 2004 when a professor at the [[University of Louisville]] began a campaign to have the Klan declared a terrorist organization so it could be banned from campus.({{cite news|url= http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5030023|title=Ban the Klan? Professor has court strategy|date=May 21, 2004|agency=Associated Press|accessdate=2 January 2010}}) In April 1997, [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents arrested four members of the True Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Dallas for conspiracy to commit robbery and to blow up a natural gas processing plant.("Domestic terrorism by the Klan remained a key concern" [http://dallas.fbi.gov/history.htm Dallas.FBI.gov]</ref> that advocate extremist [[reactionary]] currents such as [[white supremacy]], [[white nationalism]], and [[Nativism (politics)|anti-immigration]], historically expressed through [[terrorism]].<ref name=Quarles /><ref>{{cite web|title=Finally passing: Assessing America’s bloodiest war, 150 years later|url=http://www.economist.com/node/18486035?story_id=18486035|work=The Economist|month=March|year=2011}}</ref> Since the mid-20th century, the KKK has also been [[anti-communist]].<ref name=Quarles>Charles Quarles, [http://books.google.com/books?id=fhcnmDIQOW8C ''The Ku Klux Klan and related American racialist and antisemitic organizations: a history and analysis''], McFarland, 1999</ref> The current manifestation is splintered into several chapters and is classified as a [[hate group]].<ref>Both the [http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/kkk/ Anti-Defamation League] and the [http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/ideology/ku-klux-klan/ Southern Poverty Law Center] include it in their lists of hate groups. See also Bfrian Levin, Brian, "Cyberhate: A Legal and Historical Analysis of Extremists' Use of Computer Networks in America" in Perry, Barbara, editor. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kUa5r4aUCYIC ''Hate and Bias Crime: A Reader.''] p. 112. </ref>

Legislative achievements during this phase were passage of [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]],<ref name="cra64"> [http://finduslaw.com/civil_rights_act_of_1964_cra_title_vii_equal_employment_opportunities_42_us_code_chapter_21 Civil Rights Act of 1964]</ref> that banned discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in employment practices and public accommodations; the [[Voting Rights Act of 1965]], that restored and protected voting rights; the [[Immigration and Nationality Services Act of 1965]], that dramatically opened entry to the U.S. to immigrants other than traditional European groups; and the [[Fair Housing Act of 1968]], that banned discrimination in the sale or rental of housing. African Americans re-entered politics in the South, and across the country young people were inspired to action. Some researchers trace white people's fear and anger at non-whites to the Immigration and Nationality Act because large numbers of (non-white) immigrants entered the country at the same time birth rates for whites were falling.<ref name=eatwell/> These same fears were stoked in the mid-1990s by the [[U.S. Census Bureau]]'s report that whites will lose their majority in the country by 2050.<ref name=eatwell/><ref>William Booth, "America's Racial and Ethnic Divides: One Nation, Indivisible: Is It History?", ''Washington Post'', February 22, 1998. </ref> The fears were further fueled in 2000 when California, the [[List of U.S. states by population|most populous]] and third-largest state by land area,<ref name="popEst">{{cite web| url= http://www.census.gov/popest/states/tables/NST-EST2009-01.csv| format=CSV| title=Table 1. Annual Estimates of the Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009|date=December 22, 2009| publisher= [[U.S. Census Bureau]]|accessdate=December 24, 2009}}</ref> had lost its white majority.<ref name=eatwell/>


==Racist and segregationist country and folk music in the 1950s and 1960s==
==Racist and segregationist country and folk music in the 1950s and 1960s==

Revision as of 04:18, 22 April 2011

This article is about neo-Nazism and white supremacy music. For the early 1900s term for African American music, see Race music.
Raised arms Nazi salute for the heavy metal band Batallón de Castigo during a 2003 concert in Alcalá de Henares, Spain.

