The hood and robes of Ku Klux Klan members are the most visible Klan symbol of all. Read about the history and current meanings behind the Klan’s robes.
"Love Your Race" is a white supremacist slogan originally popularized by the neo-Nazi National Alliance. In white supremacist literature and fliers, the phrase is often accompanied by an idealized image of a beautiful and/or maternal white woman.
White supremacists fear and hate the concept of multiracial couples, relationships or families, believing that such relationships "pollute" the "pure" white race. As a result, a fairly common white supremacist symbol depicts a multiracial couple or family, with a red circle/bar superimposed over the depiction, indicating that such relationships ought to be prohibited.
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.
The term "peckerwood" originated as a racial epithet directed at whites. Today, it has been adopted by the white supremacist prison gang subculture, especially in southern and western states, to refer to itself. 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."
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.
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.
Runic alphabets are pre-Roman alphabets used widely across Europe, easily recognizable because of their angular characters. White supremacists to use runic letters to portray words of significance to the white supremacist cause, on clothing or as tattoos. Because runes are still commonly used in a variety of non-racist forms, their appearance should always be carefully analyzed in context.
The Solid Wood Soldiers are a Texas-based white supremacist prison gang. Their primary tattoo consists of the initials SWS, with the two S's represented by lightning bolts. Above the initials appears the image of a bear claw, with the number 4 in the middle and sometimes the letters HCRL.
After apartheid, South Africa adopted a new national flag. White supremacists around the world have adopted the prior flag as a symbol of white supremacy.
In the 2000s, white supremacists created a handsign intended to memorialize the Schutzstaffeln or SS of Nazi Germany, Hitler's secret police, political army, and concentration camp guards. The handsign utilizes both hands to make a lightning bolt symbol, as a pair of lightning bolts was the main symbol of the SS.
The Supreme White Alliance is a hardcore racist skinhead gang based primarily in the Midwest. Members sometimes use a two-handed handsign in which four fingers from one hand and three fingers from the other hand are used to represent the number 43. The gang uses 43 as a numeric symbol because the alphanumeric equivalents of the gang's initials (19 for S, 23 for W, and 1 for A), when added together, equal 43.
Some white supremacists have adopted the mathematical sign "≠" (Not Equal or Not Equal To) as a white supremacist symbol. The use of this symbol is an attempt to claim that different races are not equal to each other (and to imply that the white race is superior).
The Vinland Flag was designed in the 1990s by goth metal musician Peter Steele for an album for his band, Type O Negative. "Vinland" was the name given by Viking explorers to the area of North America that they discovered in the Middle Ages. In the early 2000s, white supremacists began to appropriate the flag as a white supremacist symbol.
Members of the white supremacist group Volksfront have used several handsigns to represent their gang. A common one-handed sign features the fingers of the right hand divided into a "V" shape, often held over the chest. A two-handed sign uses one hand to make a "V" shape (using two or four fingers) and the other hand to make the shape of the letter "F."
Some white supremacists, particularly in California, may use a two-handed handsign in which one hand forms the letter "W" and the other hand forms the letter "P," to represent WP or "White Power."