Hate on Display™ Hate Symbols Database

This database provides an overview of many of the symbols most frequently used by a variety of white supremacist groups and movements, as well as some other types of hate groups.

82 Results

211 Crew

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Aryan Alliance, Brotherhood of Aryan AllianceGroup Status: Active The 211 Crew is a large racist prison gang based in Colorado. Its main tattoo (or "shield" or "patch") is a complex triangular symbol made out of interlocking arms, with hands grasping lightning bolts and the number 211 in the center. According to law enforcement, the name of the gang originated from the California penal code for robbery. However, members claim that 211 is a numeric code for BAA,…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Aryan Alliance, Brotherhood of Aryan Alliance

Advanced White Society

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Legacy (the group is no longer active but some symbols may remain as tattoos, graffiti, etc.) The Advanced White Society is a small white supremacist group formed by a defector from the neo-Nazi National Socialist Movement. It is active primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region and in Ohio. Additional Images:

Alabama Aryan Brotherhood

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The Alabama Aryan Brotherhood is one of many racist prison gangs that have adopted the Aryan Brotherhood name. It is an independent gang and has no connection to the "original" Aryan Brotherhood present in the California and federal prison systems. The primary Alabama Aryan Brotherhood tattoo or "patch" is in the popular "shield" format and consists of a shield-like emblem sporting four images, which could include the initials AB, SS lightning bolts, a swastika, an…

American Front

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active The American Front is one of the oldest continuously existing racist skinhead groups in the United States, dating back to the 1980s. In recent years, most of its members have been from California and Florida. Additional Images:

American Identity Movement (AIM)

Hate Symbol

American Identity Movement is a large white supremacist group formerly known as Identity Evropa. AIM’s logo consists of a blue and red shield with three white stars and the initials A-I-M. The shield is often combined with an American bald eagle.

ALTERNATE NAMES: AIM

Aryan Brotherhood of Texas

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Texas Aryan Brotherhood, ABTGroup Status: Active The Aryan Brotherhood of Texas (ABT) is the largest white supremacist prison gang in Texas and possibly in the United States. It is also one of the most violent, having committed many murders. It is active both behind bars and on the streets across Texas and in neighboring states. Despite its name, the ABT is a group separate from and independent of the "original" Aryan Brotherhood, which is present primarily in the…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Texas Aryan Brotherhood, ABT

Aryan Circle

Hate Symbol

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…

ALTERNATE NAMES: AC, The Diamond

Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood

Hate Symbol

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:

Aryan Knights

Hate Symbol

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:

Aryan Nations

Hate Symbol

ALTERNATE NAMES: Church of Jesus Christ ChristianGroup Status: Active Aryan Nations is a longstanding neo-Nazi group in the United States that dates back to the 1970s. It is unusual in that it is also a Christian Identity group (Christian Identity is a small, virulently racist and anti-Semitic religious sect prominent in the extreme right in the United States). Its logo consists of a Wolfsangel symbol with a crown-topped sword replacing the cross-bar. Typically this image appears on a blue…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Church of Jesus Christ Christian

Aryan Nations (Tennessee prison gang)

Hate Symbol

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…

Aryan Renaissance Society

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active 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:

Aryan Terror Brigade

Hate Symbol

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…

Aryan Warriors

Hate Symbol

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:

Atlantic City Skins

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active 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:

Atomwaffen Division

Hate Symbol

Atomwaffen Division is a neo-Nazi group that emerged in 2016. “Atomwaffen” is the German word for atomic weapons and the group’s logo features a radiation warning symbol on a Waffen SS divisional insignia shield.

Blood & Honour

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active (see below) Blood & Honour (the British spelling is typically used, even in the United States) is an international racist skinhead umbrella group started decades ago by British white supremacist and singer Ian Stuart Donaldson. It has chapters or associated groups around the world, primarily in Europe. Several American white supremacist groups proclaim an association with Blood & Honour, as do many individual white supremacists. Because of the latter, use of…

Blood Drop Cross

Hate Symbol

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…

ALTERNATE NAMES: Ku Klux Klan, MIOAK

Blue Eyed Devils

Hate Symbol

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…

Bound for Glory

Hate Symbol

Group Status: Active Bound for Glory is the name of a longstanding white power music band (dating back to 1989) from Minneapolis. It is popular among white supremacists. The main symbol associated with the band is a Thor's Hammer containing the band's initials. Also common are the band's initials in or superimposed over an Iron Cross. Both images derive from albums released by the group. The phrase "bound for glory" is a relatively common phrase that can be used in non-racist contexts,…

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Submit a Hate Symbol to ADL at hate-symbols@adl.org

All the symbols depicted here must be evaluated in the context in which they appear. Few symbols represent just one idea or are used exclusively by one group. For example, the Confederate Flag is a symbol that is frequently used by white supremacists but which also has been used by people and groups that are not racist. Similarly, other symbols in this database may be significant to people who are not extreme or racist. The descriptions here point out significant multiple meanings but may not be able to relay every possible meaning of a particular symbol.

Hate on Display is a trademark of the Anti-Defamation League.