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113-594: The Nazi Lowriders originated as a skinhead gang in the California Youth Authority during the early-to-mid 1970s, and later established itself as a gang for young white inmates. It was created by members of the Aryan Brotherhood (AB), the leading white gang in the California prison system . In the late 1970s or early 1980s, Aryan Brotherhood leader John Stinson began recruiting skinheads incarcerated in

226-405: A Northwest Germanic unity preceding the emergence of Proto-Norse proper from roughly the 5th century. An alternative suggestion explaining the impossibility of classifying the earliest inscriptions as either North or West Germanic is forwarded by È. A. Makaev, who presumes a "special runic koine ", an early "literary Germanic" employed by the entire Late Common Germanic linguistic community after

339-419: A Prince of Wales or houndstooth check pattern. Many skinheads wore Sta-Prest flat-fronted slacks or other dress trousers ; jeans (normally Levi's , Lee or Wrangler ); or combat trousers (plain or camouflage). Jeans and slacks were worn deliberately short (either hemmed, rolled or tucked) to show off boots, or to show off bright coloured socks when wearing loafers or brogues. Jeans were often blue, with

452-443: A schism developed between the "peacock mods" (also known as smooth mods ), who were less violent and always wore the latest expensive clothes, and the "hard mods" (also known as "gang mods", "lemonheads" or "peanuts"), who were identified by their shorter hair and more working class image. Hard mods became commonly known as skinheads by about 1968. Their short hair may have come about for practical reasons, since long hair could be

565-503: A white power skinhead . Traditionally, braces were worn up in an X shape at the back, but some Oi!-oriented skinheads wore their braces hanging down. Patterned braces – often black and white check, or vertical stripes – were sometimes worn by traditional skinheads. In a few cases, the colour of braces or flight jackets were used to signify affiliations. The particular colours chosen have varied regionally, and had totally different meanings in different areas and time periods. Only skinheads from

678-484: A "soldier" in the gang, were charged with the murder of an inmate in 1996. All twelve defendants pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges, including a senior member of the gang who was sentenced to nearly 23 years in federal prison in 2003. Skinhead A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youth in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of

791-594: A BBC interview, he remarked "In the late 70s and early 80s, working class culture was disintegrating through unemployment and inner city decay and there was an attempt to recapture a sense of working class solidarity and identity in the face of a tide of social change." By the 1980s street fights regularly broke out in West Germany between skinheads and members of the anti-fascist , and left wing youth movements. German neo-nazis , led among others by Michael Kühnen , sought to expand their ranks with new young members from

904-466: A Danish fleet to Birka , but then changes his mind and asks the Danes to "draw lots". According to the story, this "drawing of lots" was quite informative, telling them that attacking Birka would bring bad luck and that they should attack a Slavic town instead. The tool in the "drawing of lots", however, is easily explainable as a hlautlein (lot-twig), which according to Foote and Wilson would be used in

1017-450: A belt loop at the waist. Silk or faux-silk scarves (especially Tootal brand) with paisley patterns were also sometimes worn. Some suedeheads carried closed umbrellas with sharpened tips, or a handle with a pull-out blade. This led to the nickname brollie boys . Female skinheads, (who are sometimes called skinbyrds or skingirls ,) generally wore the same clothing items as men, with addition of skirts, stockings, or dress suits composed of

1130-400: A bobble). Less common have been bowler hats (mostly among suedeheads and those influenced by the film A Clockwork Orange ). Traditionalist skinheads sometimes wore a silk handkerchief in the breast pocket of a Crombie-style overcoat or tonic suit jacket, in some cases fastened with an ornate stud. Some wore pocket flashes instead. These are pieces of silk in contrasting colours, mounted on

1243-536: A broad spectrum of political beliefs, even as many continue to embrace it as a largely apolitical working class movement. In the late 1950s the post-war economic boom led to an increase in disposable income among many young people. Some of those youths spent that income on new fashions; they wore ripped clothes and would use pieces of material to patch them up as popularised by American soul groups, British R&B bands, certain film actors, and Carnaby Street clothing merchants. These youths became known as mods ,

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1356-824: A deadly weapon and civil rights violations. In August 2001, Trevor David Thompson, a Nazi Lowrider and member of the World Church of the Creator from California, wounded Ashley McNeil, a 14-year old African American girl, in a drive-by shooting in Indianapolis . McNeil was targeted because of her race, according to police. In May 2002, Thompson was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder. On March 29, 2001, NLR members Marcello Castellano and Scott Kuhn were arrested after Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) deputies seized 73 firearms, including assault rifles, as well as hand grenades, body armor and

1469-413: A group of skinheads attacked a punk concert at Zion's Church (East Berlin) in 1987, many skinhead leaders fled to West Germany to avoid arrest. Most first wave skinheads used a buzz cut cut with a No. 2 or No. 3 grade clip guard. From the late 1970s, male skinheads typically shaved their heads with a No. 2 grade clip or shorter. During that period, side partings were sometimes shaved into the hair. Since

1582-499: A later formation that is partly derived from Late Latin runa , Old Norse rún , and Danish rune . The runes were in use among the Germanic peoples from the 1st or 2nd century AD. This period corresponds to the late Common Germanic stage linguistically, with a continuum of dialects not yet clearly separated into the three branches of later centuries: North Germanic , West Germanic , and East Germanic . No distinction

1695-483: A liability in industrial jobs and streetfights. Skinheads may also have cut their hair short in defiance of the more middle class hippie culture. In addition to retaining many mod influences, early skinheads were very interested in Jamaican rude boy styles and culture, especially the music: ska, rocksteady, and early reggae (before the tempo slowed down and lyrics became focused on topics like black nationalism and

