This is a list of hate symbols, including acronyms, numbers, phrases, logos, flags, gestures and other miscellaneous symbols used for hateful purposes, according to the Anti-Defamation League. [1] Some of these items have been appropriated by hate groups and may have other, non-hate-group-related meanings, [2] [3] including anti-racist meanings. [4]
Acronym | Origins | Meaning |
---|---|---|
AKIA [5] | Ku Klux Klan | "A Klansman I Am" |
AYAK [6] | Ku Klux Klan | "Are You A Klansman?" |
FGRN [7] | Ku Klux Klan | "For God, Race, and Nation" |
GTKRWN [8] | General white supremacy | "Gas the Kikes; Race War Now" |
HFFH [9] | Hammerskins | "Hammerskins Forever, Forever Hammerskins" |
HSN [10] | Hammerskins | "Hammerskin Nation" |
ITSUB [11] | Ku Klux Klan | "In The Sacred Unfailing Being", a reference to God |
KABARK [12] | Ku Klux Klan | "Konstantly Applied By All Regular Klansmen" |
KIGY [13] | Ku Klux Klan | "Klansman, I Greet You" |
KLASP [14] | Ku Klux Klan | "Klanish Loyalty, A Sacred Principle" |
LOTIE [15] | Ku Klux Klan | "Lady Of The Invisible Empire", in reference to a female Klan member |
OFOF [16] | Volksfront | "One Front, One Family" |
ORION [17] | General white supremacy | "Our Race Is Our Nation" |
RAHOWA [18] | Creativity (religion) | "Racial Holy War" |
ROA [19] | Volksfront | "Race Over All" |
SS [20] | Nazi Germany | "Schutzstaffel" Note: "SS" not specifically listed |
SWP [21] | Californian prison system | "Supreme White Power" |
WP [22] | General white supremacy | "White Power" or "White Pride" |
WPWW [23] | Stormfront (website) | "White Pride Worldwide" |
ZOG [24] | Anti-Semitism | "Zionist-Occupied Government" |
Number | Origins | Meaning |
---|---|---|
1–11 [25] | Aryan Knights | Representing the first and eleventh letters of the alphabet, A and K, meaning "Aryan Knights" |
100% [26] | General white supremacy | "100% White" |
109/110 [27] | General antisemitism | White supremacists claim that Jews have been expelled from 109 nations throughout history; by calling for America to expel Jews as well, they aim to make the USA the "110th". This number is sometimes combined with the numeric code 1488, creating 1488–110. |
12 [28] | Aryan Brotherhood | Representing the first and second letters of the alphabet, A and B, meaning "Aryan Brotherhood" |
13 [29] | Aryan Circle | Representing the first and third letters of the alphabet, A and C, meaning "Aryan Circle" |
13/52 and 13/90 [30] | General white supremacy | The number 13 refers to the purported percentage of the U.S. population that is African-American. The number 52 refers to the alleged percentage of all murders committed in the U.S. that are committed by African-Americans. Some white supremacists use the number 50 instead of 52. The number 90 refers to the percentage of violent interracial crime allegedly committed by African-Americans. |
14 [31] | David Lane (white supremacist) | Shorthand for Fourteen Words, "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children" |
14/23 [32] | General white supremacy | The Fourteen Words and 23 Precepts - rules for the Southern Brotherhood prison gang |
14/88 [33] | General white supremacy | The Fourteen Words and the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, repeated twice, standing for "Heil Hitler" |
18 [34] | Combat 18 | Representing the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, A and H, meaning "Adolf Hitler" |
21–2–12 [35] | The Unforgiven (prison gang) | Representing the twenty-first, second, and twelfth letters of the alphabet, U, B, and L, meaning "Unity, Brotherhood, Loyalty" |
23/16 [36] | General white supremacy | Representing the twenty-third and sixteenth letters of the alphabet, W and P, meaning "White Power" or "White Pride" |
28 [37] | Blood & Honour | Representing the second and eighth letters of the alphabet, B and H, meaning "Blood & Honour" |
311 [38] | Ku Klux Klan | Representing the eleventh letter of the alphabet, K, repeated three times, meaning "Ku Klux Klan" |
318 [39] | Combat 18 | Representing the third letter of the alphabet, C, and 18, meaning "Combat 18" |
33/6 [40] | Ku Klux Klan | The thirty-three represents three elevens, as K is the eleventh letter of the alphabet, and three of them make "KKK" – the six represents the sixth "era" of the Ku Klux Klan |
