TERROR IN TACOMA
On June 4, 2004, a jury in Tacoma, Washington, convicted Kurtis William Monschke of aggravated first degree murder for his role in the brutal killing of a homeless man the previous year. Monschke, a 20-year-old racist skinhead, led three other racist skinheads on a quest for someone to assault so that the lone woman of the four, Tristain Lynn Frye, could "earn" the right to wear red shoelaces on her boots. Many racist skinheads contend that they cannot wear red shoelaces unless they have attacked an enemy of the white race.

The four originally sought an African-American victim, ideally one involved with drugs, but settled for Randall Townsend, a white homeless drug addict. In a brutal, prolonged assault, the four of them attacked Townsend, hitting and kicking him and beating him with baseball bats, before dropping a boulder on his head. Finally, emulating a scene from the movie "American History X," they "curbstomped" him, placing his open mouth against a railroad tie and stomping on the back of his skull. Townsend died from the massive injuries sustained during the assault.

Tacoma police investigating the murder quickly arrested Monschke, Frye, and the other two assailants, Scotty James Butters and David Nikos Pillatos. All but Monschke pleaded guilty to the assault. Monschke's murder conviction finally brought justice for Townsend.

A Once and Future Threat

Unfortunately, Monschke and his racist skinhead crew were hardly alone. Monschke wrote on his Internet Web page about a "brand new white power movement in Washington for white pride activism and cultural awareness." Actually, the resurgence of racist skinhead activity has not been limited to the state of Washington. In the past three years, most sections of the country have seen a significant and troubling resurgence of racist skinhead activity.

This renewed growth includes a rise in the number and membership of organized racist skinhead groups as well as a rise in the number of "independent" or unaffiliated racist skinheads. It also includes a rise in the amount of skinhead-related criminal activity, primarily hate crimes but also including a few attempted acts of terrorism.

The skinhead subculture originally arose among working class whites in Great Britain in the 1970s. As it cohered, skinheads adopted similar dress, musical styles, tattoos, and rituals. Although typically violent, the skinhead subculture was not originally racist-and, in fact, today around the world there remain many nonracist or explicitly anti-racist skinheads (often called sharps, for "skinheads against racial prejudice"). However, by the early 1980s, thanks in large part to rock musician Ian Stuart, a breed of white power skinheads emerged in Great Britain and soon after, in the United States.

Racist skinhead activity became a problem in many areas of the United States in the 1980s, especially on the West Coast, where skinhead-related hate crimes frequently occurred. Perhaps the most notorious skinhead-related crime in the 1980s was the brutal baseball bat murder of an Ethiopian immigrant, Mulugeta Seraw, in Portland, Oregon, in 1988 by three members of a racist skinhead group, East Side White Pride.

The violence and aggressiveness of racist skinheads made them attractive to established white supremacist groups. Leaders of many of these groups, sensing a new pool of haters, attempted to recruit racist skinheads, with limited success. In the 1990s, the number of racist skinhead groups actually decreased, even as the nation experienced a resurgence of white supremacist activity. Only on the West Coast did the racist skinhead presence remain strong, although skinhead-related hate crimes occurred throughout the decade in all parts of the country. With the increased presence of white supremacist groups such as the National Alliance, the World Church of the Creator, Aryan Nations, and the National Socialist Movement, many individual racist skinheads increasingly tended to join such organizations.