Racist music is music associated with and promoting neo-Nazism and white supremacy ideologies.[1] Although musicologists point out that many, if not most early cultures had songs to promote themselves and denigrate any perceived enemies, the origins of Racist music is tied to the 1950s.[2] Racist music adopts the musical conventions and trappings, rhythms and forms of non-racist music to advance extreme white racism in various music genres, including pop, and teen pop, over the past five decades.[2] By 2001 there were many music genres with white power rock the most commonly represented band type, followed by National Socialist black metal.[3] Racist country music is mainly an American phenomena while Germany, Great Britain, and Sweden have higher concentration of white power bands.[3] Other music genres include fascist experimental music and racist folk music.[3] Contemporary white-supremisist groups include "subcultural factions that are largely organized around the promotion and distribution of racist music."[4] According to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission "racist music is principally derived from the far-right skinhead movement and, through the Internet, this music has become perhaps the most important tool of the international neo-Nazi movement to gain revenue and new recruits."[5][6] The news documentary VH1 News Special: Inside Hate Rock (2002) noted that Racist music (also called 'Hate music' and 'Skinhead rock') is "a breeding ground for home-grown terrorists."[7] In 2004 a neo-Nazi record company launched "Project Schoolyard" to distribute free CDs of the music into the hands of up to 100,000 teenagers throughout the U.S., their website stated, "We just don't entertain racist kids … We create them."[8] Brian Houghton, of the National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, said that Racist music was a great recruiting tool, "Through music ... to grab these kids, teach them to be racists and hook them for life."[9]

In "From Rebel Records to Prussian Blue: A History of White Racialist Music in the United States", the authors point out that "musicians believe not only that music could be a successful vehicle for their specific ideology but that is also could advance the movement by framing it in a positive manner."[2]

Role in hate movement

"It is not a simplistic cause-effect relationship, but there is no escaping the fact that the media, as pervasive as they are, have significant sway with the young. Teens and others may purchase white power rock music with racist and violent lyrics that encourage the purported struggle for white rights."[10] Kevin Saunders in Degradation: What the History of Obscenity Tells Us about Hate Speech states that of the groups that want to "pass on racial hatred and the doctrine of white supremacy" to teach children to hate, the ones who do so through music are perhaps the most successful.[11] In the 1993 book Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed the authors note that in its newsletter WAR advises: "Music is one of the greatest propaganda tools around. You can influence more people with a song than you can with a speech."[12] In Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement Kathleen M. Blee talks about how integral Racist music is to the hate movement, "To be a racist skinhead means to be a part of a musical subculture of loud, hard-core music with viciously racist lyrics. [They] see such music as a key to reviving a movement they regard as floundering under the lifeless leadership of older Klan and Nazi leaders."[13] The racist culture includes "violent dancing, all-night parties featuring drugs and alcohol ... [building] a sense of individual and collective power no matter how illusory."[13] The white power movement has bundled racist music along with stickers, clothing, sunglasses, pet wear, and contemporarily styled Nazi apparel and other, usually online, enticements to recruit young, white social outcasts.[14]

Another newer trend is for all-female race music bands to form and be marketed, as all-male race bands are limited in venues they can play, additionally the female-fronted bands are much less likely to encounter violent anti-racism protests.[15] Another aspect of female bands is their general disdain of performing heavy metal and more hard rock music than the variety of styles and prefer a variety post-feminism sensibilities in lyrics, style of music and performance.[15]

It is a multi-millon dollar industry which helps finance and recruit for "hate groups in the Western world", the internet and low air fares have helped internationalize the efforts.[3] The music is more pervasive in Europe than the U.S. despite many countries banning or curtailing distribution.[3] European governments regularly deport "extremist aliens", ban racist music groups and raid racist organizations that produce and distribute the music.[3] As of 2001, there were albums from 123 US-based bands and 229 from other countries, mostly Europe.[3] Racist music is protected freedom of speech in the United States by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.[16] As such the concerts serve as effective recruiting tools to bring in youth who are attracted to the music, concerts, and culture of skinheads.[16] The multimillion dollar industry is arguably most active in the U.S. bringing in funds for right-wing politics groups in the U.S. and producing music and propaganda for the rest of the world.[16] Racist music is also becoming less taboo as the Internet allows users to purchase quickly and anonymously as compared to having to go into a physical store.[17] Mainstream music retailers cite the first amendment and "slippery-slope" logic to defend racist music the right to be sold online.[17]