1808-506: A musical genre is said to come from the band Cockney Rejects and journalist Garry Bushell , who championed the genre in Sounds magazine . Not exclusively a skinhead genre, many Oi! bands included skins, punks and people who fit into neither category. Notable Oi! bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s include Angelic Upstarts , Blitz , the Business, Last Resort, The Burial , Combat 84 and

1921-484: A number of Migration period Elder Futhark inscriptions as well as variants and abbreviations of them. Much speculation and study has been produced on the potential meaning of these inscriptions. Rhyming groups appear on some early bracteates that also may be magical in purpose, such as salusalu and luwatuwa . Further, an inscription on the Gummarp Runestone (500–700 AD) gives a cryptic inscription describing

2034-439: A parallel leg design, hemmed or with clean and thin rolled cuffs (turn-ups), and were sometimes splattered with bleach to resemble camouflage trousers (a style popular among Oi! skinheads). Many traditionalist skinheads wore braces (suspenders), in various colours, usually no more than 1" in width, clipped to the trouser waistband. In some areas, braces much wider than that may identify a skinhead as either unfashionable or as

2147-465: A peak at the end of the 1960s, experienced a revival in the 1980s, and, since then, has endured in multiple contexts worldwide. The rise to prominence of skinheads came in two waves, with the first wave taking place in the late 1960s in the UK. The first skinheads were working class youths motivated by an expression of alternative values and working class pride, rejecting both the austerity and conservatism of

2260-404: A piece of cardboard and designed to look like an elaborately folded handkerchief. It was common to choose the colours based on one's favourite football club. Some skinheads wore button badges or sewn-on fabric patches with designs related to affiliations, interests or beliefs. Also popular were woollen or printed rayon scarves in football club colours, worn knotted at the neck, wrist, or hanging from

2373-507: A potentially earlier inscription dating to AD 50 and Tacitus 's potential description of rune use from around AD 98. The Svingerud Runestone dates from between AD 1 and 250. Runes were generally replaced by the Latin alphabet as the cultures that had used runes underwent Christianisation , by approximately AD 700 in central Europe and 1100 in northern Europe . However, the use of runes persisted for specialized purposes beyond this period. Up until

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2486-493: A profane and sometimes even of a vulgar nature. Following this find, it is nowadays commonly presumed that, at least in late use, Runic was a widespread and common writing system. In the later Middle Ages, runes also were used in the clog almanacs (sometimes called Runic staff , Prim , or Scandinavian calendar ) of Sweden and Estonia . The authenticity of some monuments bearing Runic inscriptions found in Northern America

2599-407: A revival or second wave of the skinhead subculture, with increasing interaction between its adherents and the emerging punk movement . Oi! , a working class offshoot of punk rock , soon became a vital component of skinhead culture, while the Jamaican genres beloved by first generation skinheads were filtered through punk and new wave in a style known as 2 Tone . Within these new musical movements,

2712-436: A separate genre more in line with their politics: Rock Against Communism (RAC). The most notable RAC band was Skrewdriver , which started out as a non-political punk band but evolved into a neo-Nazi band after the first lineup broke up and a new lineup was formed. RAC started out musically similar to Oi! and punk, but has since adopted elements from other genres. White power music that draws inspiration from hardcore punk

2825-752: A silencer, during raids on three locations in Los Angeles County . A sheriff's uniform and Nazi paraphernalia were also recovered. A three-year investigation conducted by a task force headed by the FBI and the Ontario Police Department, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the California Department of Corrections , the Orange County Sheriff's Department and

2938-463: A son, taught him the runes. In 1555, the exiled Swedish archbishop Olaus Magnus recorded a tradition that a man named Kettil Runske had stolen three rune staffs from Odin and learned the runes and their magic. The Elder Futhark, used for writing Proto-Norse , consists of 24 runes that often are arranged in three groups of eight; each group is referred to as an ætt (Old Norse, meaning ' clan, group '). The earliest known sequential listing of

3051-404: A sound value (a phoneme ), runes can be used to represent the concepts after which they are named ( ideographs ). Scholars refer to instances of the latter as Begriffsrunen ('concept runes'). The Scandinavian variants are also known as fuþark , or futhark ; this name is derived from the first six letters of the script, ⟨ ᚠ ⟩, ⟨ ᚢ ⟩, ⟨ ᚦ ⟩, ⟨ ᚨ ⟩/⟨ ᚬ ⟩, ⟨ ᚱ ⟩, and ⟨ ᚲ ⟩/⟨ ᚴ ⟩, corresponding to

3164-417: A spear, dedicated to Odin, myself to myself, on that tree of which no man knows from where its roots run. In stanza 139, Odin continues: Við hleifi mik seldo ne viþ hornigi, nysta ek niþr, nam ek vp rvnar, opandi nam, fell ek aptr þaðan. No bread did they give me nor a drink from a horn , downwards I peered; I took up the runes, screaming I took them, then I fell back from there. In

3277-964: A three-quarter-length jacket and matching short skirt. Some skingirls wore fishnet stockings and mini-skirts, a style introduced during the punk-influenced skinhead revival. Most skinheads wear boots ; in the 1960s army surplus or generic workboots, later Dr. Martens boots and shoes. In 1960s Britain, steel-toe boots worn by skinheads and hooligans were called bovver boots ; whence skinheads have themselves sometimes been called bovver boys . Skinheads have also been known to wear brogues , loafers or Dr. Martens (or similarly styled) low shoes. In recent years, other brands of boots, such as Solovair , Tredair Grinders, and gripfast have become popular among skinheads, partly because most Dr. Martens are no longer made in England. Football -style athletic shoes , by brands such as Adidas or Gola , have become popular with many skinheads. Female or child skinheads generally wear