38 [41] | Hammerskins | Representing the third and eighth letters of the alphabet, C and H, meaning "Crossed Hammers" a reference to the logo of the Hammerskins |
43 [42] | Supreme White Alliance | If one substitutes numbers for the letters in Supreme White Alliance's initials (19, 23, 1), then adds those numbers together, the total is 43. |
511 [43] | European Kindred | Representing the fifth and eleventh letters of the alphabet, E and K, meaning "European Kindred" |
737 [44] | Public Enemy No. 1 (gang) | The numbers 737 correspond to the letters P, D, and S on a telephone keypad; the initials PDS stand for Peni Death Squad, another name for the group |
83 [45] | Christian Identity | Representing the eighth and third letters of the alphabet, H and C, meaning "Heil Christ" or "Hail Christ" |
88 [46] | General white supremacy | Representing the eighth letter of the alphabet, H, repeated twice, meaning "Heil Hitler" |
9% [47] | General white supremacy | The percentage of the world's population that is purportedly white |
Phrase | Alternate phrase(s) or examples | Meaning |
---|---|---|
"Anudda Shoah" | "Anuddah Shoah" | A phrase used to mock the concept that Jewish people regularly talk about the Holocaust; "Annuda" is a spelling of "Another" as if spoken with a heavy Yiddish accent, and "Shoah" is a Hebrew word meaning "Catastrophe", and it is regularly used in reference to the Holocaust. As such, the phrase can be read as: "It's like another Holocaust!" |
"Anti-Racist Is a Code for Anti-White" | A phrase implying that opponents of racism are secretly trying to eliminate white people, and that being anti-racist is no different than hating white people. | |
"Blue-Eyed Devils" [48] | A racial slur originating from Asia to refer to people of European ancestry, it has been adopted by some white supremacists who began to refer to themselves as "Blue-Eyed Devils". | |
"Blut und Ehre" | A German phrase translating to "Blood and Honor", it was used as a political slogan by the Hitler Youth. | |
"Crazy White Boy" [49] | A generic phrase used by white supremacists to identify themselves to other white supremacists. | |
"Day of the Rope" | A phrase referring to a fictional event in the neo-Nazi book The Turner Diaries . In the novel, the "Day of the Rope" is an event where mass lynchings took place against minorities, journalists, race-mixers and politicians, all within the span of a day. | |
"Diversity = White Genocide" [50] | A slogan implying that growing cultural diversity will bring about "White Genocide". | |
"Featherwood" | The female equivalent to a "Peckerwood", or a member of a white supremacist street or prison gang. | |
"Hate" | "H8" | White supremacists used the word to openly proclaim their hatred to people unlike them. |
"Hate Edge" | "NS Straight Edge", "sXe", "XXX" | A white supremacist offshoot of the Straight Edge movement. |
"I have nothing to say" [51] | "5 Words", "Five Words" | White supremacists claim that these five words should be the only words spoken to police officers. |
"It's Okay to Be White" | A phrase originating on 4chan in 2017, it was created with the purpose of putting it on fliers to be put in public places. Originators assumed that "liberals" would react negatively to such fliers and condemn them or take them down, thus "proving" that liberals did not even think it was "okay" to be white. | |
"Love Your Race" | A phrase used by white supremacists to encourage racialism. | |
"Meine Ehre Heißt Treue" | "Unser Ehre Heißt Treue" | A German phrase translating to "My Honor is Loyalty". It was originally a motto used by the Waffen SS. |
"Muh Holocaust" | An antisemitic meme used to imply that Jewish people "whine" about the Holocaust. The word "Muh" means "My". | |
"Non Silba Sed Anthar" | "NSSA" | A Latin/Gothic phrase translating to "Not Self, But Others", a phrase used by the Ku Klux Klan. |
"Peckerwood" | Originally a racial epithet aimed at white people, it was adopted by white supremacists. A "Peckerwood" is a member of a white supremacist street or prison gang. | |
"Sieg Heil" | "Hail Victory" | A German phrase translating to "Hail Victory". It was one of the most widely used slogans by the Nazi Party. |
"Six Gorillion" | "Muh Six Gorillion" | A phrase making reference to the six million Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. The "million" is replaced with the nonsensical "Gorillion", implying that the number of Jewish deaths caused by the Holocaust is greatly exaggerated. |