Racist and segregationist country and folk music in the 1950s and 1960s

Country music evolved from traditional English and Irish folk music that came to the U.S. in the 1800s.[2][18] Southern politics has been intertwined for decades with country music,[2] and can be traced back to political barbeques held in Virginia during the colonial era.[19] According to Messner et al, "political tenets of country music are perhaps best aligned with those of populism,[2][20] the ideology of sociopolitical thought that compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes.[21][22][23][24] Country music spawned several sub-genres including racist country music.[2] But populist sentiments remained in the racist genre, also referred to as “segregationist music,” which came about in response to the unfolding Civil Rights movement."[2][25] The songs expressed resistance to the federal government and civil rights advocates who were challenging well-established, white supremacist system and racist practices endemic in traditional southern lifestyles.[2] There were also changes in the music recording industry in the 1940s and 1950s that allowed regional recording companies to form across the U.S. addressing the "demands of small, specialized markets."[26] As Malone notes, “the struggles waged by black Americans to attain economic dignity and racial justice provided one of the ugliest chapters in country music history, an outpouring of racist records on small labels, mostly from Crowley, Louisiana, which lauded the Ku Klux Klan and attacked blacks (generally called niggers and coons) in the most vicious of stereotypes terms.”[2][27]

In the mid-1960's the civil rights movement reached a "fever pitch", and in 1966 businessman Jay "J.D." Miller created another niche label for his company, the defiantly segregationist Reb Rebel label.[2][28] Some of this music was "highly confrontational, making explicit use of racial epithets, stereotypes and threats of violence against Civil Rights activists."[2] Other songs were more subtle couching racist messages behind social critiques and political action calls.[2] This is apparent in the song "Black Power";[2]

'The ones who shout “Black Power” / Would bury you and me. / Yeah, the ones who shout “Black Power” / Should let our country be... / White men stand together and register to vote. / Don’t let them take away our land. / We’ve still got lots of hope.'

Country hate music' was employed by white racial extremists to "advance their goals and movement objectives through lyrics that dehumanize African-Americans and create imagery of white unity and solidarity."

Although Miller's studio is arguably the most famous label that produced racist country music, there were numerous regional recording companies to serve specialized markets.[2][29] The artists often adopted pseudonyms and "much of this music featured blatantly racist stereotypes that dehumanized African Americans", equating them with animals or by "using cartoonish imagery associated with “Jigaboos”".[30] Lyrics warned of "white violence" on African Americans if they insisted on being treated as equals.[31] The hate music, remaining in the tradition of populism questioned the legitimacy of the federal government and rallied whites to protect 'Southern rights' and traditions.[32]

Johnny Rebel

Johnny Rebel, the pseudonym that Cajun country musician Clifford Joseph Trahane used notably on racist[33] recordings issued in the 1960s, became the "forefather of white power music."[33][34][35] Jay "J.D." Miller's Reb Rebel label was started in 1966 in Crowley, Louisiana when Miller began experimenting with 'segregationist music'.[35][2] The studios first single, "Dear Mr. President" (referring to then-president Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ)), by Happy Fats (Leroy Leblanc), sold more than 200,000 copies.[35][36] Fats' song parodied LBJ's Great Society programs which aimed to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.[35] Other songs were primarily about civil rights, the Great Society and the Vietnam War, "but never really attacked black people."[35] The studio's second release, "Flight NAACP 105" by 'the Son of Mississippi' (Joe Norris), was the label's bestseller; the track was a "spontaneous skit in the vein of Amos 'n' Andy."[35] It was the first in a series of "highly racist take-offs" of Amos n’ Andy.[2]

