Research & Analysis

The term "Crazy White Boy" (as well as its initials, CWB) is a phrase used generically by some white supremacists (often in tattoo form) to identify themselves.  It is also commonly used as a name for white gangs.  There have been a number of Crazy White Boy/s gangs in different places around the United States, in the streets or in prisons, over the years.  Most are small, locally-oriented, and unconnected to other, similarly named groups.  Variants of this term include…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Wood, Woodpile, PWThe word "peckerwood" originated as an African-American slang term for "woodpecker" in the 1800s, but by the early 1900s began to be applied as a racial epithet against whites, with a meaning similar to the term "white trash." In the second half of the 20th century, in prison environments in Texas, California, and possibly elsewhere, the word peckerwood, originally used to refer to white prisoners generally, began to develop a more specific association with…