3390-444: A tree, a dangling corpse in a noose, I can so carve and colour the runes, that the man walks and talks with me. The earliest runic inscriptions found on artifacts give the name of either the craftsman or the proprietor, or sometimes, remain a linguistic mystery. Due to this, it is possible that the early runes were not used so much as a simple writing system, but rather as magical signs to be used for charms. Although some say

3503-467: A way that would indicate that runic writing was any more inherently magical, than were other writing systems such as Latin or Greek. As Proto-Germanic evolved into its later language groups, the words assigned to the runes and the sounds represented by the runes themselves began to diverge somewhat and each culture would create new runes, rename or rearrange its rune names slightly, or stop using obsolete runes completely, to accommodate these changes. Thus,

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3616-587: A wide variety of ways in modern popular culture. The name stems from a Proto-Germanic form reconstructed as * rūnō , which may be translated as 'secret, mystery; secret conversation; rune'. It is the source of Gothic rūna ( 𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌰 , 'secret, mystery, counsel'), Old English rún ('whisper, mystery, secret, rune'), Old Saxon rūna ('secret counsel, confidential talk'), Middle Dutch rūne ('id'), Old High German rūna ('secret, mystery'), and Old Norse rún ('secret, mystery, rune'). The earliest Germanic epigraphic attestation

3729-503: A youth subculture noted for its consumerism and devotion to fashion, music, and scooters . Working class mods chose practical clothing styles that suited their lifestyle and employment circumstances: work boots or army boots , straight-leg jeans or Sta-Prest trousers , button-down shirts, and braces. When possible, these working class mods spent their money on suits and other sharp outfits to wear at dancehalls, where they enjoyed soul , ska , and rocksteady music. Around 1966,

3842-413: Is a public one, or the father of the family, if it is private, prays to the gods and, gazing to the heavens, picks up three separate strips and reads their meaning from the marks scored on them. If the lots forbid an enterprise, there can be no further consultation about it that day; if they allow it, further confirmation by divination is required. As Victoria Symons summarizes, "If the inscriptions made on

3955-448: Is an early borrowing from Proto-Germanic, and the source of the term for rune, riimukirjain , meaning 'scratched letter'. The root may also be found in the Baltic languages , where Lithuanian runoti means both 'to cut (with a knife)' and 'to speak'. The Old English form rún survived into the early modern period as roun , which is now obsolete. The modern English rune is

4068-494: Is based on claiming that the earliest inscriptions of the 2nd and 3rd centuries, found in bogs and graves around Jutland (the Vimose inscriptions ), exhibit word endings that, being interpreted by Scandinavian scholars to be Proto-Norse , are considered unresolved and long having been the subject of discussion. In the early Runic period, differences between Germanic languages are generally presumed to be small. Another theory presumes

4181-442: Is best for him if he stays silent. The poem Hávamál explains that the originator of the runes was the major deity, Odin . Stanza 138 describes how Odin received the runes through self-sacrifice: Veit ek at ek hekk vindga meiði a netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr ok gefinn Oðni, sialfr sialfom mer, a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn. I know that I hung on a windy tree nine long nights, wounded with

4294-607: Is disputed; most of them have been dated to modern times. In Norse mythology , the runic alphabet is attested to a divine origin ( Old Norse : reginkunnr ). This is attested as early as on the Noleby Runestone from c.  600 AD that reads Runo fahi raginakundo toj[e'k]a... , meaning "I prepare the suitable divine rune..." and in an attestation from the 9th century on the Sparlösa Runestone , which reads Ok rað runaʀ þaʀ rægi[n]kundu , meaning "And interpret

4407-862: Is far from standardized. Notably the j , s , and ŋ runes undergo considerable modifications, while others, such as p and ï , remain unattested altogether prior to the first full futhark row on the Kylver Stone ( c. 400 AD). Artifacts such as spear heads or shield mounts have been found that bear runic marking that may be dated to 200 AD, as evidenced by artifacts found across northern Europe in Schleswig (North Germany), Funen , Zealand , Jutland (Denmark), and Scania (Sweden). Earlier—but less reliable—artifacts have been found in Meldorf , Süderdithmarschen  [ de ] , in northern Germany; these include brooches and combs found in graves, most notably

4520-562: Is made in surviving runic inscriptions between long and short vowels, although such a distinction was certainly present phonologically in the spoken languages of the time. Similarly, there are no signs for labiovelars in the Elder Futhark (such signs were introduced in both the Anglo-Saxon futhorc and the Gothic alphabet as variants of p ; see peorð .) The formation of the Elder Futhark

4633-512: Is more a sign of a racist belief in white supremacy than anti-Semitism , while "Lowriders" is a play on the term used for Hispanic gangs. The gang eventually progressed from being muscle for the Aryan Brotherhood to a fast-growing gang in their own right. Unlike other white supremacist gangs in the US, they appear to be well organized and have developed links with other white organizations throughout

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4746-539: Is not so clear, and appears to be more loosely connected. Nazi Lowriders members are typically aged in their teens and early 20s. Gang members may have tattoos and other body art depicting swastikas and SS sigrunes , although members are not necessarily required to bear them. A tattoo of the letters NLR (the acronym for "Nazi Lowriders") commonly appears on members' stomachs, backs or necks. Other popular tattoos include "Nazi Low Riders" written in Old English script or

4859-711: Is popular. Bands such as the Canadian act Blasphemy , whose guitarist is Black, has been known to popularise and merchandise the phrase "black metal skinheads". As the group's vocalist recounts, "a lot of black metal skinheads from the other side of Canada" would join in on the British Columbian black metal underground. "I remember one guy... who had 'Black Metal Skins' tattooed on his forehead. We didn't hang out with white power skinheads, but there were some Oi skinheads who wanted to hang out with us." National Socialist black metal has an audience among white power skinheads. There