Johnny Rebel's releases, six 45 rpm's each with a B-side (twelve songs altogether), frequently use the racial epithet nigger and often voiced sympathy for Jim Crow laws-era racial segregation and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) like his first B-side "Kajun Klu (sic) Klux Klan", a "cautionary tale centered on the story of 'Levi Coon' who dared to demand that he be served in a café."[35][37][2] The songs were "vehemently anti-black, its pro-segregationist lyrics set to the twangs of the era's swampbilly craze."[35] Rebel, a Catholic, ironically did object to the KKK's masking themselves and said the Klan should stop attacking the Catholic religion and focus solely on race issues.[35] Rebel Records ultimately released 21 of the 45 rpms and For Segregationists Only, an album of its ten bestselling songs, four of which were Johnny Rebel's.[35][34] Thanks to bootleged copies and the Internet his career had never died, in the late 1990s he was re-discovered and re-released the music on CD and promoted it with his own webpage.[35] The site did not spark new interest outside his fanbase until the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.[35] Rebel recorded and released "Infidel Anthem", about "the whipping America should lay on Osama bin Laden," that led to his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, where the new compilation CD and the new song were promoted and a few of the old tracks were played.[35] At the time Stern's show had a peak audience of around 20 million.[38][39][40]

Few of Miller’s racist records actually played on the radio in Louisiana.[2] Malone and Pittman speculated a type of musical underground spread the racist music.[2][41] Sample suggests Ku Klux Klan and White Citizens' Council members made up the bulk of the underground network.[2][42] Johnny Rebel's example "influenced British racist musicians, notably the band Skrewdriver, which inspired other right-wing musicians."[43]

Skrewdriver and ethnic nationalism

Like Johnny Rebel, Skrewdriver, which started as an English punk rock band, used the music of their time to propagate extreme racialist ideologies.[2] Skrewdriver was formed out of a former Rolling Stones cover band known as Tumbling Dice.[44] They started in the 1970s punk in music, style, and presentation but by the late 1970s, and with some personnel changes, the group altered their focus to be increasingly racist skinhead with music venues refusing to let them perform.[2] Ian Stuart Donaldson reformed the name in 1982 and the new group "completely embraced racist skinhead beliefs, values, style, and politics."[2] The band advocated on behalf of extreme right-wing and racist politics and Donaldson self-identified as British neo-Nazi.[2] The group performed mainly for other racist skinheads and "asserted the need for extremist political violence."[2] They were the "most dominant white racial extremist band" and were idealized in the "emerging movement that arose in response to perceptions of political liberalism, diversity, and the loss of a power in the white community."[2] Bands that followed their lead also "fused racist ideology, heavy metal and hard rock styles" embracing "aggressive racism and ethnic nationalism" of the post-1982 Skrewdriver."[2] Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity and includes ideas of a culture shared between members of the group, and with their ancestors, and usually a shared language. Ethnic nationalism includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnicity as an essence that remains unchanged over time. The central theme of ethnic nationalists is that "..nations are defined by a shared heritage, which usually includes a common language, a common faith, and a common ethnic ancestry."[45] The central political tenet of ethnic nationalism is that ethnic groups can be identified unambiguously, and that each such group is entitled to self-determination.

"I believe in the White race / A race apart / We’ve got a mile start / I believe in my country / It’s where I belong / It’s where I’ll stay / (chorus):For my race and nation / Race and nation / Race and nation / Race and nation."

— from "Race and Nation" by Mad Matty Morgan of Skrewdriver, Hail the New Dawn (1984) album.[2]

A common aspect of bands following Skrewdriver was the merging of national identity and racism which "remains one of the most dominant aspects of the movement today" even after musical styles started splintering.[2] National defense and racial defense became synonymous, especially in one splinter in the late-1980s and 1990s, Hatecore.[2]