"The Goyim Know, Shut It Down!" | "Da Goyim Know" | A mocking antisemitic phrase meant to be understood as spoken by a panicked Jew responding to an occurrence that would ostensibly reveal the "Jewish plot" to manipulate non-Jewish people (A.K.A. "Goyim"). |
"We Wuz Kangs" | "We Wuz Kings", "Kings N Shiet" | A phrase, written as if spoken in exaggerated African-American Vernacular English, saying "We Were Kings". This phrase mocks the Black Egyptian hypothesis. More specifically, it mocks the idea held by some people of Sub-Saharan African descent that their ancestors were Pharaohs of the Egyptian civilization. The use of mock-vernacular is meant to contrast supposedly "uneducated" African-Americans with supposedly "civilized" Ancient Egyptians. |
"White Lives Matter" | "WLM" | A phrase meant to combat and oppose the Black Lives Matter movement. |
"You Will Not Replace Us" | "Jews Will Not Replace Us", "YWNRU" | A reference to the popular white supremacist belief that white people are in danger of extinction due to increasing birth rates among non-white people and decreasing birth rates among white people. |
Group | Image | Status | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Advanced White Society [52] | Inactive; Legacy | ||
American Front | Active | ||
Identity Evropa | Inactive; Rebranded as the American Identity Movement | ||
Aryan Brotherhood | Current | ||
Atomwaffen Division | Current | ||
Bound for Glory | Active | ||
Daily Stormer Book Club | Current | ||
European Kindred | Active | ||
Ku Klux Klan | Active | ||
Mississippi Aryan Brotherhood | Active | ||
National Socialist Movement (United States) | Current | ||
New Black Panther Party | |||
Patriot Front | Current | Patriot Front is an American white supremacist, neo-fascist, and American nationalist hate group. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America during the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. | |
Skrewdriver [53] | Inactive; Defunct | British white supremacist band, broke up in 1993, but still popular amongst the far-right, especially in Britain. They have been the subject of at least one parody group, "Jewdriver". [54] | |
Stormfront (website) | Active | Stormfront is a neo-Nazi Internet forum, and the Web's first major racial hate site. The site is primarily focused on propagating white nationalism, antisemitism, Holocaust denial and white supremacy. | |
Brothers of White Warriors [55] | Prison gang whose most common symbol is an Iron Cross containing the group's initials, jail bars, and a swastika | ||
Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood [56] | Active |
Flag | Image | Notes |
---|---|---|
Confederate battle flag/ Confederate States Navy jack (1863–1865) (lighter blue field) | Although this was not the national flag of the Confederate States of America, it was later used by racist groups to attack Black people in the American South. This flag is also commonly-known as the "Rebel flag". | |
Flag of South Africa (1928–1994) | During the time when the flag was used, South Africa implemented the apartheid system, which ordered all Black citizens to use poor-quality facilities, making life more difficult and dangerous for Black and Coloured South Africans. It was later used by racist groups to show their opposition to multiculturalism and hatred of non-White people. | |
Vinland flag a | The Vinland flag was appropriated by racist groups from English-speaking parts of Canada and America to represent their Norse origins. It is also used by non-racist Norse neopagans. | |
Volksfront flag | ||
Imperial German Reichskriegflagge | This flag is used by modern Neo-Nazis, especially in Germany and the United States, to bypass the legal ban of the Nazi flag. Because of this usage, its use is considered as a crime within seven states in Germany. In the other nine German states, misuse of the flag for fascist purposes is punishable with a fine. | |
Nazi Party flag | As the flag of Nazi Germany, it has become notorious in the Western world as representative of the exterminations under the Holocaust, and Nazi hatred of other races and people considered "weak" or "inferior". | |
Northwest American Republic | ||
Gesture | Image |
---|---|
Nazi salute | |
88 (hand sign) | |
Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (hand sign) | |
White Power sign (OK gesture) |
Symbol | Image | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Anti-Antifa imagery [57] | Commonly used as memes or symbols by white supremacists to mock Antifa activists. | |
Anti-SHARP imagery [58] | Used by racist skinheads to target and demean anti-racist skinheads (SHARPs) | |
Arrow Cross | Based on the symbol of the Arrow Cross Party, a Hungarian fascist political party. | |
Celtic cross a | ||
Crossed grenades | Based on the symbol of the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger, headed by Oskar Dirlewanger, the namesake of the brigade. | |
Iron Cross (German military award of the Third Reich era) | ||
St. Michael's Cross | Based on the symbol of the Iron Guard, a Romanian fascist political party. | |
Odal (rune) | The Odal rune was used during Nazi Germany for two Waffen SS divisions. Likewise, racist neopagan groups also used the odal rune to represent a mythical "Aryan" past. It is also used by non-racist Norse neopagan groups in religious ceremonies. | |
Siegrunes | ||
Tyr Rune a | ||
Jera Rune a | ||
Swastika | ||
Triple seven Triskelion [ citation needed ] | Symbol of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, an Afrikaner neo-Nazi organization in South Africa. | |
Valknut a [59] | ||
Wolfsangel | ||
Triple parentheses | Used by neo-Nazis online around a person or organization's name to signal that they are secretly Jewish. | |
Totenkopf | ||
Black Sun (Sonnenrad) | ||
Mjölnir a (Thor's Hammer) | Racist neopagan groups use the Mjolnir to represent "Aryan" mysticism. However, the symbol is also used by non-racist and anti-racist Norse neopagan groups as a symbol for their religion or to worship Thor. | |
Nazi eagle | ||
Fasces | Initially used as the symbol of authority among Ancient Romans, the symbol was adopted as the fascist symbol due to its acceptance in the public compared to the Nazi Swastika. | |
Identitarian lambda | ||
Triangular Klan symbol | ||
Burning cross | ||
Noose | Nooses were used by racist groups in the United States to threaten Black people, representing lynching. | |
Crucified Skinhead symbol | ||
Pepe the Frog | Cartoon frog character first created in 2005, which has been co-opted as a racist meme since the late 2010s. In practice it is normally used in a non-racist way. | |
Moon Man [60] | Racist parody of McDonald's Mac Tonight mascot. | |
Bowl cut / Dylann Roof | The bowl cut is associated with Dylann Roof, who launched a mass murder attack at the Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, South Carolina in 2015. | |
Ku Klux Klan robes[ citation needed ] | ||
Pit bull [61] | Used as a skinhead symbol, possibly due to their use as fighting dogs. | |
German Soldier [62] | White supremacists often wear tattoos featuring World War-II era German Soldiers. | |
No Race Mixing sign [63] | Typically portrayed as a multiracial couple with a red circle/bar superimposed over the depiction. | |
Not Equal/Unequal/Not Equal To [64] | Mathematical sign "≠" was adopted to imply racial differences, especially white supremacists. | |
The Happy Merchant (Alternate names: Jew Face/Le Happy Merchant/Merchant face) [65] | See: A. Wyatt Mann | |
Trollface (Racist versions) [66] | ||
Boots and Laces | Steel-toed work boots are a popular symbol among subcultures related to music. White Power Skinheads, also called Boneheads, may specifically wear them with red or white laces, usually “ladder laced” (uncrossed)., [67] but regular lacing also can be seen. It is important to keep in mind that various subcultures, such as Punks and Metalheads, wear boots that can be laced in "ladder lacing" way, in various colors. [68] |
Othala, also known as ēðel and odal, is a rune that represents the o and œ phonemes in the Elder Futhark and the Anglo-Saxon Futhorc writing systems respectively. Its name is derived from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic *ōþala- "heritage; inheritance, inherited estate". As it does not occur in Younger Futhark, it disappears from the Scandinavian record around the 8th century, however its usage continued in England into the 11th century, where it was sometimes further used in manuscripts as a shorthand for the word ēðel ("homeland"), similar to how other runes were sometimes used at the time.