4972-462: Is short on the crown, with fringes at the front, back and sides. Skinheads wore long-sleeve or short-sleeve button-down shirts or polo shirts by brands such as Ben Sherman , Muses Cuya, Fred Perry , Brutus , Warrior or Jaytex; Lonsdale or Everlast shirts or sweatshirts ; Grandfather shirts ; V-neck sweaters ; sleeveless sweaters (known in the UK as a tank top ); cardigan sweaters or T-shirts (plain or with text or designs related to

5085-577: Is sometimes called hatecore . The early skinheads were not necessarily part of any political movement, but as the 1970s progressed, many skinheads became more politically active and acts of racially-motivated skinhead violence began to occur in the United Kingdom. As a result of this change within the skinheads, far right groups such as the National Front and the British Movement saw a rise in

5198-964: Is the Primitive Norse rūnō (accusative singular), found on the Einang stone (AD 350–400) and the Noleby stone (AD 450). The term is related to Proto-Celtic * rūna ('secret, magic'), which is attested in Old Irish rún ('mystery, secret'), Middle Welsh rin ('mystery, charm'), Middle Breton rin ('secret wisdom'), and possibly in the ancient Gaulish Cobrunus (< * com-rūnos 'confident'; cf. Middle Welsh cyfrin , Middle Breton queffrin , Middle Irish comrún 'shared secret, confidence') and Sacruna (< * sacro-runa 'sacred secret'), as well as in Lepontic Runatis (< * runo-ātis 'belonging to

5311-576: The stavlösa , or Hälsinge, runes ( staveless runes ). The Younger Futhark developed further into the medieval runes (1100–1500), and the Dalecarlian runes ( c. 1500–1800). The exact development of the early runic alphabet remains unclear but the script ultimately stems from the Phoenician alphabet . Early runes may have developed from the Raetic , Venetic , Etruscan , or Old Latin as candidates. At

5424-706: The Anti-Defamation League , the gang "champions its whiteness especially when recruiting members from skinhead gangs and among new inmates, but it is primarily driven by criminal profit". The NLR's racist ideology has been the motivation for numerous violent crimes carried out by the gang. The Nazi Lowriders are active primarily in Southern California , with a smaller presence in other U.S. states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and New Mexico. The gang's presence spread outside of California after members moved to other states in order to expand

5537-549: The Costa Mesa Police Department , culminated with twelve members and associates of the Nazi Lowriders being charged in a 17-count indictment alleging extortion, conspiracy to distribute drugs in prison, witness tampering, robbery, attempted murder and murder, on February 13, 2002. All of those charged were already in custody at the time of the indictment. Michael Bridge, a high-level NLR member, and Robert Baltimore,

5650-615: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) estimated that the gang had 1,500 members in the California prison system and 400 in San Bernardino, California . In 1999, authorities identified 100 members of the gang in Nevada. The organization is involved in criminal activity both in and out of prison, notably in the production and distribution of methamphetamine , and has become a distributor of

5763-506: The Hard As Nails zine in England. In the late 1960s, some skinheads in the United Kingdom (including black skinheads) engaged in violence against South Asian immigrants (an act known as Paki bashing in common slang). There had, however, also been anti-racist skinheads since the beginning of the subculture, especially in Scotland and Northern England . On the far left of

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5876-476: The Latin alphabet became prominent and Venetic culture diminished in importance, Germanic people could have adopted the Venetic alphabet within the 3rd century BC or even earlier. The angular shapes of the runes are shared with most contemporary alphabets of the period that were used for carving in wood or stone. There are no horizontal strokes: when carving a message on a flat staff or stick, it would be along

5989-477: The Latin alphabet itself over Rhaetic candidates. A "North Etruscan" thesis is supported by the inscription on the Negau helmet dating to the 2nd century BC. This is in a northern Etruscan alphabet but features a Germanic name, Harigast . Giuliano and Larissa Bonfante suggest that runes derived from some North Italic alphabet, specifically Venetic : But since Romans conquered Veneto after 200 BC, and then

6102-421: The Meldorf fibula , and are supposed to have the earliest markings resembling runic inscriptions. The stanza 157 of Hávamál attribute to runes the power to bring that which is dead back to life. In this stanza, Odin recounts a spell: Þat kann ek it tolfta, ef ek sé á tré uppi váfa virgilná,: svá ek ríst ok í rúnum fák, at sá gengr gumi ok mælir við mik. I know a twelfth one if I see up in

6215-512: The Rastafari movement ). Skinhead culture became so popular by 1969 that even the rock band Slade temporarily adopted the look as a marketing strategy. The subculture gained wider notice because of a series of violent and sexually explicit novels by Richard Allen , notably Skinhead and Skinhead Escapes . Due to largescale British migration to Perth , Western Australia , many British youths in that city joined skinhead/ sharpies gangs in

6328-632: The rude boy subculture found among Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant youth, as these three groups interacted and fraternized with each other within the same working class and poor neighbourhoods in Britain. As skinheads adopted elements of mod subculture and Jamaican British and Jamaican immigrant rude boy subculture, both first and second generation skins were influenced by the rhythms of Jamaican music genres such as ska , rocksteady , and reggae , as well as sometimes African-American soul and rhythm and blues . The late 1970s and early 1980s saw

