I'm a SHARP SKINHEAD

I have so much to say about this subculture I don't know where to start. I guess I will start with myself. I consider myself to be a traditional / S.H.A.R.P.(Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice)skinhead trying to walk in the foot steps of the original skinheads form the 1960's. Back then it was all about enjoying reggae,rock steady and SKA music having a good time and working class pride. I feel the need to call my self a S.H.A.R.P. because so many people think skinheads are only about racism and fighting.I have been a skinhead for twenty years now but I was not always a S.H.A.R.P.

I was born in the state of Arkansas in 1975 and moved to Seattle Washington when I was 8 or 9 years old. My family moved into to a town just south of Seattle. When I got to Jr. high school in 1986/87 I did not know anything about music, trends or street gangs. At that time allot of people were moving to this part of Washington state to get there kids away form gangs like Crips & Bloods. Well they did not succeed because all these kids brought the gangs with them. I did not fit in with most of the kids I guess because I did not ware the popular clothes and I hated the music they all liked. Groups like New Kids on the Block and MC Hammer. I found some kids there that had big Mohawks and spiky hair. I remembered that movie Mad Max and was thinking how cool they looked. When I started hanging out with all the punk rockers I felt that I had found my place. The music was so full of energy I could not help it with bands like Cro-Mags, Bad Brains, The Exploited and the Misfits just to name a few.

After about a year of being a punk rocker I found out about Oi! music and skinheads. Now this type of music made me feel strong and made me feel I could do anything. My best friend at the time told me we should be skins not punks. They look so smart with there button down shirts and nice stay press pants with shiny boots. My friend and I started to shed off all the punk rock look.

At that time we were about 14 years old and did not know allot about skinheads then. Just after we got into being skinheads they were all over the news and talk shows. We became under attack form the gangs at our school. We kept telling them we were not a gang or racist. I remember one day walking home from school about 10 black kids that was in a crip gang had surrounded us and we got our asses kicked that day. The next day a friend told us there was some skinheads from high school looking for us. At first I was like cool now we will have someone to help back us up. That was not the case they were looking for us because they were right-wing skinheads and they were told we were not nazi skins. We were told they were going to beat us up if we did not join sides with them.

At this point I was so confused and sick of fighting the other gangs on my own I joined this new group of skins with my best friend. They called them selves White American Youth or "The WAY" for short. There was about 20-25 of them in this town. I had no clue what I was getting into. Before I knew it I was out handing out flyer's about how America was doomed and the non-whit emigrants were going to bread us out of existence. They had me so brain washed I could not see the forest because of the trees. They had me thinking it was the end of the world and I had to save them. Before I knew it I had wasted my teen age years away on this crap. I did find some real trad skins in the next town and I try to get to know them but I had mad a bad name for my self and was a right-wing skin. These guys were the real thing they had scooters and had all the proper clothing on they looked like they were from England.
They did not want to have any thing to do with me. My dad passed away when I was 18 and had to move back to Arkansas with my mother. There I join a group called the Confederate Hammerskins out of Little Rock Ark.

This was a big turning point in my life. The guy that got me into the Hammerskins was into SKA and looking like a traditional skinhead. He started teaching me about the spirit of 69 and the skins from that time. I went to Dallas TX, to see some skinhead bands play and meet new skins. after I got back from Dallas I started to realize these people are crazy and I'm one of them. I had started thinking about what I was doing and how to get away from them. I was invited to go see some bands play in Springfield MO.There was alot of Hammerskins there at the show. A big fight broke out and I went to jail for fighting. I did not know it at the time but this was my chance to get out of the Hammerskins. They had bailed me out and after I got home I had a bad crash on my motorcycle and had to use there bail money to pay the hospital. Well they wanted that money back and I did not have it. So they came and told me I was out of the Hammerskins and they black listed me. I think that was the only time I was glad to be poor.

Now that I'm away from them I had to relearn how to be a good person like I was before. I started getting more into the old 1960's SKA music. Thank god for bands like Judge Dread, Toots & the maytals, Laurel Aitken and Mikey Dread. I did not socialize with any skinheads for some time. I felt so bad for being apart of that evil gang. I just keep right on going and started to find other ex-nazi skinheads that were now trying to make peace with the world. After taking a step back and looking at the big picture of the world of skinheads I see there is no way you can be a racist and be a skinhead. All skinheads today owe their existence to the Jamaican musicians, Rude boys and Mods at that time.

Now I have help start a S.H.A.R.P chapter in the state of Arkansas. By doing this I hope to educate people with the truth about skinheads and help fight racism and fascism were ever I go. I know there is still lost kids out there that are being brain washed into nazi's and I now what lies ahead and it's a life of pain and sorrow. So I hope by keepig the S.H.A.R.P. ideal going it will be there to help them out.


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