Volksfront, also known as Volksfront International, was an American white separatist organization founded on October 20, 1994, in Portland, Oregon. According to Volksfront's now defunct website, the group described itself as an "international fraternal organization for persons of European descent." The logo of Volksfront was the Algiz rune, a common rune used as a neo-Nazi symbol common among other organizations such as National Alliance. Volksfront had approximately 50 members in the United States split between four chapters designated as Pac-West, Central States, North East, and Gulf-Atlantic, and an additional 50 members dispersed in other countries including Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Spain. The goal of the movement was to create an all-White homeland in the Pacific Northwest. The flag of Volksfront was based on the Nazi flag in the colors of black, white, and red with the Volksfront logo and the slogan was "Race Over All" implying that race mattered over everything else. In August 2012, the United States branch of Volksfront announced their dissolution via their website. Citing harassment and investigations by the authorities, the group said it was disbanding.
Fascist symbolism is the use of certain images and symbols which are designed to represent aspects of fascism. These include national symbols of historical importance, goals, and political policies. The best-known are the fasces, which was the original symbol of fascism, and the swastika of Nazism.
Wolfsangel or Crampon is a heraldic charge from mainly Germany and eastern France, which was inspired by medieval European wolf traps that consisted of a Z-shaped metal hook that was hung by a chain from a crescent-shaped metal bar. The stylized symbol of the Z-shape can include a central horizontal bar to give a Ƶ-symbol, which can be reversed and/or rotated; it is sometimes mistaken as being an ancient rune due to its similarity to the "gibor rune" of the pseudo Armanen runes.
White power skinheads, also known as racist skinheads and neo-Nazi skinheads, are members of a neo-Nazi, white supremacist and antisemitic offshoot of the skinhead subculture. Many of them are affiliated with white nationalist organizations and some of them are members of prison gangs. The movement emerged in the United Kingdom between the late 1960s and the late 1970s, before spreading across Eurasia and North America in the 1980–1990s.
"The Fourteen Words" is a reference to two slogans originated by David Eden Lane, one of nine founding members of the defunct white supremacist terrorist organization The Order, and are accompanied by Lane's "88 Precepts." The slogans have served as a rallying cry for militant white nationalists internationally.
The Black Sun is a type of sun wheel symbol originating in Nazi Germany and later employed by neo-Nazis and other far-right individuals and groups. The symbol's design consists of twelve radial sig runes, similar to the symbols employed by the SS in their logo. It first appeared in Nazi Germany as a design element in a castle at Wewelsburg remodeled and expanded by the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, which he intended to be a center for the SS.
The 20th-century German Nazi Party made extensive use of graphic symbols, especially the swastika, notably in the form of the swastika flag, which became the co-national flag of Nazi Germany in 1933, and the sole national flag in 1935. A very similar flag had represented the Party beginning in 1920.