National Socialist black metal

National Socialist black metal (NSBM) is black metal that promotes National Socialist (Nazi) beliefs through their lyrics and imagery. These beliefs often include: white supremacy, racial separatism, antisemitism, heterosexism, and Nazi interpretations of paganism or Satanism (Nazi mysticism). According to Mattias Gardell, NSBM musicians see "national socialism as a logical extension of the political and spiritual dissidence inherent in black metal.[46] Bands whose members hold Nazi beliefs but do not express these through their lyrics are generally not considered NSBM by black metal musicians, but are labelled as such in media reports.[47] Some black metal bands have made references to Nazi Germany purely for shock value, much like some punk rock and heavy metal bands. According to Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss, völkisch pagan metal and neo-Nazism are the current trends in the black metal scene, and are affecting the broader metal scene.[48] Mattias Gardell, however, sees NSBM artists as a minority within black metal.[46]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Intelligence Report: a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Issues 133-136; Southern Poverty Law Center, Klanwatch Project, Southern Poverty Law Center. Militia Task Force, Publisher Klanwatch, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Messner, Beth A., Art Jipson, Paul J. Becker and Bryan Byers. 2007. "The Hardest Hate: A Sociological Analysis of Country Hate Music: From Rebel Records to Prussian Blue: A History of White Racialist Music in the United States". Popular Music and Society. 30(4):513-531.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Dominic J. Pulera, Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America, pages 309-311.
  4. ^ Barbara Perry, Hate Crimes, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0275995690, 9780275995690, 2009, pages 51-2.
  5. ^ "Racist Music: Publication, Merchandising and Recruitment", Cyber racism ,Race Discrimination Unit, HREOC, October 2002.
  6. ^ Anne Rooney, Race Hate, Evans Brothers, 2006, ISBN 0237527170, 9780237527174, page 29.
  7. ^ David Bianculli, Vh1 Special Goes Behind The (racist) Music, New York Daily News, February 18, 2002.
  8. ^ Abraham Foxman, "Hate Music: New Recruitment Tool for White Supremacists", Worldpress.org, December 17, 2004.
  9. ^ "Record Label Targets Teens With Hate Message: Sampler CD Of White Power Music Circulating In Numerous U.S. Schools", Ohio/Oklahoma Hearst Television Inc. on behalf of KOCO-TV, December 1, 2004.
  10. ^ Barbara Perry, Hate Crimes, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0275995690, 9780275995690, 2009, pages 231-2.
  11. ^ Kevin Saunders, Degradation: What the History of Obscenity Tells Us about Hate Speech , NYU Press, 2011, ISBN 0814741444, 9780814741443, page 173.
  12. ^ Jack Levin, Jack McDevitt, Hate Crimes: The Rising Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed, Plenum Press, 1993, 2009, ISBN 0306444712, 9780306444715.
  13. ^ a b In Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement Kathleen M. Blee, University of California Press, 2003, ISBN 0520240553, 9780520240551, pages 160-163.
  14. ^ Adam G. Klein, A Space for Hate: The White Power Movement's Adaptation Into Cyberspace, Litwin Books, 2010, ISBN 193611707X, 9781936117079, pages 76-89.
  15. ^ a b Vron Ware, Les Back, Out of whiteness: color, politics, and culture, "Wagner and Power Chords: Skinheadism, White Power Music, and the Internet", University of Chicago Press, 2002, ISBN 0226873420, 9780226873428, page 106-118.
  16. ^ a b c Roger Eatwell, Cas Mudde, Western democracies and the new extreme right challenge, Psychology Press, 2004, ISBN 0415369711, 9780415369718, pages 54-5.
  17. ^ a b David Marchese, "Ugly Hate Machine: White Power Music Takes a Digital Path to the Mainstream", Spin, Jan 2009.
  18. ^ Lawler, 1996; Malone, 2002a.
  19. ^ Malone, 2002b.
  20. ^ Malone (2002b), MacKay (1993), and Sample (1996)
  21. ^ Religious Rhetoric in American Populism: Civil Religion as Movement Ideology, Rhys H. Williams and Susan M. Alexander,1994, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion
  22. ^ Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, Anthropology and development: understanding contemporary social change
  23. ^ CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES, Andras Bozoki, Terms: Winter and Spring 1995, Department of Political Science, Budapest, CENTRAL EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY
  24. ^ The Reinvention of Populism: Islamist Responses to Capitalist Development in the Contemporary Maghreb, Alejandro Colás, 2001
  25. ^ Malone, 2000a, 2002b.
  26. ^ Tucker, 1985.
  27. ^ Malone (2002a), p. 317.
  28. ^ Herman, 2006.
  29. ^ Tucker, 1985.
  30. ^ Messner, Becker, Jipson, and Byers (2007)
  31. ^ Messner, et al., 2007.
  32. ^ Messner, et al., 2007.
  33. ^ a b Shane K. Bernard, The Cajuns: Americanization of a People. Jackson, Miss: University Press of Mississippi, 2003, p. 63f.
  34. ^ a b John Broven, South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican, 1983, p. 252f. ISBN 0882896083. Cite error: The named reference "Broven" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  35. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Nick Pittman, "Johnny Rebel Speaks: The true-to-life story of how a South Louisiana man with a guitar and a belief became a forefather of white power music.", in: Times of Acadiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, ca. 2000.
  36. ^ Herman, 2006.
  37. ^ Pittman, 2003; Johnny Rebel – Klassic Klan Kompositions.
  38. ^ Condran, Ed (July 31, 1998). "Stern Producer Flourishes By The Skin Of His Teeth". The Morning Call. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  39. ^ James, Renee A. (October 1, 2006). "Hmmm? Stern's critics are plugged into regular radio". The Morning Call. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  40. ^ Sullivan, James (December 14, 2005). "Love him or hate him, Stern is a true pioneer". MSNBC.
  41. ^ Malone (2002b) and Pittman (2003).
  42. ^ Sample (1996).
  43. ^ Michael Wade, (2007). "Johnny Rebel and the Cajun Roots of Right-Wing Rock". Popular Music and Society, 30(4), 493-512. doi:10.1080/03007760701546364.
  44. ^ [1].
  45. ^ Muller, Jerry Z. "Us and Them." Current, Issue 501 Mar/Apr 2008, pages 9-14.
  46. ^ a b Mattias Gardell, Gods of the Blood (2003), p.307
  47. ^ Rechtes Neuheiden-Festival mit Nazi-Runen im "SO 36"
  48. ^ Unheilige Allianzen, page 290