6441-876: The runic alphabet . The logo of the NLR is a skeletal eagle holding a Nazi swastika, with the letters of the group based on the Reichsadler symbol. According to the SPLC , "Despite the NLR's avowed racism, Latino last names and Latino wives and girlfriends are OK, but, experts say, members are supposed to be at least half Caucasian.". In fact, much of the NLR's upper echelon is composed of Hispanics. Due to their extreme underground ties with other hardcore, racial organizations (such as Combat 18 or Blood and Honour ), experts say, "you must be at least half white blood but no black blood", meaning accepted Latino members must be only of Spanish descent, or be at least half Caucasian. All must show loyalty to

6554-475: The 1950s–early 1960s and the more middle class or bourgeois hippie movement and peace and love ethos of the mid to late 1960s. Skinheads were instead drawn towards more working class outsider subcultures , incorporating elements of early working class mod fashion and Jamaican music and fashion, especially from Jamaican rude boys . In the earlier stages of the movement, a considerable overlap existed between early skinhead subculture, mod subculture , and

6667-412: The 1980s, some skinheads have clipped their hair with no guard, or even shaved it with a razor. Some skinheads sport sideburns of various styles, usually neatly trimmed. By the 1970s, most female skins had mod-style haircuts. During the 1980s skinhead revival, many female skinheads had feathercuts (The Chelsea , a fringed bob from the front yet from the back it is an undercut ). A feathercut

6780-539: The 4-Skins . American Oi! began in the 1980s, with bands such as U.S. Chaos , The Press , Iron Cross , The Bruisers and Anti-Heros . American skinheads created a link between their subculture and hardcore punk music, with bands such as Warzone , Agnostic Front , and Cro-Mags . The Oi! style has also spread to other parts of the world, and remains popular with many skinheads. Many later Oi! bands have combined influences from early American hardcore and 1970s British streetpunk . Among some skinheads, heavy metal

6893-453: The Anglo-Saxon futhorc has several runes peculiar to itself to represent diphthongs unique to (or at least prevalent in) Old English. Some later runic finds are on monuments ( runestones ), which often contain solemn inscriptions about people who died or performed great deeds. For a long time it was presumed that this kind of grand inscription was the primary use of runes, and that their use

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7006-652: The Aryan Brotherhood, along with the crackdown on the AB, allowed the gang to supplant the Brotherhood as the most prominent white prison gang in California. While maintaining its presence in the prison system, the Nazi Lowriders also became a street gang, firstly in Southern California , and later in Central California and Northern California , during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Due to gang's rapid expansion, links with other white power gangs, and highly-organized operations,

7119-765: The California Youth Authority at the Preston Youth Correctional Facility in Ione , and at the Youth Training School in Chino , to act as middlemen in the AB's criminal operations. The gang did not come to the attention of law enforcement until the early 1990s, by which time authorities in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation had begun suppressing the Aryan Brotherhood's activities. The Nazi Lowriders' position as middlemen for

7232-726: The Germanic and Celtic words may have been a shared religious term borrowed from an unknown non-Indo-European language. In early Germanic, a rune could also be referred to as * rūna-stabaz , a compound of * rūnō and * stabaz ('staff; letter'). It is attested in Old Norse rúna-stafr , Old English rún-stæf , and Old High German rūn-stab . Other Germanic terms derived from * rūnō include * runōn ('counsellor'), * rūnjan and * ga-rūnjan ('secret, mystery'), * raunō ('trial, inquiry, experiment'), * hugi-rūnō ('secret of

7345-414: The Germanic peoples as utilizing a divination practice involving rune-like inscriptions: For divination and casting lots they have the highest possible regard. Their procedure for casting lots is uniform: They break off the branch of a fruit tree and slice into strips; they mark these by certain signs and throw them, as random chance will have it, on to a white cloth. Then a state priest, if the consultation

7458-561: The Latin letters ⟨f⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨þ⟩/⟨th⟩, ⟨a⟩, ⟨r⟩, and ⟨k⟩. The Anglo-Saxon variant is known as futhorc , or fuþorc , due to changes in Old English of the sounds represented by the fourth letter, ⟨ᚨ⟩/⟨ᚩ⟩. Runology is the academic study of the runic alphabets, runic inscriptions , runestones , and their history. Runology forms a specialised branch of Germanic philology . The earliest secure runic inscriptions date from around AD 150, with

7571-535: The Lowriders have responded by striking an alliance with Public Enemy No. 1 , another white disruptive group, which has since taken over the reins on California's white mainline prison population. Where Aryan Brotherhood and NLR have left off, PENI or Public Enemy No. 1 (Pronounced 'PEE NYE') plan to continue the 'key holding'. In prison, the Nazi Lowriders have a three-tier hierarchy system consisting of senior members, junior members, and kids. The seniors typically lead

7684-610: The NLR's criminal operations after being paroled from prison. The Nazi Lowriders first came to the attention of authorities as a street gang in Costa Mesa, California , and subsequently spread throughout Southern California, and later in Central California and Northern California . In Southern California, the gang is based in the Antelope Valley and in Orange County . The Nazi Lowriders had 28 confirmed members in 1996, but by 2000,

7797-521: The Nazi Lowriders established themselves as a significant crime group on the West Coast . As opposed to other white criminal gangs in California prisons, the NLR gained a reputation for being very violent. They are labeled as a prison gang by the California Department of Corrections . They are strong in numbers in such California communities as Oildale , Bakersfield , Lancaster , Inland Empire , Rosamond and Orange County . The "Nazi" part of their name

7910-567: The Poetic Edda poem Rígsþula another origin is related of how the runic alphabet became known to humans. The poem relates how Ríg , identified as Heimdall in the introduction, sired three sons— Thrall (slave), Churl (freeman), and Jarl (noble)—by human women. These sons became the ancestors of the three classes of humans indicated by their names. When Jarl reached an age when he began to handle weapons and show other signs of nobility, Ríg returned and, having claimed him as