The National Socialist Movement is a Neo-Nazi organization based in the United States. Once considered to be the largest and most prominent Neo-Nazi organization in the United States, since the late 2010s its membership and prominence have plummeted. It was a part of the Nationalist Front and it is classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Ethnic Cleansing is a 2002 first-person shooter produced by the National Alliance, an American white supremacist and neo-Nazi organization. The player controls one of three selectable characters, including a Ku Klux Klan member and a neo-Nazi skinhead, and traverses two levels to kill stereotypically depicted African Americans, Latinos, and Jews. Designed to be politically incorrect and spread a white supremacist message, the game was released through the National Alliance's record label, Resistance Records, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2002. It was received negatively by anti-hate organizations like the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and has been considered as one of the most controversial and most racist games. Resistance Records sought to release a series of games based on the novel The Turner Diaries and published White Law in 2003.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a New York–based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination. Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe. In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants. Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.
Triple parentheses or triple brackets, or an echo, often referred to in print as an ( ), are an antisemitic symbol that has been used to highlight the names of individuals thought to be Jews, and the names of organizations thought to be owned by Jews. This use of the symbol originated from the alt-right-affiliated, neo-Nazi blog The Right Stuff, whose editors said that the symbol refers to the historic actions of Jews which have caused their surnames to "echo throughout history". The triple parentheses have been adopted as an online stigma by antisemites, neo-Nazis, browsers of the "Politically Incorrect" board on 4chan, and white nationalists to identify individuals of Jewish background as targets for online harassment, such as Jewish political journalists critical of Donald Trump during his 2016 election campaign.
The Right Stuff is a neo-Nazi and white nationalist blog and discussion forum and the host of several podcasts, including The Daily Shoah. Founded by American neo-Nazi Mike Enoch, the website promotes Holocaust denial, and coined the use of "echoes", an antisemitic marker that uses triple parentheses around names to identify Jewish people.
Far-right subcultures refers to the symbolism, ideology and traits that hold relevance to various politically extreme right-wing groups and organisations. There are three kinds of subcultures within far-right movements to distinguish: subcultural parasitism, subcultural creation around ideology and subcultures that are networking with far-right movements.
The Nationalist Front was a loose coalition of radical right and white supremacist organizations. The coalition was formed in 2016 by leaders of the neo-Nazi groups National Socialist Movement (NSM) and Traditionalist Worker Party (TWP). Its aim was to unite white supremacist and white nationalist groups under a common umbrella. Originally the group was named the Aryan Nationalist Alliance and was composed of neo-Nazi, Ku Klux Klan and White power skinhead organizations.
Vanguard America is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, neo-fascist organization. The organization is also a member of the Nationalist Front. The group gained significant attention after it was revealed that James Alex Fields had marched with them at the Unite the Right rally before being arrested on murder charges. The group has its roots in the alt-right movement.
Patriot Front is an American white supremacist and neo-fascist hate group. Part of the broader alt-right movement, the group split off from the neo-Nazi organization Vanguard America in the aftermath of the Unite the Right rally in 2017. Patriot Front's aesthetic combines traditional Americana with fascist symbolism. Internal communications within the group indicated it had approximately 200 members as of late 2021. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the group generated 82% of reported incidents in 2021 involving distribution of racist, antisemitic, and other hateful propaganda in the United States, comprising 3,992 incidents, in every continental state.
A white power symbol is an insignia, sign or gesture used to espouse a viewpoint that people of European descent are superior to other people. White power symbols may be found in:
The Goyim Defense League (GDL) is an American neo-Nazi, antisemitic hate group and conspiracy theory network of individuals who are active on social media websites and operate an online video platform called GoyimTV. The GDL also performs banner drops, papering neighborhoods with flyers, and other stunts to harass Jews. The GDL emerged in 2018 and is led by the antisemitic provocateur Jon Minadeo II. The GDL is currently tracked by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
Informational notes
Citations