Bibliography

  • Apel, W. (1969). Harvard Dictionary of Music, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
  • Brake, M. (1980). The Sociology of Youth Culture and Youth Subcultures, Sex and Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll?, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul.
  • Fox, K.J. (1987). "Real Punks and Pretenders: The Social Organization of a Counterculture.", Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 16, 344-370.
  • Fryer, P. (1986). "Punk and The New Wave of British Rock: Working Class Heroes and Art School Attitudes", Popular Music and Society, 10(4), 1-15.
  • Grout, D.J. (1960). A History of Western Music, New York; W.W. Norton & Co.
  • Hebdige, Dick. (1979). Subculture: The Meaning of Style; London, Methuen; Fletcher & Son ltd, 1979..
  • Herman, M. (2006), J.D. Miller. Retrieved August 29, 2006.
  • Johnny Rebel – Klassic Klan Kompositions. (2003). Retrieved February 1, 2006.
  • Joseph, B.W. (2002). "'My Mind Split Open': Andy Warhol' Exploding Plastic Inevitability", Grey Room, 8 (Summer), 80-107.
  • Lawler, J. (1996). Songs of life: The meaning of country music. Nashville, TN: Pogo Press.
  • Leroy “Happy Fats” LaBlanc. (no date). Cajun French Music Association. Retrieved June 17, 2006.
  • Mackay, J. (1993). Populist ideology and country music. In G. H. Lewis (Ed.), All that Glitters: Country Music in America (pp. 285-304). Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press.
  • Malone, B. C. (2002a). Country Music, U.S.A. (2 nd ed,). Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
  • Malone, B. C. (2002b). Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’: Country Music and the Southern Working Class. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press.
  • Messner, B. A., Becker, P. J., Jipson, A., & Byers, B. (in press). The hardest hate: A sociological analysis of country hate music. Popular Music and Society.
  • Pittman, N. (2003). Johnny Rebel Speaks. Retrieved February 1, 2006, from “Present at the Creation.” (2001, Fall). Southern Poverty Law Center Intellegence Report. Accessed November 1, 2006.
  • Sample, T. (1996). White soul: Country music, the church, and working Americans. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
  • Tucker, S. R. (1985). Louisiana folk and regional popular music traditions on records and the radio: An historical overview with suggestions for future research. Louisiana Folklife: A Guide to the State. 222-240.

Further reading

  • Farmelo, Allen. "Another History of Bluegrass: The Segregation of American Popular Music, 1820-1900." Popular Music and Society, 25.1-2 (2001): 179-204.
  • Hill, Jane H. (2008). The Everyday Language of White Racism. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
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