8023-438: The UK popularity of groups such as Desmond Dekker , Derrick Morgan , Laurel Aitken , Symarip and The Pioneers . In the early 1970s, some reggae songs began to feature themes of black nationalism , which many white skinheads could not relate to. This shift in reggae's lyrical themes created some tension between black and white skinheads, who otherwise got along fairly well. Around this time, some suedeheads (an offshoot of

8136-461: The United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in the late 1970s. Motivated by social alienation and working-class solidarity , skinheads are defined by their close-cropped or shaven heads and working-class clothing such as Dr. Martens and steel toe work boots, braces , high rise and varying length straight-leg jeans , and button-down collar shirts, usually slim fitting in check or plain. The movement reached

8249-569: The West Coast, including the Ku Klux Klan and Hells Angels . Paroled gang members have been known to move east to further spread the organization's reach. On January 28, 1999, California prison officials recognized the Lowriders as a prison gang. Consequently, in an attempt to disrupt the gang's criminal activities, inmates known to be members can now be subjected to removal from the general population, as well as other restrictive treatments. To this,

8362-559: The back. Williams was sentenced to 57 months' imprisonment, on June 1, 1998, and Dillard was sentenced to three years', on June 7, 1999. The third defendant was tried as a juvenile. Two Nazi Lowriders members, Shaun Broderick and Christopher Crawford, allegedly attacked Nathaniel Harris, an African American Walmart employee, with a 20-ounce hammer in a store parking lot in Lancaster, in March 1999. The pair were arrested and charged with assault with

8475-455: The band the 4-Skins ) and Suggs , later of the band Madness . Around this time, some skinheads became affiliated with far right groups such as the National Front and the British Movement . From 1979 onwards, punk-influenced skinheads with shorter hair, higher boots and less emphasis on traditional styles grew in numbers and grabbed media attention, mostly due to football hooliganism . There still remained, however, skinheads who preferred

8588-620: The burgeoning skinhead scene. On the other side of the Berlin Wall , in East Germany , the skinhead youth movement had developed two different styles: one was more focused on rebellious youth fashion styles while the other camp often dressed in regular clothes and focused more heavily on political activity. These groups were infiltrated by agents of the Stasi and did not last long in East Germany. After

8701-741: The drug in Southern California. The Nazi Lowiders also have connections with motorcycle gangs , including the Hells Angels , the Mongols , and the Vagos . This gang is responsible for dozens of assaults, attempted murders, and murders around Southern California and is considered an extremely dangerous and violent gang. The Nazi Lowriders carried out two hate crimes against African Americans in Lancaster, California in 1996. According to federal investigators,

8814-873: The early 20th century, runes were still used in rural Sweden for decorative purposes in Dalarna and on runic calendars . The three best-known runic alphabets are the Elder Futhark ( c. AD 150–800), the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc (400–1100), and the Younger Futhark (800–1100). The Younger Futhark is divided further into the long-branch runes (also called Danish , although they were also used in Norway , Sweden , and Frisia ); short-branch, or Rök , runes (also called Swedish–Norwegian , although they were also used in Denmark ); and

8927-526: The far left and the far right. This attitude was musically typified by Oi! bands such as Cockney Rejects , The 4-Skins , Toy Dolls , and The Business . Two notable groups of skinheads that spoke out against neo-Nazism and political extremism—and instead spoke out in support of traditional skinhead culture—were the Glasgow Spy Kids in Scotland (who coined the phrase Spirit of '69 ), and the publishers of

9040-405: The gang. For senior status, gang members must have been active for at least five years and been elected by at least three other senior members. Below them are juniors, who cannot themselves induct new members but can attempt to recruit potentials. Kids usually come from gangs like Public Enemy No.1, and the senior member who inducts them becomes their mentor. On the streets, the organization structure

9153-626: The grain, thus both less legible and more likely to split the wood. This characteristic is also shared by other alphabets, such as the early form of the Latin alphabet used for the Duenos inscription , but it is not universal, especially among early runic inscriptions, which frequently have variant rune shapes, including horizontal strokes. Runic manuscripts (that is written rather than carved runes, such as Codex Runicus ) also show horizontal strokes. The " West Germanic hypothesis" speculates on an introduction by West Germanic tribes . This hypothesis

9266-470: The late 1960s and developed their own Australian style. By the early 1970s, the skinhead subculture started to fade from popular culture, and some of the original skins dropped into new categories, such as the suedeheads (defined by the ability to manipulate one's hair with a comb), smoothies (often with shoulder-length hairstyles), and bootboys (with mod-length hair; associated with gangs and football hooliganism ). Some fashion trends returned to

9379-481: The late 1970s, after the first wave of punk rock, many skinheads embraced Oi! , a working class punk subgenre. Musically, Oi! combines standard punk with elements of football chants , pub rock and British glam rock. The Oi! scene was partly a response to a sense that many participants in the early punk scene were, in the words of The Business guitarist Steve Kent, "trendy university people using long words, trying to be artistic ... and losing touch". The term Oi! as

9492-427: The lots that Tacitus refers to are understood to be letters, rather than other kinds of notations or symbols, then they would necessarily have been runes, since no other writing system was available to Germanic tribes at this time." Runic inscriptions from the 400-year period 150–550 AD are described as "Period I". These inscriptions are generally in Elder Futhark , but the set of letter shapes and bindrunes employed

