Research & Analysis

The hangman's noose has come to be one of the most powerful visual symbols directed against African-Americans, comparable in the emotions that it evokes to that of the swastika for Jews. Its origins are connected to the history of lynching in America, particularly in the South after the Civil War, when violence or threat of violence replaced slavery as one of the main forms of social control that whites used on African-Americans. The noose quickly became associated with the Ku Klux Klan. …

The "Northwest American Republic" is a fictional construct created by Harold Covington, a long-time fringe figure in the neo-Nazi movement. It is based on the so-called "Northwest Imperative," a longstanding call by some white supremacists for White people to move to the Pacific Northwest and establish their own country.

OFOF is an acronym for the slogan "One Front, One Family," utilized primarily by the white supremacist group Volksfront.

The Ohio Aryan Brotherhood is a longstanding white supremacist prison gang based in the Ohio prison system. Despite its name, it is an independent group and has no connection to the "original" Aryan Brotherhood, based primarily in the California and federal prison systems.

The Oklahoma Aryan Brotherhood is one of several white supremacist prison gangs in the Oklahoma prison system whose name derives from the unrelated "original" Aryan Brotherhood, which is based in the California and federal prison systems. Its patch is a shield on top of two lightning bolts and a sword, with a clover, a swastika, and SS bolts inside the shield.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Our Race Is Our Nation"Our Race Is Our Nation" or "ORION" is a racist slogan proclaiming that racial ties are paramount to all else, transcending national borders or boundaries. Within the United States, for example, a white supremacist might use it to suggest that he or she owes allegiance to his or her race, rather than to the United States itself. In an international context, white supremacists use it to suggest that all "white" people, from Europe or the United States or…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Othal Rune, Othila Rune, Odal Rune, Norse RuneThe othala rune is part of the runic alphabet system, a system of writing used (with many variations) across pre-Roman Europe. In the 20th century, Nazis in Germany adopted the othal rune, among many other similar symbols, as part of their attempt to reconstruct a mythic "Aryan" past. Nazi uses of the symbol included the divisional insignia of two Waffen SS divisions during World War II. Following World War II, white supremacists…

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…

The term "peckerwood" originated as a racial epithet directed at whites. Today, it has been adopted by adherents of the white supremacist prison gang subculture, especially in southern and western states, to refer to themselves. The handsign for "peckerwood" consists of forming the thumb, index finger and middle finger of one hand to form the letter "P," and the four fingers of the other hand to form the letter "W." This is especially common in California, where peckerwood street…

Peckerwood Midwest is a white supremacist gang based primarily in Missouri, active both in prisons and on the streets. The gang's "patch" tattoo consists of a diamond-shaped swastika inside a larger Iron Cross. Inside the swastika are SS bolts; outside the Iron Cross are the numbers 23/16.

Public Enemy Number 1 is a large white supremacist gang based in the prisons and on the streets of California. Its most common symbol is simply a shortened version of its own name, such as PENI or PEN1. Members may also refer to the gang as the Peni Death Squad or PDS, thus PDS is also a common tattoo.

Pepe the Frog is a popular internet meme used in a variety of contexts. In recent years it has also been appropriated by white supremacists, particularly those from the "alt right," who use in racist, antisemitic or other hateful contexts.

ALTERNATE NAMES: Phinehas PriesthoodThe concept of the Phineas Priesthood (or Phinehas Priesthood) comes from a 1990 book by white supremacist and Christian Identity follower Richard Kelly Hoskins, Vigilantes of Christendom: The Story of the Phineas Priesthood. Christian Identity is a racist and anti-Semitic sect whose adherents believe that white people are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel. In his book, Hoskins describes a continuous priesthood of "avengers" who, throughout the…

The pit bull has long been used as a skinhead symbol, presumably because of its reputation as a "fighting" dog. Many racist skinheads and other white supremacists own or even raise pit bulls. White supremacists use one specific pit bulll graphic so often that it has become a white supremacist symbol itself. One racist skinhead group, the Keystone State Skinheads (at one time known as Keystone United) even adopted it as part of their logo. Additional Images:

RAHOWA is an acronym for "Racial Holy War," a term created by the Creativity Movement, a white supremacist pseudo-religion, as a rallying cry for the white supremacist cause.

ROA is an acronym for the white supremacist slogan "Race Over All," popularized by the neo-Nazi/racist skinhead gang Volksfront. Additional Images:

ALTERNATE NAMES: RACRock Against Communism (RAC) is a euphemism used to refer to several types of white power/hate music (typically Oi! or hatecore punk). Despite its name, RAC more often than not contains no references to "Communism" at all, but focuses on racism and anti-Semitism. The term emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, after rock music promoters in Great Britain put on a series of "Rock against Racism" concerts. In response, various white supremacist bands led by Ian Stuart and…

Runic alphabets are pre-Roman alphabets used widely across Europe, easily recognizable because of their angular characters. There are many different varieties of runic alphabets, of which the most well known is the so-called Elder Futhark (the name is derived from the sounds of the first six characters). Runic alphabets are still used today in many mainstream and non-racist contexts. However, white supremacists have also appropriated the runic alphabet, in large part because Nazi Germany often…

The Sacred Separatist Group (SSG) is a Missouri-based white supremacist prison gang. The group's "patch" tattoo consists of a shield over a crossed sword and battleaxe, with the initials SSG inside. Typically, the letters SS in those initials are rendered as lightning bolts.

Sadistic Souls is a small white supremacist outlaw biker gang active primarily in the Midwest. It is also a faction of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Nations. Sadistic Souls members may sport Aryan Nations symbology, as well as biker jackets and rockers that depict a Totenkopf image and the group's name, with the first "S" in each word of its name rendered as lightning bolts.