The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT), a large and violent racist prison gang, uses a hand symbol consisting of a raised index finger and raised ring and little fingers (or the reverse), signifying the numbers 1 and 2. Substituting letters for numbers 1 and 2 stand for A and B, or Aryan Brotherhood. Sometimes ABT members may use a two-handed variation in which one hand "throws up" one digit and the other hand (belonging to the same or a different person) "throws up" two digits, again signifying…

ALTERNATE NAMES: AC, The DiamondGroup Status: Active The Aryan Circle is the second-largest white supremacist prison gang in Texas and one of the largest such gangs in the United States. Its most common tattoo, known as a "shield" or "patch," consists of a square oriented to form a diamond shape. Inside the diamond is typically a swastika and the initials AC; it is also common to include SS lightning bolts. Because of this symbol, Aryan Circle members often refer to their gang as "The…

The Aryan Circle is one of the largest white supremacist prison gangs in the United States. Its primary hand sign consists of holding up the thumb and the middle, ring, and little fingers of one hand, signifying the numbers 1 and 3 (which stand for AC). One can also hold up the little finger and the middle and index fingers, plus the thumb.

Group Status: Active The Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood is a small white supremacist prison/street gang based primarily in Minnesota and Kentucky. Its main symbol consists of a helmeted and winged skull with the initials ACB. Additional Images:

The Aryan Fist symbol is a white supremacist symbol adopted from the "black power fist" used by black nationalist groups in the 1960s and 1970s.

Group Status: Active The Aryan Knights are a white supremacist prison gang based primarily in Idaho. They often use the initials AK to identify themselves with tattoos or writing. Additional Images:

ALTERNATE NAMES: Church of Jesus Christ ChristianGroup Status: Active In the 1970s, Richard Butler, a leader in the racist and antisemitic Christian Identity religious sect, moved to northern Idaho, where he created Aryan Nations (also known as the Church of Jesus Christ Christian), a white supremacist group that combined Christian Identity with neo-Nazism. In the 1980s, Aryan Nations became one of the most notorious white supremacist groups in the United States, thanks to its highly visible…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Bolts Up, Bolts to the SkyThe largest white supremacist prison gang in Tennessee is Aryan Nations (a different group than the neo-Nazi group of the same name). Aryan Nations gang members use a hand sign they sometimes refer to as "bolts up" or "bolts to the sky," consisting of forming the hand into a pistol shape and pointing it upwards or outwards. Additional Images:

Group Status: Active The largest white supremacist prison gang in Tennessee calls itself Aryan Nations.  The gang borrowed its title from the older neo-Nazi group of the same name, though the two are separate groups with few connections.  The "gang" Aryan Nations is also far larger than the "neo-Nazi" Aryan Nations.  The main symbol for this racist prison gang consists of a rounded Celtic Cross image with different symbols in each of the quadrants formed by the circle and…

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active, but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The Aryan Renaissance Society is a small but long-lived white supremacist group that has resembled both a racist skinhead group and a prison clique at times. It has had members from a variety of places, but many came from Texas and New Jersey. Its logo is a phoenix image superimposed with a lightning bolt and a runic symbol. Additional Images:

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The Aryan Terror Brigade is a racist skinhead group formed in 2009 that today has members in the United States, South America and Europe, though it is not very large. Much of the group's activities take place over the Internet, though members do sometimes engage in real world activities, mostly in the mid-Atlantic states. The logo of the group appears in the form of a Waffen SS…

Group Status: Active The Aryan Warriors are a longstanding racist prison gang based in the Nevada prison system. Members have created a variety of tattoos, but many of them consist of the gang's name or initials, or have some sort of Viking-related imagery, such as horned helmets or axes.   Some Aryan Warriors members may have shield tattoos containing the runic letters corresponding to A and W.    Additional Images:

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active, but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The Atlantic City Skins are a longstanding New Jersey-based racist skinhead group. Their logo consists of a rounded Celtic Cross on top of a row of skulls, which may have the initials ACS on them. Additional Images:

AYAK is Ku Klux Klan shorthand for "Are You A Klansman?" It is related to another Klan acronym, AKIA ("A Klansman I Am"). These are among the many acronyms developed by the Second Ku Klux Klan that emerged in 1915. Although the Second Ku Klux Klan did not survive, much of its terminology and many of its rituals did, and later Klan groups have freely used them. Additional Images:

ALTERNATE NAMES: Ku Klux Klan, MIOAKGroup Status: Active (in that there are many active Ku Klux Klan groups) For the past century, the primary symbol related to Ku Klux Klan groups (other than Klan robes themselves) is what Klan members may call the MIOAK (an acronym for "Mystic Insignia of a Klansman"). It is more commonly referred to as the "Blood Drop" Cross. It appears as a square white cross in black outline against a circular red background. In the middle of the cross is what appears…

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The term "blue-eyed devil" is a racial epithet originating in Asia directed against people of European ancestry. Some white supremacists have adopted the term in recent decades and may refer to themselves as blue-eyed devils. In 1995, a white power music band emerged in Delaware that called itself the Blue Eyed Devils. The band created a distinctive logo consisting of a rounded…

"Blut und Ehre" is a German phrase that translates into "Blood and Honor;" it was popularized by the Nazi Party (as a Hitler Youth slogan and elsewhere). Since World War II, this German phrase (and even more so for its English translation) has commonly been used by white supremacists in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere - most notably as the name of an international racist skinhead group. Additional Images:

Racist skinheads prefer wearing steel-toed workboots, typically with red or white shoelaces laced a certain way.