9605-415: The mind, magical rune'), and * halja-rūnō ('witch, sorceress'; literally '[possessor of the] Hel -secret'). It is also often part of personal names, including Gothic Runilo ( 𐍂𐌿𐌽𐌹𐌻𐍉 ), Frankish Rúnfrid , Old Norse Alfrún , Dagrún , Guðrún , Sigrún , Ǫlrún , Old English Ælfrún , and Lombardic Goderūna . The Finnish word runo , meaning 'poem',

9718-442: The mod roots, with brogues , loafers , suits, and the slacks -and- sweater look making a comeback. In the late 1970s, the skinhead subculture was revived to a notable extent after the introduction of punk rock . Most of these revivalist skinheads reacted to the commercialism of punk by adopting a look that was in line with the original 1969 skinhead style. This revival included Gary Hodges and Hoxton Tom McCourt (both later of

9831-541: The most notable skinhead organization is Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice , which formed in the New York City area in 1987 and then spread to other countries. Runic alphabet A rune is a letter in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples . Runes were used to write Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet , and for specialised purposes thereafter. In addition to representing

9944-460: The number of white power skinheads among their ranks. By the late 1970s, the mass media, and subsequently the general public, had largely come to view the skinhead subculture as one that promotes racism and neo-Nazism . The white power and neo-Nazi skinhead subculture eventually spread to North America , Europe and other areas of the world. The mainstream media started using the term skinhead in reports of racist violence (regardless of whether

10057-467: The original mod-inspired styles. Eventually different interpretations of the skinhead subculture expanded beyond Britain and continental Europe. In the United States, certain segments of the hardcore punk scene embraced skinhead styles and developed their own version of the subculture. Bill Osgerby has argued that skinhead culture more broadly grows strength from specific economic circumstances. In

10170-417: The perpetrator was actually a skinhead); this has played a large role in skewing public perceptions about the subculture. Three notable groups that formed in the 1980s and which later became associated with white power skinheads are White Aryan Resistance , Blood and Honour and Hammerskins . During the late 1970s and early 1980s, however, many skinheads and suedeheads in the United Kingdom rejected both

10283-479: The runes do not seem to have been in use at the time of Tacitus' writings. A second source is the Ynglinga saga , where Granmar , the king of Södermanland , goes to Uppsala for the blót . There, the "chips" fell in a way that said that he would not live long ( Féll honum þá svo spánn sem hann mundi eigi lengi lifa ). These "chips", however, are easily explainable as a blótspánn (sacrificial chip), which

10396-484: The runes of divine origin". In the Poetic Edda poem Hávamál , Stanza 80, the runes also are described as reginkunnr : Þat er þá reynt, er þú at rúnum spyrr inum reginkunnum, þeim er gerðu ginnregin ok fáði fimbulþulr, þá hefir hann bazt, ef hann þegir. That is now proved, what you asked of the runes, of the potent famous ones, which the great gods made, and the mighty sage stained, that it

10509-573: The runes were used for divination , there is no direct evidence to suggest they were ever used in this way. The name rune itself, taken to mean "secret, something hidden", seems to indicate that knowledge of the runes was originally considered esoteric, or restricted to an elite. The 6th-century Björketorp Runestone warns in Proto-Norse using the word rune in both senses: Haidzruno runu, falahak haidera, ginnarunaz. Arageu haeramalausz uti az. Weladaude, sa'z þat barutz. Uþarba spa. I, master of

10622-644: The runes(?) conceal here runes of power. Incessantly (plagued by) maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who breaks this (monument). I prophesy destruction / prophecy of destruction. The same curse and use of the word, rune, is also found on the Stentoften Runestone . There also are some inscriptions suggesting a medieval belief in the magical significance of runes, such as the Franks Casket (AD 700) panel. Charm words, such as auja , laþu , laukaʀ , and most commonly, alu , appear on

10735-442: The same area and time period are likely to interpret the colour significations accurately. The practice of using the colour clothing items to indicate affiliations became less common, particularly among traditionalist skinheads, who were more likely to choose their colours simply for fashion. Hats common among skinheads include: Trilby hats; pork pie hats ; flat caps ( Scally caps or driver caps ), winter woollen hats (without

10848-551: The same area and time period are likely to interpret the colour significations accurately. This practice has become less common, particularly among traditionalist skinheads, who are more likely to choose their colours simply for fashion purposes. Suedeheads sometimes wore coloured socks (for example, red or blue rather than black or white). The skinhead subculture was originally associated with black music genres such as soul , ska , R&B , rocksteady , and early reggae . The link between skinheads and Jamaican music led to

10961-578: The same footwear as men, with the addition of monkey boots . The traditional brand for monkey boots was Grafters, but nowadays they are also made by Dr. Martens and Solovair. In the early days of the skinhead subculture, some skinheads chose boot lace colours based on the football team they supported. Later, some skinheads (particularly highly political ones) began to use lace colour to indicate beliefs or affiliations. The particular colours chosen have varied regionally, and have had totally different meanings in different areas and time periods. Only skinheads from

11074-425: The same manner as a blótspánn . The lack of extensive knowledge on historical use of the runes has not stopped modern authors from extrapolating entire systems of divination from what few specifics exist, usually loosely based on the reconstructed names of the runes and additional outside influence. A recent study of runic magic suggests that runes were used to create magical objects such as amulets, but not in

11187-647: The secret'). However, it is difficult to tell whether they are cognates (linguistic siblings from a common origin), or if the Proto-Germanic form reflects an early borrowing from Celtic. Various connections have been proposed with other Indo-European terms (for example: Sanskrit ráuti रौति 'roar', Latin rūmor 'noise, rumor'; Ancient Greek eréō ἐρέω 'ask' and ereunáō ἐρευνάω 'investigate'), although linguist Ranko Matasović finds them difficult to justify for semantic or linguistic reasons. Because of this, some scholars have speculated that

11300-538: The separation of Gothic (2nd to 5th centuries), while the spoken dialects may already have been more diverse. With the potential exception of the Meldorf fibula , a possible runic inscription found in Schleswig-Holstein dating to around 50 AD, the earliest reference to runes (and runic divination) may occur in Roman Senator Tacitus's ethnographic Germania . Dating from around 98 CE, Tacitus describes

11413-419: The skinhead subculture became associated in the public eye with membership of groups such as the far-right National Front and British Movement . By the 1990s, neo-Nazi skinhead movements existed across all of Europe and North America, but were counterbalanced by the presence of groups such as Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) which sprung up in response. To this day, the skinhead subculture reflects

11526-414: The skinhead subculture diversified, and contemporary skinhead fashions ranged from the original clean-cut 1960s mod- and rude boy-influenced styles to less-strict punk -influenced styles. During the early 1980s, political affiliations grew in significance and split the subculture, demarcating the far-right and far-left strands, although many skins described themselves as apolitical . In Great Britain,

11639-552: The skinhead subculture) started listening to British glam rock bands such as Sweet , Slade and Mott the Hoople . The most popular music style for late-1970s skinheads was 2 Tone , a fusion of ska, rocksteady, reggae, pop and punk rock . The 2 Tone genre was named after 2 Tone Records , a Coventry record label that featured bands such as The Specials , Madness and The Selecter . Some late-1970s skinheads also liked certain punk rock bands, such as Sham 69 and Menace. In

11752-459: The skinhead subculture). They might wear fitted blazers , Harrington jackets , bomber jackets , denim jackets (usually blue, sometimes spattered with bleach), donkey jackets , Crombie -style overcoats, sheepskin ¾-length coats, short macs , monkey jackets or parkas . Traditional ("hard mod") skinheads sometimes wore suits, often of two-tone 'Tonik' fabric (shiny mohair -like material that changes colour in different light and angles), or in

11865-435: The skinhead subculture, redskins and anarchist skinheads take a militant anti-fascist and pro-working class stance. The phrase " all cops are bastards " was popularized among some skinheads by The 4-Skins 's 1982 song "A.C.A.B." In the United Kingdom, two groups with significant numbers of leftist skinhead members were Red Action , which started in 1981, and Anti-Fascist Action , which started in 1985. Internationally,

11978-431: The street assaults were an attempt at "driving blacks out of the predominantly white community through a campaign of terror and violence". Gang members Eric Dillard and Danny Edward Williams used a baseball bat in the beating of Eric Miller outside a video rental store, on April 28, 1996. On July 8, 1996, Dillard, Williams and a juvenile who was not identified because of his age attacked and stabbed Marcus Cotton four times in

12091-541: The time, all of these scripts had the same angular letter shapes suited for epigraphy , which would become characteristic of the runes and related scripts in the region. The process of transmission of the script is unknown. The oldest clear inscriptions are found in Denmark and northern Germany. A "West Germanic hypothesis" suggests transmission via Elbe Germanic groups, while a " Gothic hypothesis" presumes transmission via East Germanic expansion . Runes continue to be used in

12204-704: The use of three runic letters followed by the Elder Futhark f-rune written three times in succession. Nevertheless, it has proven difficult to find unambiguous traces of runic "oracles": although Norse literature is full of references to runes, it nowhere contains specific instructions on divination. There are at least three sources on divination with rather vague descriptions that may, or may not, refer to runes: Tacitus 's 1st-century Germania , Snorri Sturluson 's 13th-century Ynglinga saga , and Rimbert 's 9th-century Vita Ansgari . The first source, Tacitus's Germania , describes "signs" chosen in groups of three and cut from "a nut-bearing tree", although

12317-438: The white race and subscribe to an ideology of hatred, especially against blacks and "race traitors". The gang took its name from the phrase " lowrider ", which is associated with Hispanic gangs, as an "act of one-upmanship ". Methamphetamine abuse is common among members of the group. While the Nazi Lowriders are primarily an organized crime entity, the gang's white power ideology is central to its identity. According to

12430-423: Was "marked, possibly with sacrificial blood, shaken, and thrown down like dice, and their positive or negative significance then decided." The third source is Rimbert's Vita Ansgari , where there are three accounts of what some believe to be the use of runes for divination, but Rimbert calls it "drawing lots". One of these accounts is the description of how a renegade Swedish king, Anund Uppsale , first brings

12543-547: Was a record label called "Satanic Skinhead Propaganda" that was known to specialize in neo-Nazi black metal and death metal bands. Black metal pioneer and right-wing extremist Varg Vikernes was known to adopt a skinhead look and wear a belt with the SS insignia while serving time in prison for the arson of several stave churches and the murder of Øystein Aarseth . Although many white power skinheads listened to Oi! music, they developed

12656-562: Was associated with a certain societal class of rune carvers. In the mid-1950s, however, approximately 670 inscriptions, known as the Bryggen inscriptions , were found in Bergen . These inscriptions were made on wood and bone, often in the shape of sticks of various sizes, and contained information of an everyday nature—ranging from name tags, prayers (often in Latin ), personal messages, business letters, and expressions of affection, to bawdy phrases of

12769-545: Was complete by the early 5th century, with the Kylver Stone being the first evidence of the futhark ordering as well as of the p rune. Specifically, the Rhaetic alphabet of Bolzano is often advanced as a candidate for the origin of the runes, with only five Elder Futhark runes ( ᛖ e , ᛇ ï , ᛃ j , ᛜ ŋ , ᛈ p ) having no counterpart in the Bolzano alphabet. Scandinavian scholars tend to favor derivation from

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